Morning skies in the North Cascades
This image is from Thursday morning Sept. 23, at about 5am. Taken atop Winchester Mountain, along the Mount Baker Highway in the North Cascades. That’s Venus, the bright light on the right.
Exposure: Canon 6D and Rokinon 14mm lens; f/2.8 at 30 seconds
The next Night Sky Photo Tour(s) are scheduled for October 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th. If you’d like to come along, here is the link!
The usual thinking of night sky and Milky Way images is that you must travel a good distance away from the lights of towns and cities to get any decent shots.
I don’t live near big city, Seattle is 65 miles away, but there are several towns grouped together where I live. But I decided to head up to a local promontory called Big Rock to see about a few night sky images last weekend during the last New Moon.
These three images show that although the lights DO wash out the details of the stars there is still a chance to get some interesting images.
Mount Baker is visible as a small bump on the horizon. The green glow is the aurora borealis, adding some alien color to the edge of the sky.
The next New Moon is October 12th. If you’d like to register for the next Night Sky Photo Tour, here is the link.
Last weekend I made the yearly sojourn up to Sahale Camp, in North Cascades National Park. The 6-mile hike in and up was very dry. The winter’s lack of snow fall has jumped the cycle of flowers and melting ahead a full month. Link to Buy Prints
Still, there were a few patches of flowers left. 
Clear skies did not lend to much of a sunset panorama,
Camped at Sahale Glacier Camp
but did present great opportunities for the night sky.
Here is another shot from the other night along the Baker River.
Camped under the Milky Way 3
I had in my mind several images, planning and scheming as we hiked in, having the kids in the tent illuminated with the I-Pad, having them look out of the tent, in awe at the stars.
Here is the i-pad shot. Not too bad! A little overexposed on the face of the kid (Dawson) holding the device.
Then I tried an image with them looking out of the tent. I used the red light function on my head lamp to illuminate their faces and this is what I got:
At first I didn’t even try to edit it, it looked so red.
But later I decided to give it a try. I edited (in photoshop, as a raw file) the foreground, then went back and edited the raw a second time, but edited just the sky.
Then I merged the two and did final editing.
That’s Joe on the left, wrapped in the sleeping bag. And my son, Max is the incredulous one on the right!
Not too bad!
I guess I’ll have to take the kids camping more often!
Looking at the stars
The New Moon is marked every month on my calendar. As it gets closer I start watching the weather service map, looking for where there will be clear skies. Last month was a complete dud, the 5-night window only saw overcast and rain.
But this weekend the sky was clear. I had three people sign up for my Night Sky Photo Tour on Saturday night.
Officially the New Moon is tonight, June 16th, but if you are close, one or two days plus or minus, you will get the lighting you want.
Camped under the Milky Way
This first shot I have been dreaming of for some time. My son is 10 years old and he likes to go camping with his friends, swimming and being goof balls. Of course they always bring their electronic devices. I made sure to tell them to save some battery life for dark.
The strip of the Milky Way appeared directly over the tent. The exposure to capture the stars is 30 seconds long, but that’s way too long for the light from the I-pad. So I had them sit and turn it on for a second or two and then quickly off.
Then I spent some time circumnavigating the tent. I got a shooting star in this one.
Milky Way and Shooting Star
and then as I faced north I captured this image. The pink glow is actually the Aurora Borealis! How cool is that!
Glow of Aurora Borealis
I had three people sign up for my Night Sky Photo Tour on Saturday night. We visited the Washington Pass Overlook to capture images of Liberty Bell. Between instruction advices I snapped a few images. This image is from a north-facing view. To the naked eye there was NO color.
Needless to say we were all excited to see the Northern Lights there on the horizon!
Northern lights at Washington Pass
I have been working with Photoshop for some time. My learning curve has been rather slow and often painful! Slowly I learn new techniques for manipulating light and shadows.
Images of the night sky demand more work than daytime shots. The camera I have, a Canon 6D, and the 14mm lens I use allow me to set the exposure for 30 seconds.
In the unedited images you can see the strip of the Milky Way and in the edited images it pops out and grabs you!
Here is an image I shot a few years ago with a Canon T2i, a 15mm lens at 30 sec. and 800iso. Its a bit dark!
Now the newly edited version.
This next shot is from Zion National Park. I used the Canon 6D with a 14mm lens at 15 sec.
Here is the edited image.
Liberty Bell and the North Cascades Highway, Canon 6D, 14mm lens at 25 sec. Before
And after.
The last shot is of Mount Rainier from Crystal Mountain. Again using the 6D and the 14mm lens at 30 sec.
If you would like to attend a Night Sky Photo Tour and learn how to capture such images, here is the link with dates and prices!
And the final version.
For those of you who are already Photoshop savvy, the most useful tutorials and techniques for editing starry night shots I have found are at Dave Morrow Photography.
If you would like personalized Photoshop Lessons with me online, here is the link!
Happy Shooting and Editing!
Evening Light
Here is the new flyer for the classes scheduled in March and April here in Burlington.
There are 3 classes on How to Use Your DSLR: This class is for anyone who wants to become more creative and capture better images.
And then there are two classes about Photo Composition and Editing. This is a two-day class and is for anyone who would like to learn the secrets of taking image taking to a higher level.
I recently embarked on a trip from my home in Sedro Woolley to my favorite coastal hike and camping spot at Point of the Arches, in Olympic National Park. It’s a long way, maybe 9 hours from start to camp site, and one of the beautiful legs of the sojourn is a ferry ride from Coupeville to Port Townsend. I booked my spot on the Ferry and arrived just as the sunrise was happening.
Washington State Ferry Sunrise
Ferry Drive-in
Inside the ferry
On the Ferry Deck
Washington State Ferry Sunrise
Washington State Ferry Sunrise Crown
Washington State Ferry Sunrise: Looking Out
Washington State Ferry – Coupeville
Washington State Ferry Sunrise light
I knew it was going to be a great trip when the images from the ferry ride were enough to make the entire trip worth while!
Images of the coast to come, but here is just one to whet the appetite!
Point of the Arches, Olympic National Park
This year the winter weather has been especially mild here in the Northwest. While the lack of snow and warm weather is not so good for skiing and bodes poorly for water supply in the summer, it has been pleasant to be out side in February!
If you’re interested in coming for a visit to this years Skagit Tulip and Daffodil Festival, I am offering guided Photo Tours this year!
Normally the daffodil fields explode in mid to late March, but I captured these images on Feb 18th at sunrise.
Skagit Daffodils at sunrise
Looks like our Tulip Festival may just be a bit early this spring!
Daffodils, Morning Light
Bridge over Skagit River
Skagit River at Sunset
North Western Images - photos by Andy Porter 