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Dark night at Bodie Island Lighthouse
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Dark night at Bodie Island Lighthouse



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upload_dateNov, 2016

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18 Comments |
Burch1
 
Burch1 December 13, 2016
Terrific!
grahamvphoto
grahamvphoto December 14, 2016
Thank you :-)
gregedwards Platinum
 
gregedwards December 13, 2016
Excellent!
grahamvphoto
grahamvphoto December 14, 2016
Thank you :-)
FredericMONIN Platinum
 
FredericMONIN December 20, 2016
Great composition and lights !!
BlueRidgeImagery
 
BlueRidgeImagery December 31, 2016
I love Bodie Lighthouse, Great Image!
shutterbug12
 
shutterbug12 January 01, 2017
Wonderful creation
alannunn
 
alannunn January 01, 2017
Epic ! Love it
Beyondtessaseyes
 
Beyondtessaseyes January 01, 2017
Perfect shot indeed!
stigmartinandersen
 
stigmartinandersen January 02, 2017
Very beautiful photo:)
jessicatownsend
 
jessicatownsend January 02, 2017
Fantastic work!
blainerodman
 
blainerodman January 03, 2017
Incredible!
michaelakrempelhoward PRO+
 
michaelakrempelhoward January 12, 2017
wow - that's all I can say. What a great capture!
grahamvphoto
grahamvphoto January 13, 2017
Thank you
rexjones
 
rexjones March 31, 2018
Yep, this is epic!
darrellt
 
darrellt April 10, 2018
Very Cool Shot. Just getting into exposure myself. Keep it up.
grahamvphoto
grahamvphoto April 10, 2018
Thank you
JB11
 
JB11 April 12, 2018
Too good
kimwhitelum
 
kimwhitelum October 22, 2019
wow
Jefner89 Platinum
 
Jefner89 May 13, 2020
How did you do that? Amazing Photo!
grahamvphoto
grahamvphoto May 15, 2020
Thank you, it was a single long exposure taken late on a cold windy night
UntetheredPhotography Platinum
 
UntetheredPhotography May 12, 2021
Amazing! Great capture
grahamvphoto
grahamvphoto May 13, 2021
Thank you
Cboyce305212
 
Cboyce305212 9:40 am
Absolutely 💯 Beautiful Love This Photo I Love Lighthousees this the best one I ever seen yet great job

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Tags

#sky #landscape #travel #night #Light house #lighthouse #bright #stars #dark #america #stripes #milky way #wide angle #nightscape #usa #north carolina #nc #outer banks #bodie island lighthouse
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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 shot

In 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

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