Brecon Beacons photography after dark


Brecon Beacons photography after dark


Towards the end of the summer I run my annual photography workshop to the Brecon Beacons in Wales. This workshop concentrates on learning to become a better photographer whilst using the mountains, waterfalls, reservoirs and rivers of this stunning area to practise new techniques on.
The other great thing about the Brecon Beacons is that it’s now classed as a dark sky reserve because of the low levels of light pollution in the national park. So with this in mind I try to include a late night shooting the itinerary.
It’s not always possible to get those classic starry night shots even in a place such as the Brecon Beacons. Obviously cloud stops the idea in its tracks! Also a full moon will overpower many of the nights stars because it is surprisingly bright.
The night we had planned for our night shoot wasn’t perfect for what I had in mind. There was quite a bit of cloud about although it wasn’t blanket cloud. Also it was more or less a full moon. Still, we had a go at our night shoot anyway.
To capture the night sky on film is not that hard. You need a camera with a reasonably wide angled lens, a sturdy tripod (because shutter speeds will be long and you don’t want camera shake) a torch and last but not least, a remote release.
As for technique, if you want to record the stars as a multitude of dots filling the sky you will need a shutter speed of no longer than 15 to 20 seconds. Much longer than that and your stars will record as small light trails instead. If you want to record light trails, much longer shutter speeds will be required.
Adjust the aperture on your camera and the ISO until you can set the required shutter speed. Next manually focus because auto focus probably won’t work in very low light. Compose the picture (using live view can help here) and then take the image by using a remote release. Last but not least, check the picture’s histogram.
As I’ve said, on the night we were shooting, conditions were not ideal but if you get out and shoot you never know what you may come back with. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Although we didn’t manage the classic night sky recording the milky way, the moon provided enough light to basically shoot some landscape images. It’s amazing how modern digital cameras record even the lowest amounts of light available. They are also very good at recording images with well controlled noise even at light ISO numbers and long exposures due to low light.
I came away with a couple of images which I think had added mood due to the moon illumination. Well worth staying out late, although I was glad to be with other photographers because it can get a bit spooky out in the wilds of Wales past twilight. It really can…

 

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