Another clear night full of stars. This photo shoot started with some photos in my backyard on Saturday night then a flat desert location Sunday morning. Wind was non existent, clear dark skies, plenty of stars shining bright and 36 degrees.
Setup
Below is the list of products used during the photo shoot on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
- Canon EOS R camera
- Canon RF 24-105mm F4 L IS Lens
- Vanguard VEO 265AB Aluminum Tripod
- Remote Shutter Release
Saturday Night Backyard Photos
Last week was fun under the dark skies but I wasn’t pleased with the photos. I knew this camera and lens setup can take much better quality photos that what I ended up with last week. During this photo shoot I wanted to learn to take photos in Bulb mode using the remote shutter release. The quality of photos turned out so much better than my last attempt.
When I stepped in my backyard the trees were well illuminated from my neighbors backyard light. This simplified the shots as I didn’t need to add any light painting. I captured Jupiter going down over the top of one of my neighbors trees below.
Canon EOS R
f/4 42mm 6 sec. exposure ISO 1600
Orion’s Belt beside a pine tree in my backyard.
Canon EOS R
f/4 67mm 6 sec. exposure ISO 1600
Sunday Early Morning Photos In Desert
The early morning brisk air with temps in the low 30’s was just what I needed to wake up. I found a nice spot to park and setup my equipment. Once everything was setup, I started drinking coffee and began searching for something to photo. I aimed the camera west toward the mountains and caught the Inyokern airport light. The airport actually made for a nice foreground for the mountains.
I took over 200 photos during the 3 hours in the desert. I try numerous settings in search of the right amount of light and attempting to prevent star trails. To my satisfaction, I was quite impressed with how many of my photos turned out this time.
On one shot I noticed a satellite moving across the sky so I wanted to attempt to capture in flight. The photo turned out very well and to my surprise I caught a second satellite. I never saw the second satellite when I looked up with my eyes.
It is a good habit when shooting astrophotography to have a foreground object. I just happened to have a power line going overhead so I used this for some of my photos.
Canon EOS R
f/4 24mm 8 sec. exposure ISO 3200
Canon EOS R
f/4 24mm 15 sec. exposure ISO 3200
Canon EOS R
f/4 24mm 8 sec. exposure ISO 2500
Catching Rays On The Mountains
As the sun was still down over the horizon it had already begun shining its’ rays on the mountain slopes. I captured several photos of the rays lowering to cover the mountains as the sun rose in the east. As the sun rose the light on the mountains began taking over the photos. The photo below was one of my best shots during the episode of photos. The first photo was a little overexposed with brightness.
Canon EOS R
f/5.6 92mm 1/60 sec. exposure ISO 200
Canon EOS R
f/5.6 92mm 1/60 sec. exposure ISO 200
Conclusion
This was my second astrophotography photo shoot and the photos improved which is the goal. There is still so much more to learn so the photos will improve with more practice. This was an enjoyable photo shoot and I learned a lot with the Bulb mode settings.
A couple of us are going out this weekend in an attempt to photo Comet Leonard. Hopefully the weather will cooperate long enough for the comet photo shoot.
Please rate this article and leave a comment below.