Stars & Sparklers {Night Photography}

| Allison

Hello, dears!

Ahh, I’m so so excited for this post! I’m super proud of how these pictures turned out and can’t wait to share them with you guys. 😀 Remember last post, when my friends came and I said that we all had a bonfire and Fleet taught me astrophotography? Well, here are the pictures from that evening: stars, sparklers, and a big bonfire. EXCITEMENT.

So much for the words – I’m ready for the pictures!

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Let’s start with the bonfire. We actually had bonfires two nights while Aria was here – this is the first one. I used a long exposure with my camera on the tripod to get this weird orange whoosh and some blurry people. 😛

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I got more ordinary fire photos the second night. Doesn’t this little fire look so perfectly shaped?

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Fires are much more interesting to photograph when they’re sparking. (That’s the proper term… definitely. *nods*)

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I discovered while editing these that upping the clarity really brought out the shower of sparks. It’s an orange glitter tornado!

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I kept Jeff’s face pretty dark in this one so his concerned expression wouldn’t be as distracting… But now I said that and it will be even more so. *facepalm* Heh heh. I think he was just concentrating hard since the sparklers weren’t easy to light.

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Okay, NOW for the stars! 😀 Fleet’s an amazing astrophotographer and had taught Aria a while before, so I was super excited to learn after seeing both of their pictures. It was actually easier than I thought! In summary, you first of all shoot in RAW mode; then manually focus on the stars, fix up the settings (the key is a super long exposure, like 6+ seconds), and shoot with a self-timer on a tripod so your camera doesn’t shake. Editing is a lot of what really brings out the stars. See, this is an unedited one:

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And this is an edited one! *grins happily* I AM SO PLEASED. Aren’t stars breathtakingly beautiful? I think these are my settings, using my Nikon D3400 and a 35mm lens:
Aperture: f 1.8
Shutter speed: 6 seconds
ISO: 800

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Here’s a shot of the night sky at a different angle, not including the Milky Way. If you zoom in, you can see some different colored stars. O.o

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Fleet also showed me how to use a stacking software called Deep Sky Stacker to bring out the stars even more. (And, apparently, an airplane – that’s what the red streak to the right is.) We live waaay out in the country and it was perfectly clear that night, so you could see the Milky Way just by looking up – though not as clear as this, obviously. 😛

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Here’s a brighter one with our house under a “shooting star” that’s actually another airplane. 😉

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And to end with, here’s a black and white version a couple of seconds later. 😀 I looove this one.

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*happy sigh* Well that was fun! I hope you guys enjoyed these night light photos as much as I did. 😀 I’ll have to take some more star photos, maybe this winter when the sky is extra clear.

Which photo was your favorite? Have you ever done star photography? If you made a post about it, put a link in the comments and I’ll check it out!

Thanks so much for reading, dears, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

111 thoughts on “Stars & Sparklers {Night Photography}”

  1. This is all so beautiful!!! Now I KNOW I need to get into astrophotography! 😊 I love the first (edited) photo of the Milky Way and those bonfire sparking photos! 😍 So beautiful!

    And I’ve always loved sparklers… they’re so pretty. I only wish they would last longer…

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  10. Loved all the photos, they’re awesome!!! My faves are the 3rd one from the top with the fire and sparks, my second fave is the 5th one from the bottom. Love the silhouette of the trees against the starry sky 🙂 Have a love weekend!!!

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  16. I just bought myself with my mouth open. XD WOW ALLISON! Those are so amazing!? I would love to learn astrophotography, it’s so cool! You should submit the Milky Way pictures somewhere, they’re stunning!

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    1. Oh my GOODNESS. THANK YOUU! That was, like, the nicest. ❤ ❤ Thanks for always being so nice, AK, gracious. But also ooh, that's a great idea! I *should* try and find magazines to submit to. 🙂

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  25. Oh my word, those are absolutely BREATHTAKING! It is beautiful! Now I want to try star photography. XD I finally got my Canon camera, so I may have to experiment.

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  26. Wow, these pictures turned out amazing! Love the stars, and fire is always interesting to photograph. It’s usually either a hit or miss but dang, I love these.

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  27. :O :O :O I AM FINDING IT HARD TO CLOSE MY MOUTH :O These are FABULOUS!! If I didn’t know that you are such a good photographer, I wouldn’t have believed that you took them xD They look AMAZING! You really should try to submit them to something? Maybe even National Geographic? Seriously! THEY ARE REALLY AMAZING! What a beautiful sky God has created! keep posting photos my friend! Maybe you could do another art post sometime soon? 😉

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    1. Aww, oh my goooodness, that was the SWEETEST! Thank you so so much for making me smile, Bronwyn! I know, God is just such an incredible Creator. ❤ And yeah, that's a great idea to submit them to a magazine somewhere! Also I was just thinking it was about time for another art-related post… 🙂

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  34. Wow
    So beautiful. I was always interested in astrology, reading about mostly made up things but very interesting things about zodiac signs. But this seems so much more real.I certainly feel close to milky way. I’m going to use that deep sky stacker! Thanks :))

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  36. Oh my god, your each and every photo is so good and amazing! I really loved the ambience which each and every photograph gave me. Keep up the great work. 😆😇👍👌🙂

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  38. *mind is blown* *slowly blinking in awe* Allison, these are probably some of the best pictures I’ve ever seen! Those milky way shots *dies* They’re all just beautiful! ❤ 🙂

    -Laura ❤ 🙂

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  39. I’m glad I found this post, these pictures are very beautiful. The cosmos are absolutely gorgeous! Do you think it would be possible to use any of your phenomenal pictures on my blog in the future?

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    1. Aww, thank you! And thank you for asking! I own the rights to these pictures so please don’t post them without credit, but you’re welcome to reblog my post or link to it if you’d like to share! Glad you enjoyed. 🙂

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    1. Ahh, thank you! To be honest, I’m not usually all that great at night/low light photography either, ha ha. Playing around with post-processing really helps.

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  45. Pingback: Stars & Sparklers {Night Photography} – All Star Wallpaper

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