Nocturnal

Imagery of the night skies, from Milky Way to aurora. The light and colors that the camera picks up, which the human eye can barely detect, never cease to amaze me.

McGown Peak Cloudy Milky Way
Although the astrophotography conditions weren’t ideal during my trip to the Sawtooth National Forest in Idaho, that didn’t stop me from setting the alarm at 2am and return to a spot I scouted earlier in the day: beautiful Stanley Lake. The Milky Way positioned nicely over 9,860’ McGown Peak, but increasing cloud cover nearly thwarted my efforts. So bright was the last quarter moon, that I dialed down my ISO significantly to compensate, using an ISO of 1600, 15 second exposure, f/2 on my Rokinon astro lens. The shooting star photo-bomb in the upper left was a nice, unexpected surprise when I viewed on my monitor at home. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Milky Way and Great Basin Bristlecone Pines
The Great Basin Bristlecone Pines are among the oldest living trees in the world, some preceding the birth of Christ by over 2,000 years. The Methuselah Grove affords a stunning view of these trees and the Milky Way’s galactic core rising over the White Mountains of eastern California on a September evening. I figured this was my last Milky Way outing of this year’s season in the northern hemisphere, so why not return to one of my favorite places for astrophotography? We were fortunate to meet some friendly fellow astrophotographers to share stories, tips, and light painting techniques, and make some new friends along the way. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Boot Arch Milky Way
Although Mobius Arch in the Alabama Hills seems to get all the astro love, I’ve long wanted to photograph nearby Boot Arch (also known as Lady’s Boot Arch). The Milky Way lined up perfectly looking south on Thursday evening. This is a composite of three exposures: one for the Milky Way, one for softly side lighting the arch, and one exposure for light painting the rear of the arch. Fortunately for me, the “astro-mobile”, my teardrop camp trailer, was boon docked nearby so an old fogey like me can do astrophotography and still manage to get a little shut eye for sunrise photography the next morning! California’s eastern Sierra truly is an astrophotographer’s playground. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Milky Way Over Bodie Main Street
Over the course of nearly an hour, 7 separate exposures were lightpainted at various spots outside and inside these historic buildings at Bodie, then one exposure was taken for the Milky Way, then stacked together in Photoshop for this composite image of the Dechambeau Hotel on the left, and the IOOF hall on the right. IOOF stands for Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was used as a gym back in Bodie's hustling wild west goldtown heyday. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Cloudy Milky Way Over Swayback Barn in Bodie
In Bodie State Historical Park, we lit this decaying barn from the inside for an ethereal effect, with the Milky Way playing peekaboo through the clouds above. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Star Trails over Tufa Formations, Mono Lake
A composite star trail image of the other-wordly tufa formations in Mono Lake during the new moon using approximately 40 images at 4 minute intervals, ISO 800, f/4.0 stitched together in Photoshop. Lightpainting of the tufas was done after the star trail sequence was completed. Composing star trails can be a boring, and at the same time, exciting night time event for a landscape photographer, as you are sitting there for a couple of hours, hoping you get it right, and when you do: SWEET!  Next time, a camp chair and a hot spiked beverage in a thermos are in order. Maybe some "Cards Against Humanity" to pass the time.  www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Tenaya Lake Milky Way
Milky Way and starry reflections in a calm Tenaya Lake in Yosemite National Park. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Lone Tree and Milky Way at Olmsted Point
My very first attempt at light painting in multiple layers, or stages, rather than in a single exposure was in Michael Frye's starry skies workshop at Olmsted Point in Yosemite National Park (note the small nub on the horizon at left, which is Half Dome). With the camera firmly on a tripod, we took one exposure for the sky, one for backlighting the lone tree, the next for front-lighting the tree, and blended using layers in Photoshop. The purpose of this is to get the desired exposure throughout the composition. Obviously, I enhanced the vibrance (but not saturation) of the night sky, because I like the warm/cool contrast of the deep purple colors of the night sky with the orange glow of light pollution at the horizon. Constructive crticism is most welcome, thank you!
Milky Way Over Bonsai Rock
The first successful Milky Way capture of the season during the new moon. It never ceases to amaze me the light and colors the camera picks up that the human eye cannot see, such as the light on the horizon, which was probably a combination of South Lake Tahoe light pollution as well as the sun below the horizon. I used the Photopills app to determine when the Milky Way would be vertical and in a location that rises from the best angle of Bonsai Rock, off Lake Tahoe's eastern shore. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Jökulsárlón Aurora and Distant Clouds
In October, it was a freezing night watching the northern lights dance across the sky over Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon, a large lake in southeastern Iceland. Every day, the lagoon feeds a fresh crop of ice chunks, some as large as an SUV, others as small as a watermelon, into the adjacent black sand beach, ready for a photographer’s compositions the next morning. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Andromeda Galaxy, Olmsted Point
If you haven’t scoped out your astrophotography compositions before sunset, it can be tough hopping around the granite boulders of Olmsted Point in the pitch black trying to find some! It is really, really dark here during a new moon, and you have to carefully watch your step. Even though this tree wasn’t facing the Milky Way’s galactic core, I was so enamored with it’s shape I had to do a little light painting. I believe that is the Andromeda Galaxy just upper right to the tree. Single exposure, ISO 1600, 15 seconds, f/2. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Dodge Graham at Night, Bodie State Historic Park
A 1927 Dodge Graham truck parked in front of the Boone Store and Warehouse at Bodie State Historic Park. Several light painting sequences were stacked together in Photoshop to create the illumination of various elements in this night time scene. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Mount Lassen Milky Way, Reflection Lake
I’ve long wanted a worthy image of the Milky Way over beautiful snow covered Mount Lassen in the underappreciated Lassen Volcanic National Park. My previous attempts just didn’t have quite the right conditions. But, when planning my astrophotography outings for the year, I was excited to discover that Independence Day weekend would have a new moon, and a perfect opportunity to book a camping trip here to admire the incredible dark night skies and do some astrophotography! I found that Reflection Lake, rather than all my previous attempts at adjacent Manzanita Lake, offered a better perspective. It’s difficult at Manzanita to get a good spot of the peak as the shoreline is very dense with foliage, but Reflection had many clearings, with beautiful vantage points. As a designated dark sky park, Lassen and all her beautiful volcanoes, really can’t be beat! Word may be getting out as I noticed more astrophotographers here; but really, that count has gone up to about 10, up from zero just a couple of years ago! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Stillness at Night
Just got back from an astrophotography trip to Mount Shasta, and the astro conditions were just perfect! One thing I’ve noticed about this area is the absolute eerie silence at night – no owls, no bugs, just a resounding quietness that is so foreign to our ears attuned to modern distractions. There really is nothing better than bonding with this beautiful mountain, the still peacefulness and my camera under the light of a billion stars! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Navy Beach Sand Tufas and Meeting New Friends
The otherworldly sand tufa formations of Navy Beach in Mono Lake have held a specific appeal to me, resembling nothing I’ve ever seen before and which doesn’t even resemble the tower shaped tufas along Mono Lake’s south shore just 200 yards away. It’s been my goal for a long time to capture the Milky Way over these interesting formations, and a spontaneous camping trip this weekend during a new moon finally provided the opportunity. Since these tufas are short, only about 3’ – 4’ in height, Chris and I, with the location entirely to ourselves at midnight, our knees planted in the sand, and tripods down low, encountered another astrophotographer who ventured up to us out of nowhere, all apologetic for walking into our composition, and asked us, “hey, are you Beth and Chris from the Sactown Photogs Facebook group?”. We were all, “hell yes!” and met the infamous Larry Whiting, unexpectedly out there in the middle of freezing nowhere with no one else in sight! Thank you for the awesome lighting setup and great conversation, Larry! We also got to share the experience of a hunting owl swooping overhead while we shared this incredible and unexpected experience. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Neowise Comet Over South Tufa, Mono Lake
The Neowise comet over the tufa formations of Mono Lake was visible only for a brief few moments before disappearing in the brightening light of dawn. Up at 3am for this scene, we photographed late into the night on 4 hours sleep but all in all a great trip spent with photographer friends. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
North Lake and Wildfire Smoke at Night
Before all the photographers arrived at this popular location for sunrise, my husband and I enjoyed a nearly full moon and stars in relative solitude over beautiful North Lake, dressed in all her finest autumn color. Wildfire smoke seen in the distance added an ethereal mood to this night time scene. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Grand Teton Airglow
While photographing the Milky Way in GTNP, this very distinct band of emerald green airglow was so prevalent, it was visible to the naked eye, even to this exhausted photographer at 3 in the morning. Unlike aurora, airglow is a faint luminescence of the earth’s atmosphere miles above the surface and best visible 10 – 15 degrees above the horizon, as seen here. The rainbow colors of the nighttime sky actually made this a very difficult image to process, as I prefer a more natural and subtle style to my Milky Way images, but I can assure you, this is indeed natural. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com