One of my favorite photography subjects of the past few years has been the night sky— photographing scenes in that period between dusk and dawn. When you are in a dark sky area, away from the light pollution of city lights, the view of the stars and milky way can be awe-inspiring. An individual with good vision can see about 2500 stars in the sky with the naked eye. A quality camera with a wide aperture lens can capture many more stars than you can see. With careful exposure technique, the camera can capture colors that you can’t see with the naked eye, such as the pinkish hues in galactic core of the milky way.
However it is getting more and more difficult to view the splendor of the night sky. The increasing glitter and brightness of our man-made world has quite literally dimmed our view of of other worlds. According to a study by Italian and American Scientists, one third of the world’s population, and 80% of Americans, live in areas where the Milky Way is not visible due to light pollution. Light pollution is particularly bad in the eastern United States. One only has to view night images of the U.S taken from space to appreciate the amount of light pollution in the eastern portion of the country. We often have to travel far from city lights to catch a glimpse of the true beauty of the night sky that so fascinated our ancestors.
As fascinating as the night sky is, to make a truly good image of the night sky, you generally need to link it to an earthbound subject. My favorite subjects have up to this point been lighthouses and piers.
If you are interested in pursuing night photography, the following are some recommended sources:
Books:
Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark, by Lance Keimig, 2nd edition 2016
Dusk to Dawn: A Guide to Landscape Photography at Night, by Glenn Randall, 2018
Collier’s Guide to Night Photography in the Great Outdoors, by Grant Collier, 2nd edition 2020
Night Sky Photography: From First Principles to Professional Results, by Adam Woodworth, 2021
Painting with Light: Lighting and Photoshop Techniques for Photographers, by Eric Curry, 2012.
Ebooks:
Milky Way Nightscapes: A Guide to Photographing the Starry Night Sky, by Royce Bair, 2015
How to Photograph Nightscapes (vol1), How to Process Nightscapes (vol 2) by Alan Dyar, 2018
Internet Sources:
Into the Night Photography. Royce Bair’s website
National Parks at Night. Interesting blog articles and videos on night photography
Lonely Speck. Some excellent free tutorials
Milky Way Mike video tutorials
Below are a few of my favorite night images:
The below two images of Mercer’s Pier at Wrightsville Beach, NC are my most recent night sky images, both obviously taken with a drone. The rich sky colors just after sunset and before sunrise are exciting to behold. I often find these pre-dawn and post-sunset images more appealing than actual sunrise and sunset images.
I spent two nights in April at Cape Lookout National Seashore. The only access to the island is by ferry. The first night was cloudy and very windy. No images were taken and the wind actually blew my tent down. I ended up sleeping in my car. The next night was favorable and I was able to capture the images below. The last two images were panoramic images consisting of 4-5 horizontal images stitched together in Photoshop.
In March, I made the following two images of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The second image is a stitched panoramic image (4 horizontal images stitched together).
Below are other images that I’ve taken in the last few years but had not yet posted to my website:
Moonrise and Distant Storm, Bodie Island Lighthouse
Mattamuskeet Lodge, Lake Mattamuskeet NWR
Bodie Island Lighthouse
Nubble Light, Cape Neddick Lighthouse
Nubble Light, Cape Neddick Lighthouse
Moonrise, Surfside Beach Pier, Surfside Beach, SC