Astrophotography

You may notice this post looks a little different than the others. I decided that it needed the entire width of the screen to showcase the images!

A few months ago, I was turned on to the joys of nighttime star shooting (aka - astrophotography). I purchased a 14mm Samyang f2.8 lens for a late Christmas present to myself and took to the sky at night. However I quickly discovered that there needs to be optimal conditions in order to successfully capture pinpoint starlight with a camera. Ideally there would be no light pollution, no wind, and a solid ground for which to stabilize the camera body. My first few attempts were futile as it was either too windy or too bright to capture much other than a blurry mess.

My first success came around mid-february when I took to a deserted farm road near a small airport by our house. It was about 11PM and the moon was blocked by some cloud cover. The only major issue was that I didn't realize how bright the lights were from the tiny airport and I also didn't know how to expose for the foreground and stars alike. But it was a great first time experience none the less.

Copyright Jill Blandford Designs - Please do not copy or reproduce this image without permission

I learned a few things on that expedition:

1. Get a Remote. Standing in the freezing cold waiting for the camera to take the long exposures is not fun at 1 or 2AM.
2. Only shoot in Low-Light Long exposures manage to capture any and all light pollution either from the city around you or the moon itself.
3. Make sure to Check the Weather I wasted many a night attempting to shoot when it was super windy or foggy which will ruin the shot!

Since our time in Colorado is dwindling, I decided to give it another go during the Lunar Eclipse last night. I figured it would afford me enough light-blockage to get some great shots and it was a perfectly clear sky. I underestimated the timeline of this, though, because we went out at around 3:30AM and the moon was still in her full glory! The shoot took about an hour (or at least that's how long we lasted before we were too cold to continue!). I think there were some pretty good exposures despite the half-eclipsed moonlight and the surrounding city lights.

Copyright Jill Blandford Designs - Please do not copy or reproduce this image without permission

At around 4AM a copper pulled up to our van thinking we were up to no good. But once he realized what we were doing he left us be.

Copyright Jill Blandford Designs - Please do not copy or reproduce this image without permission

We headed home around 5AM and hopped right back into bed for another several hours of blissful warmth and slumber. I was really excited about the turnout of these exposures and to be out for the lunar eclipse was pretty special. I hope to continue to grow in the art of astrophotography and share with all of you!