Night Sky

I had dinner with friends last evening. In their screened-in patio overlooking a wooded backyard leading to a creek. The air cooled significantly as the sky darkened, and at one moment we all enjoyed watching an owl that had taken perch on a tree limb near the creek. While a movie played, we chatted and ate ice pops. I'm pretty sure mine was grapefruit. At least that's what I'm going with. 

Not long after the movie ended, I made my way home, which wasn't far. Just a couple of blocks. Cicada, cricket, and frog song drifted on the cool air, and when I looked up, I saw a clear sky full of stars. We've not had a clear night in some time. I stopped in the middle of the street to take in the scene. When I finally arrived home I decided to try and get some night sky photos, something I've never done before. I had no idea what I was doing.

I spent twenty minutes or so on the front porch, swaying in my hammock swing as I read an article about astrophotography. What lens is best. What shutter speed to use. What aperture works. What ISO setting to start with. Recently I bought a new camera, a newer version of the one I already had, and it came with a 16 mm, f1.4 lens (talk about a score!). I figured it would work best. So I set it up on the tripod, went outside and found a spot with as little light pollution as possible, and pointed the lens towards the southwest. 

The first image overexposed. I made some adjustments. Still overexposed. More adjustments. Getting closer. One more change to the ISO and the image looked pretty good. I pressed the shutter button, and a few seconds into the ten second exposure, I watched a meteor streak across the area where the camera was pointed. My first thought was did that really happen? Did the camera get it? Nervous and excited, I waited for the image to process, and when it popped up on the monitor, I just started laughing. Like a darn fool. My first night out and I capture an image I know I'll never, ever forget.

Once the images were uploaded on my computer, I read a couple of articles about editing to fully bring out the stars. I tried a few edits with my image and settled on this version. Then I took a blanket, went back outside, and watched meteors zip across the sky for another hour or so. What a wonderful August night.