Valley Night

I love how a camera can show us things we can't see with our naked eyes. They can show us anything from the details of microscopic items, to the row of trees hiding in the dark shadows. I happen to think it's pretty neat!

Twinkle Twinkle

What is a college student to do when they get bored? Go outside and take pictures of course! Oh wait, it's dark? No problem-o! It was a gorgeous night outside with just the right amount of crispness in the air. Perfection.
PS: How many times am I in these pictures.. ?

Adventures of the Night Photographer

Last night was clear and the moon was full. Typically, when you want to take photos of the stars you wait for new moon, but when you desire to get night landscapes of more than just stars.. then you want light. Believe it or not, the moon is an excellent source of light. These were all taken in between 8-9, so it was dark. However, with a long shutter, some of them look to be taken at twilight. You can see the stars starting to trail in some of the photos.

 

 The sun? Nope! The moon.

 I may or may not have had a LITTLE fun light-painting.

My favorite shot of the night, the covered bridge with some star trails.
Night photography is a lot of fun, but remember to be safe. I was alone, so I parked my car at least 3/4 off the road (with hazards on), stayed within 20 feet of it, made sure I had multiple flashlights to turn on to warn coming cars I was there, and I gave my parents a plan of where I was going and when I'd be coming back. Safety = first! Shooting at night can be a bit dangerous, but it's also a lot of fun. With a little common sense and a pinch of luck you'll get new and interesting images! Any questions let me know, I'd love to answer them. :)

Milky Way

There is nothing more amazing to me than seeing this. Milky Way Galaxy from Sand Beach, Acadia National Park. Check back for the final Acadia pictures later this week. I saved the best for last!
linking up with wordless wednesday but with words, project alicia, & wordless wednesday.

Starry Skies

God's creation..nothing quite compares to it.
I'm home, - at least until I leave for France on Tuesday. I have a ridiculous amount of things to do before then and sadly, blogging is not a top priority. Cross you fingers that I get things done productively!

How to Take Star Trail Photos

Hey folks! I'm really super duper excited to bring you guys a how-to post on star trails! It's really pretty simple, so hopefully you can follow along easily. To start you'll need a nice and clear night for this, preferably with little moonshine. 

 

First get your SLR camera, tripod, and a shutter release and set them up facing the north star. The exposure should be 30 seconds (no longer than that), your aperture should be wide open (mine was at f4), and the ISO can vary. I typically set mine anywhere from ISO 200 to 640. Next put your camera on shutter burst and plug in your shutter release. Take a test shot or two for exposure, then put the release into continuous. I leave my camera on our deck to do this, but depending on your location that might not be the wisest idea. Then let it go for anywhere from twenty minutes to hour or however long your battery lasts. Typically I forget about it and it goes until the battery dies. If you don't have a shutter release, you can always stand there pressing the shutter every thirty seconds. However that requires a lot of patience, which I for one don't have!

Next you download all of your images onto your computer. After that, you can download this super duper nifty program called StarTrails! It is 100% legit and better yet, totally free! I was a little wary when I first saw it, but it's great! Once you have it installed, open it up.

TIFF > JPEG. Just sayin'.

Wah-la! Your image is complete! Isn't it wonderful? To add interest you can add in some foreground elements like a tree, barn or house. I haven't had the chance to play around with it much yet, but you can get really creative with your star trail images! If you have any questions just comment below and I'll answer them ASAP!
If you try this, be sure to comment because I would love to see your results!

Star Spin

Star trails! So much fun. :) I took this one last week. If we get a clear night this week I'll do a how-to post. :D

Star Trails

I've finally started playing with my new release cable! I got it for Christmas and have been wanting to try out star trail pictures forever. This past week I finally chomped on the bit and tried it! After a complete failed attempt one night, I read up, learned a lot, and tried again a second & third time. It worked much better, and I'm super pleased with the results!
(above shot was from the third night when it was a bit cloudy)

A simple star picture. I like it anyways.

My personal favorite of the attempts! It is also the shot I'm linking up with...
and then she {snapped}!
..because she gave remote tips for this week. And I finally used MY remote. It seemed fitting. If anyone's interested in me doing a tutorial on how to do this, let me know in the comments! Enjoy your Monday, folks!