Stargazing
Stargazing
It’s fair to say Rachel is the photographer in the family. Emily is the dancer and Adam is the artist but for tonight at least, we’re having a switch around. Up until now, we’ve never really taken much notice of the settings on our phone cameras but we have a clear, dark sky, warm blankets and time to kill. After a slightly disappointing start from the mezzanine skylight and not wanting to let all of the heat out, we figured our best bet would be to set up camp in the outdoor seating area.
Emily has volunteered on this occasion to help out, so once we’ve figured out it isn’t possible to get a starry night photo with a hand held camera, we rummage around and find a piece of timber to act as a mount. It’s hard to explain just how much darker things are up here than back at home. There are no streetlights within a mile, so few cars that when they do pass, it’s a bit of a novelty watching them struggle up the lane into the darkness. Basically, it’s properly dark!
With the settings switched from 1/100th of a second to a 30 second exposure, we end up (eventually) with a few great photographs of the night sky to the east of the hall from the rear seating area. We don’t have any fancy holders or brackets to keep the phones still and pointing the camera in the right direction is a bit hit and miss but we’re pretty happy with the results and if nothing else, it’s added a bit more interest and a new thing to do up at the hall on a clear night.
It’s only our first attempt but the results really speak for themselves.