Photo and Article by Lisa Bettany
One of the most memorable moments ANPW in Jackson Hole, Wyoming was a spur of the moment star shoot lead by Astrophotographer extraordinaire, Martin Gisbourne. Martin has a lot of experience shooting astronomy, so it was great to have him guiding us through the sky. On the last day of the workshop, as the sun was setting, some of the group decided to forgo dinner, general warmth, and a comfy sleep, to stay out in the dark night for a few more hours to grab some astronomical shots. The first step was finding the best spot to set-up our tripods. The sun had set and the sky was slowly revealing shooting starts, satellites, planets, & constellations. I have never seen a sky so packed with twinkling lights. Martin quickly found the his spot right in front of the Milky Way and started setting up his tripod and camera before the light was gone.
It’s really important to set up your tripod and camera and find your frame and focus point before it gets dark because when it’s dark, you can’t see a a whole lot through your camera. I learnt my lesson by finding the edge of a huge tree in a lot of my pictures. I think it decided to move in my way just to spite me. Also, if you don’t have a head band light, get one. They are essential for early morning or night shoots. Trust me, mounting a camera on a tripod or changing a CF card in the dark is not a good idea. And dress warm, like Michelin man amount, as it gets a wee bit chilly waiting for those 30s exposures. As soon as the sky was dark, the group started shooting. After some playing around with settings, we found that f/2.8, shutter speed of 25-30s, ISO 3200 and 6400 (for those of us with Nikon D3s), worked best. Also set your focus to manual and on infiinite focus and position the cursor right in the middle of the ∞. Most of us shot with wide-angle lenses as wide as a 14mm fisheye to get in as much sky as possible. After shooting the Milky Way, Scott Stulberg pointed out a beautiful Mormon barn and suggested that we light paint it. Light paint a barn? Oh yes! Stay tuned for story in the next post!
