Written and Photographed by Heidi Short

Artist

After retiring from a career in Biotech, I sought ways to explore my artistic side by transitioning from someone who simply collected fine art photography, to actually being a photographer. You can see more of my photos on my Facebook Page, or on the FB photography site, Light Chasers, where I am both a contributor and an admin.

About the Image

Stars Over the Old Mill

"Art is never finished, only abandoned." -- Leonardo da Vinci

Although based in the scenic city of San Diego, I still seek opportunities to capture landscapes, wildlife, and cityscapes in areas far from home. The search for lightweight travel gear led me to the Sony a7R II, then eventually the a7R III. This choice was also based on an enjoyment of long exposure and night photography.

Night photography has its allure, as well as its challenges. There is something restorative about spending a quiet evening in the mountains or desert under the stars. Likewise, capturing light trails on a busy city street can be energizing and cause the creative juices to flow. A proposed night shoot at the Motor Transport Museum in Campo, California really piqued my interest, as it combined a bit of both worlds. Over two-hundred old cars, trucks, and buses are there– some over a century old—scattered haphazardly on the grounds of an abandoned feldspar mill. This shoot was also to be a fond farewell to this year’s Milky Way season.

Basic Astro Photography Settings

A day prior to the shoot, it was helpful to make basic camera setting adjustments and mentally review details for night sky photography.

The Basics

• shoot in uncompressed RAW and Manual (no change there)

• reduce brightness on the rear display

• set a custom white balance, double-check that the steady shot is turned off

• pack a night filter to block potential light pollution

• bring adjustable lights for light painting the foreground.

Mental Notes

• consider an ISO range of 1000-6400 depending on the light and lens / camera

• a wide aperture

• a foreground interest around 15 ft or more away for front-to-back focus

• plan on taking focus test shots and an all-black noise reduction shot

• set timer for single-shot delay

• possibly include continuous exposure brackets

• if using a short enough exposure, do it with and without LENR (long exposure noise reduction) to compare.

The venue was unfortunately not open to me until close to sundown, so the plan was to use the remaining light to scout out the best foreground and hope that later the crescent moon would not interfere with the stars. Well, photographers must take what they’re given, and with a less than prominent Milky Way and a brighter than expected crescent moon, it was soon obvious that the main subject would not be the stars after all. Not only would this affect my foreground choice, but it was also clear that another visit to the museum next summer during a new moon would most likely provide better conditions and a longer period to shoot.

Gear + Method

I mounted my Sony a7R III with a 16-35 mm f/2.8 GM lens in an L bracket onto a Peak Design tripod and set it up for a vertical shot. This angle was chosen to exaggerate the height of the building. The settings were 16mm, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 13 seconds exposure with 3-4 seconds of light painting on the mill, and foreground. This single-exposure photo was taken on 09/20/20 at 7:44 pm, an hour after sunset. LENR was turned off and no added filter was on the lens. While processing this image in Adobe Lightroom, I made exposure and hue adjustments, used a brush for highlights, a gradient to pull out details in the foreground, and a radial filter to add definition to the Milky Way. In Color Efex Pro, I used a detail enhancement filter, then a reflective filter to adjust the direction of the light. Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce noise.

Artistic Thesis

My philosophy is to shoot intentionally with preparation and a plan in mind but to let loose while processing and not be afraid to think out-of-the-box. I will often take a photo and drive it into the high or low key, turn it into a “watercolor,” switch it to monochromatic, or do severe crops. It’s a joy to come up with two or three versions of an image that look nothing alike, but each has merit.

"For me, the camera is a sketchbook, an instrument of intuition and spontaneity." — Henri Cartier-Bresson

Perhaps this can be said of processing, as well.

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