Mono Lake Nigh Skies – looking North w/Milky Way
captured by D5 / 16Fish
Click on image to see shooting stars
There is one aspect of the Sierra that stands out amongst all the rest and that’s its night skies. Right now with the new moon and cold temps, it is literally so bright you can walked around without the aid of a flashlight. With that overhead, it was only natural we held our Mono Lake Weekend Workshop and on Saturday, made it a Scott Kelby’s World Wide Photowalk. We had a hearty group that meet not just one but two mornings at 04:30 at South Tufa to bring home those skies to you, those who weren’t with us. We had the usual aircraft heading towards San Francisco every so often but we had the great fortune to have a meteor shower going both mornings. Many were real faint but some, well they lit up the night. It was just glorious!
How where the pictures taken? I started by giving folks my usual formula for getting the photo. While it works great for me, it seems to confuse folks. One of the hearty souls asked if I had heard of the “500 Rule.” I had not so he explained it to me. Set your camera to ISO3200, lens wide open and then divide 500 by the focal length you’re shooting to get your shutter speed. With the 16Fish, this gives a time of 34second, blowing away my formula especially for a sharp photo. But it works and works really well as you can see above. I shot the whole time with the D5 and switched out lenses between 16Fish, 14-24AFS and 24-70VR and it worked with them all. So not only was it a spectacular weekend of photography and being with friends, I learned something new which I really love. So out with the old and in with the new. Perfect! I can’t think of nothin better in life then learning while celebrating our wild heritage at Mono Lake under its stary, stary skies!