24mm 15-sec f/2.8 ISO 100
Okay, I’ve actually been “Working” on this article for since January. More accurately, I forgot about it and am just now finishing the writing for it.
Anyway, this will be a short article just telling the story how this collection of shots came to be. Since I’m sure you’ve read the title, you can probably guess what happened.
I’ll write the circumstances behind the creation of these photos because I thought it was really interesting considering how they turned out. I hope you will like this story as much as I enjoyed living it.
You Guessed it, the power went out.
There I was, sitting at my PC, playing an old sandbox game by the name of Roller Coaster Tycoon. The park I built was a great and vast, with guests happy as can be as they ride my insane death machines. I kid, I don’t make death machines out of roller coasters. Anyway, midway through building a new ride, the lights went out and my backup UPS battery kicked on and I knew that something was going on. I saved my game, and went to inquire what happened.
After learning a car took out a nearby power line, I knew that my night was over. Or was it?
There was sort of a “Eureka!” moment I had, about an hour after the initial power outage, “There will be less light pollution in my area.” For reference, this particular outage covered the surrounding 5 to 7 miles around where I lived. The accident occurred next to a power junction station, from my understanding.
I grabbed my camera and went through my neighborhood and to the nearby lake to take some photos of the still water over the stars; or at least what I could see of them. All of the images showcased in this article were taken during this event, in order.
24mm 10-sec f/2.8 ISO 200
I began with setting my camera for long exposure photos, on my walk to the nearby dock. For these particular images, you want to absorb as much light as you can on the camera sensor. So using a shutter speed of 5 or more seconds and a maximum aperture possible for the equipped lens, in my case a 24mm f/2.8, we can take night photography of the stars.
The first photo I took of the night, in my opinion was the best of the bunch. By using the longer shutter speed of 15 seconds, I was able to get smooth water, but that wasn’t the aim of my shot. I wanted to shoot the sky, to see what I could of the stars. Unfortunately for me, I got whispy clouds covering a great portion of my sky. They were still interesting, but still… unfortunate.
Here’s the kicker, all of these photos were taken about 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after midnight. You might be asking, “Well how? They look like it’s the middle of the day!”
24mm 10-sec f/2.8 ISO 250
Yes, you are absolutely correct. As best as I can understand it, the reason the sky almost appears so blue like it is the middle of the day is because the nearly full moon was directly overhead illuminating the stratosphere. While we can’t see it with our naked eye, that is the reason it looks that way. Thankfully, though it doesn’t pollute the sky with enough light to block out the brighter stars. Go ahead and click on any of these images to zoom in on them to look closer.
24mm 10-sec f/2.8 ISO 250
As you can see, down on the horizon there is still light pollution occurring in neighboring cities. Appearing as the Yellow and Orange “Blobs”. You can imagine what these would look like when all the city lights are on. A greater majority of the horizon would be brighter than the rest of the frame.
I walked around the lake to the other side to get a different angle to see what it looks like from over there. Along the way, I encountered some of my neighbors on their lawns, just enjoying the view and the cool weather. I was even spooked by one couple’s dog hiding behind their car I was walking past. My heart skipped a beat, and my neighbors laughed. I laughed a bit after talking to them, and they were a nice couple to talk to.
Trust me, nothing is scarier than a large black creature in the shadowy parts of your un-lit environment, and all you see is their eyes when you shine a light in their general direction… 3 feet away. Thankfully though, their black lab was just as scared of my reaction.
I returned home, and went to bed immediately after. It was a surprisingly calm night and I KO’d right there. Concluding the end of this adventure.
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The photo below was taken some time later, and no longer pertains to this story.
24mm 25-sec f/2.8 ISO 50
This is what it could look like
The photo above was taken about a month after this power outage, I’m only including it in this article to show what is possible with the right gear and camera settings, as well as proper timing with the moon which was not at all illuminated. Just take a look at those stars!
I used my same 24mm f/2.8 Lens, but changed my exposure settings to get as much color data possible without getting as much light pollution of the neighboring city in that direction. That particular city was further away, which is why I think that it doesn’t illumminate a yellow-orange color.