Who Would Enjoy Night Photography?

Night photography or “Astro Photography” is a particular favourite of mine, although it can sometimes be a pain in the... Creating a successful night image is a difficult thing to do, there is a lot of planning involved such as location, moon phases, weather and the fact it can leave you tired the next day at work. Everything has to be in place.

Last week I was lucky enough to have perfect conditions, even no rain! Therefore I decided to drive an hour along the cost to one of my favourite locations in Dorset, known as “Durdle Door”. I was wearing extra layers for a particularly cold evening and had packed two torches, my tripod, gloves, my camera and most importantly a flask of coffee.

Setting off in high spirits, I made my way at around 10.30 to the car park at lulworth cove leaving me with a “short” two mile walk to my chosen location. Whilst unpacking my equipment I noticed that my coffee had leaked all over my gloves... Great! Leaving me with cold hands and no warm drink. I made the trek up-hill and along cliff edges in the pitch black all for the “love of photography”.

Soon my mood improved as I looked up at the vast night sky, the stars were breathtakingly stunning motivating me to move quicker and get set-up.

Realising my preferred shot of getting the Milky Way was un-achievable due to its location at that time I decided to shoot some star trails over the arch. I ended up capturing a 12 minute photo with the stars streaking across the sky.

I feel the resulting image (as seen above) made the trip worth it even if my hands were frozen. Although I am planning to attempt this shot again using a different image stacking technique in the future which will produce a much sharper image, although it will take much longer to produce.