grahamvphoto
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken near the end of the boardwalk, walking just far enough to get the Milky Way and Bodie Island Lighthouse in the frame, in the Outer Banks, North Carolina.Time
The was taken in the early hours of the morning, on a slightly windy day - which didn't help with the long exposures!Lighting
I had seen images of this lighthouse and thought the light rays muse have been added in post, but no, you really do see these with your own eyes! I was taking 15 second exposures with a high ISO, to counter the earths rotation, to capture enough light. Anticipating the timing of the next flash of the lighthouse between exposures.Equipment
This was taken on a Sony A7 series full frame camera with the Rokinon 14mm lens, on a tripod with weight added to try and combat the winds.Inspiration
We had booked a road trip through North Carolina and so the planning of locations began, I saw some images of this online and using Photo Pills I was able to see that we were in luck with a new moon! I love to take shots of the Milky Way on our travels, so this was on the list for sure. I was amazed to see that the light rays were visible with your own eyes and not added in post, so that made for less work on the computer.Editing
I always shoot RAW so the first step was to sort out the white balance to get the colours correct. Then it was really a simple task of adding some contrast to the milky way, to bring out the detail, and some perspective and lens corrections (as the 14mm is super wide and things get a bit distorted). Then some noise reduction due to the high ISO required to capture the shotIn my camera bag
Depending on the amount of time I will have my bag on my back I will pack accordingly. Generally I have a zoom and a couple of prime lenses and a reflector. If I can take a bit of extra weight I will take a flash and trigger (I love the Godox system for the value and multi model/brand compatibility) and a simple modifier (usually my Rogue Flashbender XL)Feedback
I had to capture many images as it was hard to anticipate the correct time to open the shutter to capture the light from the light house balanced with the ambient/milky way, and as each exposure was 15 seconds it's a bit of trial and error. You need to plan the shoot as the Milky Way needs to be in the correct position and you need a new moon. A tripod and a trigger are required too. Then plan the amount of time the shutter can be open (Photo Pills is great for this) and then adjust settings to get the correct exposure. For me this was 15 seconds with ISO 5000 at f2.8