Night photography
If you’re wondering why I didn’t compose with Polaris in a golden mean, I’ve got two things to say to you. Firstly, the camera was pointing straight up. Secondly, it was dark. My composition consisted of a water level which helped me to square up the camera, and a flashlight on the treetops to give me an approximation of the frame. My main concern was to get in Cassiopeia and honestly I didn’t even realise I had Polaris in the frame until after I saw the picture on the display. Do I hear anyone mention “crop”? Yeah I could… but the fun is in the chase. I want to get this right in the camera.
If anyone has any night time composition tips, I’m listening! Next time I’ll be doing this, I’ll pick some stars close to the horizon to get longer star trails for my minutes. I don’t know how long the battery will last, I took three pictures last night (15, 20 and 20 minutes) and the battery went from almost full charge to almost empty. Another problem is that I don’t know what to do while waiting. Go home and have a cup of tea?
Oh, one more thing I have to mention. It really is true that cold weather is good for the camera sensor. The first picture I took had some hot pixels in it, but the camera was still a bit warm when the exposure started. The other two images didn’t have any hot pixels because the camera had cooled down by then.
