The Stargazer, Cape Cod's dark skies

[jsecordphoto]

Last week a buddy and I made the 3 1/2 hour drive down to Cape Cod in search of dark skies. Typically we head north, but foreground options are a little limited this time of year, and he had been looking at a lighthouse on the Cape for the last year. The weather forecast was questionable, we knew clouds would be rolling in, just didn't know when...plus we had no idea how the light pollution would be.

We pulled up to this beach and had to walk about a 1 1/2 miles out to the end of a point where the lighthouse was. The relief of finding dark, clear skies woke me right up. It really was an amazing place to photograph at night, with tons of different foreground options including a lighthouse that is no longer in use. We arrived a little early to scout out foregrounds, and as the Milky Way finally crested the horizon I had him stand on one of the sand dunes for a nice silhouette. Yes, the image is a little noisy, but it's also nothing that I plan on selling prints of. Just a cool moment and I've been enjoying pushing the 750 a bit to see what it's capable of.

One frame, 50mm, ISO8000 f2 for 8 seconds

 

[pgriz]

Oh yeah. That is gorgeous. The "foreground" clouds are in interesting addition to the multi-light-year dust clouds you're imaging. The silhouette is cool, but I'm kinda wondering what the image could have looked like if you had just a smidgin more light on the foreground. Of course, giving comments AFTER you've done all the work is a little cheap, so discount it if you're so inclined. But that IS a really gorgeous shot. I'm jealous.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Oh yeah. That is gorgeous. The "foreground" clouds are in interesting addition to the multi-light-year dust clouds you're imaging. The silhouette is cool, but I'm kinda wondering what the image could have looked like if you had just a smidgin more light on the foreground. Of course, giving comments AFTER you've done all the work is a little cheap, so discount it if you're so inclined. But that IS a really gorgeous shot. I'm jealous.

Thanks! The foreground was actually a little brighter, but I brought it down a bunch because I thought it looked almost too bright. This location was great because there was light pollution behind us, but the skies were dark, so all the foregrounds were pretty nicely exposed. I almost cried for joy when doing foreground exposures for another composition and all they needed was 4 minutes at ISO1600 for perfectly balanced histogram! I usually gotta do 8 minutes.

I appreciate the kind words! It's been fun playing around with some longer focal lengths at night

 

[BillM]

Beautiful shot, you make this type of photography sound sooooo much easier than I find it to be lol

 

[jsecordphoto]

Beautiful shot, you make this type of photography sound sooooo much easier than I find it to be lol

Thanks bill! It's like any other type of photography, after a while of doing it, it gets easier. I really love it, but lately while out shooting at night, I keep thinking about wildlife. The whole time we were out in these dunes I kept wondering if any snowys were still around...

 

[BillM]

That's a great question, due to the silly amounts of snow we have seen around here I only got to go see them 3 times before they closed the area, so at $160 for the sticker I didn't really enjoy my snowy adventures this year lol

 

[NancyMoranG]

Another shot that I say to myself....are we staring at the same sky?
Gorgeous.

 

[DarkShadow]

Beautiful shot.I wonder the same thing as Nancy.Is this something the camera records that we can't see by eye because I can't recall ever seeing a sky like this.I really don't know thats why I ask.I mean I see lots of stars but nothing ever looks like this to me.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Beautiful shot.I wonder the same thing as Nancy.Is this something the camera records that we can't see by eye because I can't recall ever seeing a sky like this.I really don't know thats why I ask.I mean I see lots of stars but nothing ever looks like this to me.

Well, for one we are mostly colorblind in the dark, so we don't see that the sky actually has color at night. And yes, the camera is picking up way more detail than our eyes do...I mean I shot this at iso8,000 for 8 seconds. That is significantly more light gathering than our eyes are capable of.

Is it real? Yes. Can you see something like this with the naked eye? No.

 

[DarkShadow]

Thanks.I will have to try this one day.

 

[SquarePeg]

Gorgeous shot as usual! What's up with his head? Is he wearing a hood?

 

[jsecordphoto]

Gorgeous shot as usual! What's up with his head? Is he wearing a hood?

Yeah I can't remember if it was a hooded sweatshirt or a jacket. It was probably 30 degrees or so that night...which actually felt really warm after the winter we had!

 

[Rick50]

Despite the grainy feel it came out very well as an image.

 

[SquarePeg]

Gorgeous shot as usual! What's up with his head? Is he wearing a hood?

Yeah I can't remember if it was a hooded sweatshirt or a jacket. It was probably 30 degrees or so that night...which actually felt really warm after the winter we had!

Makes it look like he's wearing a space suit. Fitting I guess...