Night Skies
Last night we slept in the most beautiful, remote campground I’ve ever seen. It was tucked away in the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountains in rural northern Nevada, about 10 miles or so off the road from the interstate. We climbed up the side of the mountain and were rewarded with a campsite next to a glacier-formed lake. We got in around dusk, so instead of exploring, I decided to play around with our new camera to try to figure out some night sky photography. I was pretty pleased for my first attempt.
I wanted to take one of those really long exposure shots where the stars streak across the sky, but I couldn’t find my camera remote. It appeared that the maximum shutter time was 30 seconds on my Nikon (although when I get decent internet, I’m going to look that up!). So most of these photos were taken with 15-30 second shutter, with the f-stop wide open. I was able to use the camera’s 10 second delay feature to avoid shaking the camera when clicking the button. I love the photo of the big dipper, and the milky way is certainly cool. You don’t get to see views like this much anymore with the light pollution levels. I’m not sure what our light pollution level was, but we were way up in the mountains and I couldn’t see lights anywhere. There was a faint glow off to the southwest, but nothing too bright.
The next morning, the kids and I went for a hike around the lake. The snowmelt-fed lake was crystal clear. You could actually see the trout swimming up to the surface to grab the minnows. We ended up with some great photos here too of our rock climbing expedition.
If you ever find yourself traveling along I-80 in Nevada, definitely make some time to visit Angel Lake.
6 thoughts on “Night Skies”
They’re pretty to look at night. They’re wonderful to try to make shapes out of stars. I wonder have y’all saw a Shooting Star?
This article is a very interesting, exciting & very good, because of what it shows, what it says is something that amazes, and for someone who likes the phenomena that can occur. They are very beautiful and often not appreciated. It is very beautiful to see those pictures and know they pass & because they give. It really is very interesting. Good Job 😀
Just a Question
1-I appreciate your knowledge.
PD: Thank You! For you article.
The sky is a beauty at day, and pretty at night. I always like to lay down and just look at the sky at night. Sometimes sleep under the tree.
Last year I went to Miami, and i went to the beach in the night. It was so many beautiful stars..
Great job on the photos! Star trail pictures can be created by taking multiple 30 second exposures and then stacking them in post-processing. I’m starting to try my hand at Astro-photography too!
Great tip, Christina! I didn’t know that you could stack the photos to get star trails. I’ll give that a try!