Category Archives: Night Photography

April 26, 2022 · 5:40 am

It’s International Dark Sky Week April 22 – 30, 2022

*A busy summer night at the Sunrise visitor center parking lot in Mount Rainier National Park*

*Stars and wispy clouds over Casa Grande in Big Bend National Park*

*Moonlight over the Window in Big Bend National Park*

It’s International Dark Sky Week, April 22 – 30, 2022. How many of you have ever visited a unit within the National Park System and viewed the starry sky overhead? I admit I am an early-to-bed kind of gal, but when visiting a national park, I do try to stay up late at least one clear night to try and photograph the night sky.

If you go over to the National Parks Traveler and run a search using the key words “night sky,” you can pull up all sorts of articles. To see what you can pull up on a search, click on any of the images above.

Comments Off on It’s International Dark Sky Week April 22 – 30, 2022

Filed under Big Bend National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, National Parks, Night Photography, Photography

Tagged as Big Bend, dark sky, dark sky park, International Dark Sky Week, Mount Rainier, National Park, national parks, night sky, night sky photography, photography

April 6, 2021 · 7:25 am

“Half The Park Is After Dark”

*A starry sky and mirror-smooth Reflection Lake in Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)*

*A busy night at the Sunrise Area of Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)*

*Comet NEOWISE over Crater Lake National Park (Oregon)*

*Taking the road to the stars in Big Bend National Park (Texas)*

*A starry sky over the Watchman and Virgin River, Zion National Park (Utah)*

“Half the Park is After Dark,” as the saying goes. This week is International Dark Skies Week, so here are a few images of some dark skies over Mount Rainier, Crater Lake, and Big Bend national parks. To read more about this week, click on any of the images above.

I don’t do much night photography, but that’s mainly because it’s hard for me to stay up past my bedtime. I’m not a “night owl” and never was. I’m an “early bird” and have no problem getting up at 3 a.m. to get to a spot for sunrise shots. I really do need to get more night shots of the parks I visit, and I’ll try to make that a mission. Another part of the problem, besides light pollution and staying up late, is that clear skies and moonless nights are the best circumstances in which to view and photograph the stars and Milky Way. Sometimes, I remember to time my trips during the week of a new moon, but oftentimes, I simply forget.

Night shots are a good way to work on your photography skills. To get a decent star image, though, you need to set your camera to Manual (not Auto or Program), put it on a tripod, increase the ISO to greater than 640, and experiment with different slow shutter speeds, anywhere from 10 seconds to greater. It’s also helpful to use a corded or wireless remote shutter release, or utilize the 2-second timer on your camera. That reduces blur from camera shake when your finder touches the shutter button.

It takes a little expertise with the editing software to really bring out that Milky Way and landscape. Some photographers blend anywhere from two to more images to get enough light on the landscape while keeping the dark sky dark. If they are honest, they will say what they did. But most photographers keep quiet. That’s why you will be amazed at seeing something like the night sky over the Watchman and Virgin River at Zion Park, where the landscape is beautifully lit. when in reality – as you can see from the image above, captured around 2 a.m. on a cold, clear February night – it is a a bit darker. Nonetheless, it doesn’t detract from the beauty of the shot.

Comments Off on “Half The Park Is After Dark”

Filed under Big Bend National Park, Crater Lake National Park, Mount Rainier National Park, National Parks, Night Photography, Photography, Zion National Park

Tagged as Big Bend, Canon, Crater Lake, international dark skies, international dark skies week, milky way, Mount Rainier, Mt. Rainier, National Park, national parks, night photography, photography, Sony Alpha, where the trails take you, Zion National Park

December 31, 2016 · 8:29 am

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYBODY
(yes, one day early – at least it’s not one day late as is my usual timing)

As I look back on 2016, I see a mix of good and bad, as is usual over the course of a year. The good stuff had to do with travel and photography and getting closer to what is left of my family. The bad stuff – well, let’s just say 2016 was marginally better than 2015, which was a horrible year.

Sooooo, I’m truly hoping that 2017 makes up for all the bad stuff. And I also hope the New Year 2017 is a start of many good things for all of you out there.

Now, for this photo: I had the great good fortune to stay in London over Christmas and New Year. It was my last hurrah to close out that horrible 2015 year I mentioned earlier. I deliberately chose that time of year to fly to London because I wanted to especially see the fireworks over the London Eye.

I remember joining the hordes to wait about 45 minutes for the security lines to open up so we could go find a spot around 7pm (nothing ever opens up exactly on time, you know). I went through 3 checkpoints before squeezing into a spot along the Thames in front of the Royal Horseguards Hotel and across from that great wheel on which one can get an amazing view of the surrounding land. It was a good thing I didn’t have to go to the toilet because we all stood there, cheek-by-jowl, for about 5 hours, waiting for the countdown to begin. I got acquainted with the family from the Midlands and the young lady from Dubai standing behind me who was there for some sort of news service.

It was worth the wait. The 10-minute display of fireworks was amazing and I alternated between having the camera up to my eye and then putting it down so I could just enjoy the fireworks without looking through a lens. It was such a neat feeling to realize I was actually standing there, in London, watching the New Years fireworks from a prime spot, surrounded by people from all over the world.

Again, Happy New Year! I hope everybody’s 2017 adventures far surpass those embarked upon in 2016.

3 Comments

Filed under 1DX, Canon, Events, holiday, London, New Year, Night Photography, Photography, Travel, Travel and Photography

Tagged as Canon, festivity, fireworks, Happy New Year, holiday, London, London Eye, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, travel

February 19, 2016 · 6:35 pm

Happy New Year, London – It’s 2016!

My last post described my New Year’s Eve experience in London. This post shows you the results. The fireworks display lasted around 11 minutes. I used my Canon 1DX and 16-35mm f/4L IS lens, set the ISO to 5000, shutter to 1/50 of a second, aperture was f/4 and I just left it at that for these photos. I had to use some noiseware (Imagenomic) reduction software during the editing phase.

Some of these images bring to mind an abstract painting. All of these images bring to mind an incredible event.

2 Comments

Filed under 1DX, Canon, Canon Lens, holiday, London, New Year, Night Photography, Photography, Travel, Travel and Photography, Vacation

Tagged as 1-DX, 16-35mm, 1DX, Canon, fireworks, Happy New Year, high ISO, London, New Year, New Year's Eve, night photography, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, travel, UK

February 13, 2016 · 4:06 pm

Countdown to 2016

I can’t remember if I mentioned this in a previous post or not (without going back and re-reading my posts), but the main reason I took a December vacation to London was because I saw a photo, earlier in the year, of the 2015 fireworks over the London Eye. I was so taken with that image that, as a photographer, I knew I had to be right there for the 2016 fireworks.

In case you aren’t aware, they now ticket this event (£10), and if you don’t have a ticket to present at the event, you don’t get in. After I’d purchased and received my ticket to the Embankment (blue) section, it turns out the hotel at which I stayed bestowed to its guests wrist bands to the same section, lol. I definitely was assured entrance to the event.

I spent about 45 minutes waiting my turn to go through security at the first checkpoint, and then went through a couple more checkpoints before being lucky enough to squeeze in between a Chinese tourist on one side and a family from the Midlands on the other. I then waited 4 hrs 15 minutes in that same spot (no, I never once felt like I had to pee, thank goodness). I could feel the press of the crowd behind me. I had a nice visit (should I say “chat” instead?) with the young lady behind me and the father of the family beside me.

During the long, chilly wait, a kaleidoscope of colors kept splashing against the London Eye and the buildings beside that iconic landmark.

At one point, to keep the crowd from getting too restless (remember, it was a 4-hour wait), the speaker challenged us all to turn on our smartphones and show the bright screen to the sky and the BBC helicopter. To the right of the London Eye in the image above is a line of bright smartphones all along Westminster Bridge.

And then, the countdown …

The show was INCREDIBLE! And I was right there in front, taking it all in. I can’t describe what a cool feeling that was – all I can say is that every time I stare into space and think about the fireworks, my smile gets wider and wider. When I do this at work, people wonder what the hell is going on with me (grin).

Oh, and that white semi-circle you see in the mid-left portion of the photos: that’s the waning gibbous moon.

I’d capture a series of photos with my Canon 1DX and 16-35mm f/4L IS lens, then take the camera away and drink the experience in with my eyes, then take some more photos. I did this for the next 10-11 minutes as the fireworks and music and cheers and ooohs and ahhs carried on around me. At one point, I remember looking down at the young son of the family next to me standing a little bit in front of me, who in turned looked up at me to see me with wide eyes and a silly grin on my face as I watched this spectacular pyrotechnic display.

These photos are just the start. I captured a gazillion different fireworks images that I’ll publish in the next blog post (ok, maybe not all gazillion of them, but a few).

Happy New Year, London and Everybody!

Comments Off on Countdown to 2016

Filed under 1DX, Canon, holiday, London, New Year, Night Photography, Photography, Travel, Travel and Photography

Tagged as 16-35mm, 1DX, 2016, Canon, fireworks, Great Britain, holiday, IS, London, London Eye, New Year, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, travel, UK

February 7, 2016 · 5:21 pm

Tour Eiffel: Variations On A Theme

For almost 20 years, I’ve wanted to go to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. Nothing else – all I wanted to do was just see in person that iconic landmark. While staying in London, I knew I would be so close to Paris that I might as well just book a seat on the Eurostar and hop over to France for a couple of days. Below are variations on a theme, from sunrise to sunset over the course of 2 days (actually, just a day-and-a-half, not counting the travel time from London to Paris).

1 Comment

Filed under Night Photography, Paris, Photography, Travel

Tagged as Eiffel Tower, France, iconic, landmark, night photography, Paris, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, Tour Eiffel, travel

May 10, 2014 · 4:34 pm

Starry Skies Over Big Bend National Park, Texas

Los Portales Morning, Gage Hotel, Marathon Texas

My first vacation of the year was the last week of April 2014. I drove 13 hours from my home in southeast Texas all the way over to southwest Texas to Big Bend National Park…in one day. I wasn’t able to get a room in the Chisos Mountains Lodge for Saturday the 26th, so I instead stayed in the beautiful Gage Hotel in Marathon, about 60-some miles north of the park.

One of the main reasons I timed my trip for late April was because of the new moon. When I visited Big Bend back in December 2013, there was a gibbous moon, the light of which blocked out the wonderful stars and purple-white line of the Milky Way. For this trip, though, the stars out-performed themselves.

Starry skies over Casa Grande

Stars and the Milky Way over the Chihuahuan Desert

Stars and the Milky Way along Basin Road, toward the Chisos Mountains

I used three different cameras for these shots: my Canon 5D Mk III, Canon 1DX, and a rented Nikon D800. For the Canons, I used two lenses: 24-70 and 16-35; for the Nikon I used a rented 24-70. The ISO was 3200, f-stop was 3.2 and I varied the shutter speed between 20-30 seconds. I had to use manual focus because of the lack of light for autofocus. The images were all taken between 2-3AM.

The park’s most recent newsletter talks a lot about the starry skies in Big Bend, as well as the problem with light pollution elsewhere (which is why parks like Big Bend are so important). Many nocturnal creatures guide their lives by the stars and even by the straight line of the Milky Way, believe it or not.

If you ever have a chance to visit this amazing, out-of-the-way park, try to go during a new moon so you, too, can see the starry expanse of the night sky.

The Milky Way over the Los Portales rooms of the Gage Hotel, Marathon, TX

1 Comment

Filed under Big Bend, National Parks, Night Photography, Photography

Tagged as Big Bend, milky way, National Park, night photography, night sky, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, star photography, stars, Texas, TX

December 22, 2013 · 6:24 am

Photography In The National Parks: Big Bend in December

The National Parks Traveler just published a little “Exploring The Parks” article I wrote about my recent mid-December road trip to Big Bend National Park, Texas. If you are interested in checking it out, just click on the photo above.

Comments Off on Photography In The National Parks: Big Bend in December

Filed under Big Bend, National Parks, Night Photography, Photography, Texas, Travel, Travel and Photography, Vacation

Tagged as Big Bend, Chihuahuan, Chisos, December, desert, landscape, mountains, National Park, photography, road trip, scenery, Texas, TX, vacation, west, west Texas

November 29, 2013 · 6:49 pm

Christmas Tree in the Window

To stave off the post-Thanksgiving-tryptophan sleepies, I decided to clean my living room window so that my lovely little Christmas tree would show up better from the outside. Naturally, I had to take tripod and camera out after dark to capture images of this one little tree glowing brightly in the night. Apparently, I am either the only person with a tree in the entire apartment complex, or I am the only person who likes showing off their tree through the window.

This photo was taken shortly after sundown. I deliberately set the f-stop to 22 so the lights would create little starbursts. The ISO was 500, I used my 24-70mm lens with the focal length set to 24mm, and the shutter was open for 30 seconds.

I switched from to my 16-35mm lens because I wanted a much wider-angle view of the complex and my tree. The only issue was the fact that the oak tree branches in the yard drooped quite a bit. The ever-so-slight breeze took those drooping branches and blurred them during the 30-second shot. The ISO was 250. I had to use noise-reduction with this image (yes, you can sometimes get grainy low-light photos even when using a low ISO) and I ultimately cropped out as much of the offending blurred branches as I could, giving this image a sort of pseudo-pano look.

Lots of frames in this image above: the front lights on the brick columns, the frame created by the apartment complex architecture, and the frame created by the oak tree limbs.

The Magic Tree. Easy to do if you ever decide to experiment yourself. Just put your camera and zoom lens on a tripod, set the camera for however many seconds you wish, then play around with zooming the lens in and out to get some funky effects while the shutter is open.

1 Comment

Filed under Canon Lens, Christsmas, Equipment, Holidays, low light photography, Night Photography, Photography, starbursts

Tagged as Canon, Christmas, colorful, holiday, lights, low light, night, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, tree, window

November 10, 2013 · 11:12 am

An HDR Perspective of the Mt. Desert, Maine, Starscape

This morning, laying aside all of the other things I should have been doing, I perused the news feed on my Facebook photography page and noticed an image posted by another photographer of a night shot processed using HDR techniques.

Hmm, I thought to myself, this might be an interesting test of my own star shots I captured while in Maine this past October (2013).

Normally, an HDR image is composed of 3 or more bracketed images (with different exposure settings). Now, while I did get multiple images of the same comps using different settings, I chose instead to simply create two duplicate images in Photoshop of the original processed image, change the exposures in those duplicates by +2 and –2, then process all three images together using Photomatix.

Below are the results. I’ve posted both the HDR-processed images as well as the original processed image, and you can see whether or not there is any difference.

A Sea of Stars – Original

A Sea of Stars – HDR

Pointing the Way to the Milky Way – Original

Pointing the Way to the Milky Way – HDR

The Road to the Stars – Original

The Road to the Stars – HDR

Headlight Star Shot – Original

Headlight Star Shot – HDR

After processing the images through Photomatix, I went back and added some curves adjustments as well as contrast, brightness, and exposure adjustments. While I think the HDR technique added some light/shadow nuances to the images, I am not certain I couldn’t have pulled similar results from just regular processing.

I am still on the fence regarding HDR in general, but I do believe the images above were improved using this technique.

7 Comments

Filed under Equipment, HDR, Maine, Night Photography, Photography, Star Photography, Travel

Tagged as astrophotography, camera, Canon, equipment, HDR, lens, night, photography, Rebecca Latson Photography, star, stars, travel