Weather Reschedule: Pine Mountain Observatory Milky Way and Light Painting

This meetup has been rescheduled to Sunday Night due to the poor weather! Please update your RSVP if Sunday does not work for you!

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Above: Milkyway arch over a Pine Mountain Observatory Dome

Let's see if we can get one more Milky Way shoot in before the core disappears until Spring.

In this meetup we will head to the Pine Mountain Observatory complex and use a dome as our backdrop to experiment with light painting.

In this meetup time will be of the essence as the Milky Way core will set at 9:13pm.

Note: Sturdy boots and warm clothes are REQUIRED along with two Pocket Hotties handwarmers for our lenses. We will be walking a short distance from the PMO parking lot to the domes and temps will be in the low 30s after sunset!

Time Line

6:00 pm: Meet in the Barnes and Noble Cafe (Highway 20 location)

6:24pm: Sunset

6:30pm: Leave for Pine Mountain Observatory. We will park at the main lot

7:00pm: Arrive at PMO (Blue hour ends at 6:53pm)

7:58pm: Galactic Core visible (Astronomical Twilight begins at 8:00pm)

8:00pm: Shooting begins!

9:13pm: Milkyway Core sets, experiment with Star Trails, hike the short trail to the summit of Pine Mountain and aurora hunt or shoot a panorama.

??:??pm: Finish and drive back to Bend

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Above: Milkyway over a PMO dome

Photographic Considerations

This type of night sky photography requires a fast, Wide Angle lens (24mm or smaller and f/2.8 or faster). Slower lenses (f/3.5 or f4) can work but they greatly limit the available light captured by the camera sensor and additional work might be required in post processing to try to pull details out of the image.

Increased ISOs in conjunction with a faster lens and long exposures times are the elements needed to capture the night sky and foreground details.

Rule of 500

Because we're taking long exposure images of a moving object (night sky), calculations are made to determine maximum time the shutter can be open without blurring the stars due to the earth's rotation. We want sharp, crisp stars with no blur. Below are the basic formulas:

Full Frame Sensor

Basic 500 Rule: 500 Divided By the Focal Length of Your Lens = The Longest Exposure (in Seconds) Before Stars Start to Trail.

Ex. 500/24= 20.83 sec. or 20 seconds before trails/elongation of stars

Cropped Sensor

Basic 500 Rule: 500 Divided By the Focal Length of Your Lens Divided by the Crop of Your Sensor (eg Nikon 1.5; Canon 1.6).

Ex. 500/24/1.6 = 13.02 sec. or 13 sec. before trails/elongation of stars.

More extensive formulas and calculators are linked below.

http://www.lonelyspeck.com/milky-way-exposure-calculator/

https://www.tl-photography.at/stars/night-sky-photography-shutter-speed-calculator/

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Above: Star Trails over PMO

Things to Bring

• A head lamp. A RED LIGHT headlamp is preferred so you and others around you can retain your night vision (which could take 30-45 minutes to return if lost).

• a flashlight,

• a sturdy tripod,

• fresh and extra camera batteries,

• an empty memory card,

• an intervalometer is useful to fine tune the length of your exposure but not required.

• proper footwear as we will be walking across desert scrub brush,

• warm clothing for a cool desert night with temps in the low 30s,

• REQUIRED: "Little Hottie" Hand warmers, we will use 1 package to keep dew and frost from accumulating on our lenses.

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Above: Aurora from the summit of Pine Mountain

Safety Considerations

Night photography has inherent risks as low light conditions increase the possibility of encountering unseen obstacles and hazards. Personal safety has to be the constant focus as locations with unmarked level changes, abrupt drop-offs, and cliffs without warning signs or protective handrails can be fatal. Always SAFETY: before, during, and after shooting.

LATE NIGHT TRAVEL: We anticipate driving back to Bend after 10pm. Please drive carefully and adjust your speed while visiting with other photographers for a safe and enjoyable ride home.

If weather is not favorable then we will reschedule for Sunday, October 15th.

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Above: Comet Lovejoy and the Pleiades from PMO, September 2015