Well as WIIXD said last post, we went Houston and Galveston. However, another goal for us was to capture the long lost sky that has been taken by the pollution and lights of this so call civilization. Unfortunately, this not as easy as it sounds. Even with all my experience as a photographer along with my 40D Cannon wasn’t enough for a task such as this.

To be able take a picture of the stars in all their glory one must follow 5 easy steps.

1- Get as far away from civilization as you can, this includes resting zones and roads of any kind.
2- Make sure that the sky is clear and there are no signs of the moon.
3- Make sure your camera is set for night shots: Low depth of field, shutter speed control should be controlled by the shutter release and please no ISO higher than 400.
4- Have a shutter release.
5- Have a really stable tripod. (Absolutely no movement must be made when the camera is in action. The smallest movement will ruin the work.)

The reason for 1 & 2 is because the camera will be as sensitive to light as a 12 year old girl watching twilight. This means that the camera will catch any glitch of light. If you were close to a resting zone, the lights of the building will reach your camera. Now, let’s say that you are facing the opposite direction. Everybody knows that light bounces. There are chances that the light of the building will bounce back at your camera. The roads are also your enemy for the reason that cars pass by with their high lights on and I don’t even want to mention the trucks. And of course the biggest source of light during the night is… the MOON! The moon can easy out shine the stars even with 1/16 of it’s light since is bounced from the sun. Oh, and don’t forget the clouds but I think that obvious. Step 3 is important because I also made the mistake of setting the camera when I was already there, waste of time and time is essential with this kind of picture. The shutter release is important for the fact that if you take a picture the usual way, you are moving the camera and you are ruining the picture before it was taken. A shutter releases makes the camera take the picture as long as you want and prevents camera movement. Also these pictures takes at least an hour for each one, if you want a really bad ass picture you must leave it active all night. And last but not least your tripod should be steady because some cheap tripods will move form such things as wind or even somebody walking by.

I skipped 1 and 3 and payed the price. All I got to show you guys is this drawing I made in photoshop (I wish the nights were like this). Also some wolf or coyote (I didn’t want to find out) howl from afar and well, I may not speak animal but I think it meant GTFO. So we did. Well, maybe next time I’ll succeed.