Significance
Lately I have become obsessed with taking photos of the stars. I love using long exposures to capture what the human eye is incapable of seeing. But there is ...
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Lately I have become obsessed with taking photos of the stars. I love using long exposures to capture what the human eye is incapable of seeing. But there is one precise moment that I love in particular. There is a moment after I've found the perfect camera placement and I've set all of the camera's exposure settings to best capture the scene. More specifically, this moment occurs just after the shutter release has been pressed. The shutter opens for 30 or more seconds and there is nothing but silence. No longer do I think about the photo and it is too late to make any changes to this particular exposure, so I sit. I enjoy the night. The darkness. The stars. The silence. In this moment, there is no need to worry about the complications that occur during the day. And when I look at the stars I think about how insignificant those complications are when compared to how great the galaxy around us is. I come to realize that while the daylight allows us to clearly view the scene that exists in our immediate vicinity, it also creates a veil that blinds us from seeing our true place in the galaxy. A clear night sky gives us the gift of perspective and significance.
This is a silhouette self-portrait with the center of the Milky Way near Newton Avenue in Narragansett, Rhode Island. It was shot with a Canon EOS 6D and Rokinon 14mm F-2.8 Ultra Wide Lens. Aperture: F-2.8, Shutter Speed: 30 seconds, ISO: 3200.
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This is a silhouette self-portrait with the center of the Milky Way near Newton Avenue in Narragansett, Rhode Island. It was shot with a Canon EOS 6D and Rokinon 14mm F-2.8 Ultra Wide Lens. Aperture: F-2.8, Shutter Speed: 30 seconds, ISO: 3200.
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Aug, 2015Views
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Awards
Action Award
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Zenith Award
Creative Winter Award
Legendary Award
Contest Finalist in Epic Puddles Photo Contest
People's Choice in People Under the Stars Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Unforgettable Landscapes Photo Contest by Zenfolio
Contest Finalist in The Creative Landscape Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Connecting With Nature Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Nightscapes Photo Contest
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Contest Finalist in Stars Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in From Afar: Landscapes Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in From Afar: People Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Standing At The Edge Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Nature By Night Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Big Sky Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Nature And Myself Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Amazing Sceneries Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Covers Photo Contest Vol 24
Contest Finalist in Trey Ratcliffs Put Your Best Foot Forward Photo Contest
Winner in magic in the air Photo Challenge
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DFane
October 09, 2015
This photo is astounding, honestly, every phototure of the night sky will always be different so each and every shot is special. Also you managed to get a shooting star in the shot! :0)
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JulianneBradford
October 20, 2015
Marvelous! Congratulations. I also love slow shutter speed work. Colors brighten, and the world slows down too just for the moments that the minutes tick off. Congrats!
rochellerapley
December 17, 2015
WOW, You have inspired me, I have too just become obsessed with the stars at night trying to get that perfect photo,THANKYOU I wont give up trying until they look like yours!
snapphappypappy
September 18, 2016
Outstanding photo. I need to learn how to capture this type of image.
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at the Rhode Island "Right of Way to the Coast" near Newton Avenue in Narragansett, RI USA. It part of Rhode Island's beautiful rocky coastline. I found the textures of the rocks to be particularly interesting and the area is full of large tidal pools.Time
In order to capture the center of the Milky Way in the correct direction I needed to do a good amount of planning before I even brought my camera to the location of the photo. Earlier that day I had traveled to this location and spotted potential scenes while using a compass to mark cardinal directions. Then I using a combination of The Photographer's Ephemeris and Stellarium apps, I found that the center of the Milky Way was going to be in the southern part of the sky at about 10:00pm. Fortunately, the southern part of the sky was the least affected by ambient light from the surrounding houses and street lamps.Lighting
This is one of my first photos of the Milky Way and I had read that the best way to capture a photo of the Milky Way was to find an area that was not affected by much ambient light. Unfortunately, Rhode Island is a very densely populated state and it can be very difficult to find coastal areas that are not affected by ambient from houses or street lights. In my first couple RAW captures, I noticed that the ambient light from the houses on the right created a slight glow on the horizon, but did not affect the representation of the Milky Way too much. I then decided that this ambient light provided the perfect opportunity to create a silhouette self-portrait under neat the Milky Way.Equipment
This photo was shot using a Canon 6D with a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens. A cable release was used to minimize camera shake for a 30 second exposure and lock the shutter release while the camera was in Continuous Drive Mode. A tripod was also used to minimize camera shake and keep the camera composed while I walked into the frame to create the silhouette. This photo was taken on rocky terrain near the open ocean, so it would have been dangerous to have been wandering around this area with having a trustworthy headlamp to guide my steps as well.Inspiration
Recently I have been extremely fascinated by astrophotography and I have been reading tutorials on night photography on lonelyspeck.com. I particularly enjoy how astrophotography allows us to gain a much larger perspective into the galaxy. Also, I am really interested in Rhode Island's dramatic coastline and the "Right of Ways" that mandate public access to the coast. I decided that it would be a good opportunity to combine my knowledge to attempt to get an interesting capture of the Milky Way.Editing
I'm still a novice when it comes to photoshop and I'm sure that there are many better ways to process this photo. The final product is actually one RAW capture. I did my best to reduce the amount of ambient light coming from the houses on the right. Also, I isolated the foreground and the sky in order to edit for color and tone separately. Lastly, I brushed in a sharpening filter to bring out detail from the Milky Way and a Gaussian blur to blend it back into the sky.In my camera bag
In my bag, I always have my Canon 24-105mm f/4L as well as my Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens. The Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 is a fully manual lens, but it is a fast, wide-angle that works unbelievably well to capture night skies. I consider my Canon 24-105mm f/4L to be a utility lens that is great in a variety of situations from landscape to portrait photography. I also always carry a cable shutter release and a remote shutter release as well as a Polaroid intervalometer for time-lapses and exposures that are longer than 30 seconds. Lastly, I always have my collection of filters. This contains uv filters, polarized filters, and both graduated and full neutral density filters.Feedback
One of the reasons I love this photo is because of the tremendous amount of planning I did before I even touched my camera. Mobile apps like The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) and Stellarium are unbelievable valuable and are great because you can use them on scene with a smart phone. The Photographer's Ephemeris provides information on the moon's phases and position relative to the scene. It is important to attempt to shoot the Milky Way when the moon as in the beginning of its cycle (slightly before, during and slightly after a New Moon) because a bright moon creates distracting ambient light. Also, TPE provides information about when civil, nautical and astronomical twilight will begin and end so that can get the best view of the Milky Way. The Milky Way changes position in the night sky throughout the year and the best times to capture it in North America are during the summer months. The Stellarium app allows you to see the astronomical position of all of the stars by simply entering any date and time. With a combination of these apps, you can plan the direction you will point the camera as well as the best time to shoot to maximize your chances of a good capture. When it comes to lens choice, using a fast, wide-angle lens allows the camera's sensor to capture as much light from the stars as possible. The wide-angle also makes it easier to compose the photo in order to capture as much of the fore-ground and the Milky Way as possible. For exposure settings, I used a 30 second exposure, f/2.8 aperture and ISO 3200 to allow as much light into the sensor as possible. A tripod was required to eliminate camera shake during the long exposure. In order to create the silhouette in the frame, I put the camera in Continuous Drive Mode and attached a cable shutter release. This allowed me to lock the shutter so that the camera would take consecutive 30 second exposures until I unlocked it, giving me time to use my headlamp and walk to a position in the frame that I felt added compositional value. After standing as still as possible for enough time to allow my camera to get a couple captures, I walked back to the camera to unlock the cable release and view my capture.
