It’s a shame we have to go so far outside of London to see the stars (the celestial ones
)
There’s just so many of them, it is truly a wondrous sight!
This is just an update and hopefully an encouragement to other CCC members to take the opportunity to try something different. You never know you may well fall in love with a new genre!
This was my first star shoot, I used my go to app for planning Photo Pills (PP). It was also my first time using the Sony for long exposure at night.
You will have seen David’s post already, this is the second time I’m writing this one as the first disappeared into the ether when I submitted it!
It was an update giving you my thoughts on the lessons learnt on this shoot, because just like the first post didn’t go to plan likewise there were elements of the evening/night shoot that didn’t quite go to plan.
First lesson unless you have recent pictures of the destination you are planning to shoot, assume that what you are going to find is not going to be as is. Point in case when we arrived at the pin drop place designated PP as the place to setup for the shot we were after. We found that we could not get access as a large swathe of the hilltop was roped off due to erosion of the cliff top. Long story short we had to find another place from which to shoot, we didn’t get that perfect shot! Lesson: always have a plan B
Second lesson, It’s a lot easier to figure things out in the light than when you are in an almost pitch black environment. I struggled for about half an to figure out why my camera wasn’t producing sharp images. I thought I had already set everything up ready to shoot the stars, forgetting I had changed the settings to shoot blue hour shots but not changed it back after. Lesson: get to know your camera.
Third lesson, The photo below made me smile! I had composed the shot then went to paint the lighthouse, and ended up spoiling it with a hand and torch (torch borrowed from David) in frame and an over-bright foreground. Lesson: we don’t always get it right, but even being out there and seeing it in person is a reward in itself!
Hope to see you on the next shoot!