So far, I’ve attempted night sky photography in two places: Horsethief Campground Just outside of Canyonlands National Park and Lower Onion Creek Campground in Castle Valley about 25 miles from Moab. In both cases, I shot before dawn because a waxing crescent moon illuminated the night sky until after I’d gone to bed. I’m not really happy with any of the images, but I thought I’d share four.
At Horsethief, the problem was that the night sky didn’t really get dark enough and there were some light clouds.
The night sky to the southwest. You can clearly see Orion’s Belt.
My Truck and camper, parked under the night sky. The light in the camper is a candle.
At Lower Onion Creek, the Sky was very dark. But the problem there was wind. Although I have my camera on a very sturdy tripod and stayed on the west side of the camper so it would shield me, there was enough movement to blur the stars. Very disappointing!
Milky Way on the left, Big Dipper on the right.
Another night sky shot with disappointing focus.
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Thank you for the stunning night sky shots!! Thoroughly enjoyed them!
Thanks, but I really think I can do better and will try!
Night sky photography is a world in itself, isn’t it? It really makes you appreciate some of the awesome shots you see in Sky and Telescope magazine and on some of the astrophotography web sites. Of course, a lot of those shots are multiple layers and heavily post-processed to bring out the subtle colors and details, which is an art and science of its own.
I like the meteor streak in the third shot, sometimes they happen so fast you can miss them with the naked eye just by blinking at the wrong time.
I can’t see the streak, but I doubt it was a meteor. If anything, it could have been a satellite. The sky was dark enough, although my vision isn’t good enough to have seen any.
I think I could have worked the exposure better to make the stars pop. Next time…