for the love of DC photography
Now this is how you do astrophotography in the nation’s capital. Joseph Gruber took note of what time the International Space Station would be passing over the city last Thursday (which you can look up here or sign up for alerts), then set up his camera where he could get the perfect backdrop. He combined multiple exposures for the final image. If you’re interested in trying some night sky photography, read these tips by local photographers.
Don’t forget to head over to Right Proper Brewing in Shaw this coming Tuesday for our February happy hour/meetup. We hope to see not only the usual Exposed DC crowd, but also our friends from IGDC, APA|DC, ASMPDC, and the Leica Store!
Christmas week, whether you celebrate or not, is often one punctuated by lots of downtime, so we’ve got some great reading and even better pictures to keep you busy through the weekend. And of course, we assume you’re taking some of that time to pick your three best D.C.-area photos to enter into our contest? Submissions close on midnight January 8 (and be mindful of our suggestion to make your Flickr account now and upload a few images, even if you aren’t ready to submit them to our contest group, because it can take a few days for Flickr to approve your account and make it viewable to the public — i.e. us!) Do you have questions about the contest or what you should enter? Ask us in the comments or at info [at] exposeddc.com.
When you think of astrophotography, you probably think of mind-blowing Hubble images, but you don’t need a billion dollar space telescope to image the night sky. In fact, most hobby photographers have all they need already in their bag, or can cheaply rent from a local camera shop. And right now you have a unique opportunity to get started. Comet ISON has been visible with the naked eye just before dawn for the last few days, and may get even brighter before it reaches perihelion, its closest point to the sun as it swings around, on November 28. If ISON manages to survive its close encounter, you might get a second chance to catch it in camera over Thanksgiving weekend.
Here’s some history about Comet ISON, discovered in September 2012, its current status, and where you can find it in the sky.
Or try your hand at night sky photography almost anytime with the moon, which was full on Sunday night and will start to reveal its shadowy craters as it wanes for the next couple weeks. To get you started on your first night sky shoot, we asked some practiced local photographers, Phil Yabut, Brett Davis, Brian Mosley, Pablo Benavente, and Exposed’s Sanjay Suchak for their advice.
Exposed: What do you like to photograph in the night sky?