Sunday the 13th!

Another 13th adventure, but this one was more successful.

I'm obsessed with getting some good starry sky photos. My friend, Lauren, is too.

If you read about our Friday the 13th adventure, you know we didn't have the photo shoot we hoped for, though we had a fun time!

The 13th rolled around again, and the phase of the moon happened to be right for another try.

So try we did.

Lauren retraced our steps from last month and she found our spot.

Whew! 

It wasn't easy.

Last month, we spent most of the night on motion-sick-inducing curvy roads trying to find our way back to what we thought would be the perfect location to shoot the stars. 

We found it before dark this Sunday so we could set up.

Got Photos?

Well...let's just say that getting good photos of the stars is tricky business.

When the sky gets black, and you have to use manual focus, how do you get a good shot? Focusing on a black sky is a challenge. We've watched the tutorials, but...

We're still working on it!

I used a wide-angle (15-30mm) lens to capture as much of the sky as possible.

I got a couple of decent shots this time. Lauren got some great ones!

But that camera focus is a frustrating struggle.

Walking around in the pitch black is dicey too. Lauren knocked one of her tripods over with a camera on it.

The camera suffered minor damage. Damn. 

We had flashlights for light painting and for seeing what we were doing. 

The light painting helps light things in the foreground to make for a more interesting shot. But, you have to be careful with the flashlights or you'll ruin your shot.  

There weren't a lot of cars passing us where we were. One nice young couple pulled over to make sure we were okay - that was sweet.

Another guy appeared to want to run us down as I frantically waved a flashlight at him so he'd know we were there. Yikes!

I have so much respect for people that get great shots of the Milky Way. It's a lot harder than it looks!

We had fun, even though I'm not completely satisfied with my photos.

We don't see a lot of stars here in the City of Atlanta. Too much light pollution.

But, oh my - there were so many stars in North Georgia! It was amazing. I love getting out to nature. 

The Milky Way didn't make an appearance, though.

In Lauren's research, she found that the best time to shoot the Milky Way is an hour after sunset or an hour before sunrise. We thought that meant it's visible around both those times.

Now we're thinking that means one or the other, depending on the day. More research is needed.

One thing's for sure, the Milky Way wasn't up an hour after sunset, and we weren't waiting until 5:30 a.m.! 

We knocked off close to midnight and made it home a little after 1 a.m.

Looks like we lost one of the flashlights.

It's tough working in the dark!

Hope you had a great Sunday the 13th!

I'll keep on obsessing over my photos. You keep on obsessing about whatever it is you obsess about!

And, see you between the raindrops! (Of which there are many outside my window as I type this!)

xoxo,
Susan