Searching for Darkness - Using 'Dark Sky Finder' to locate the Darkest Skies for Night Photography

Big Dipper stars and meteor over Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah ~ © Royce Bair

Trying to find a sky dark enough to reveal the stars in the night sky can be challenging when you live near a large city. The high light pollution from the city lights overpowers all but the brightest stars. For this reason, I often drive west of Salt Lake City, where I live, and into to the west desert. The famous Bonneville Salt Flats are located about 90 miles west of SLC, just off of I-80, about 10 miles before you reach the border town of Wendover, Nevada. In the above photo, I was able to capture a meteor during the Quadrantid meteor shower, as it streaked between the Big Dipper and Polaris.

How far away from the city lights does one have to travel to find skies dark enough to photograph the stars? Typically, I tell people that you must be about 50 to 75 miles (80 to 120 km) from a large city (over 100,000 population), and 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 km) from a smaller town (under 10,000). That can be difficult in many of the populated areas of the world.

The Earth at Night - "Earth's Lights" - a composite satellite image from NASA

Here's a closer view of just North and Central America

A Useful Tool: A more scientific approach is to use a website I found recently called, "Dark Sky Finder". Jonathan Tomshine has incorporated light pollution information from the NOAA National Geophysical Data Center and layered it over Google Maps! Here a screenshot of the Salt Lake City metro area and the desert area, west to Wendover, NV. (If you click and enlarge the map, you can see the Bonneville Salt Flats along I-80, just before you get to Wendover.):

Dark Sky Finder screenshot of SLC metro and west desert to Wendover, Nevada

The color coding indicates the sky darkness of area: the white and red layers over the city center are pretty much "white-out" areas! The orange areas over the city suburbs aren't much better. These areas allow one to barely see only the brightest stars. The yellow areas have somewhat acceptable viewing conditions. The green areas are acceptable for star photography, but the blue and dark grey areas are best. As with all Google maps, you can toggle between this "Map" view and the "Satellite" and "Hybrid" view. Unfortunately, the NOAA light pollution data is only available for the USA.

Technical data for the top photo: The NightScape of the stars over the Bonneville Salt Flats was taken on January 4, 2011 at 3:45 A.M with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera, using a Canon EF 15mm f2.8 Fisheye lens @ f3.5, 30 seconds, ISO 2500.

Find Darkness in a High Population Area: Check out this article about photographer, Jack Fusco, and how he overcame the challenges of light pollution in New Jersey!

Royce Bair is the editor of this blog and the photographer of the top image. Here is my gallery of NightScape images. My schedule of workshops, tutorials, and other events is available here.

NightScape Photo Walks

Milky Way rising over Silver Lake near Brighton, Utah ~ © Royce Bair (click to enlarge).
Reddish glow on the left is light pollution from Park City, and on the right is from Heber City.

NightScape Photo Walks: I've been doing free, local astro-landscape photo walks near the Salt Lake City, Utah metro area for the past few years, like the above location, which is only 11 miles (18 km) from the edge of the city, and this recent photowalk in Utah's west desert. We've had as many as 100 people participate in these free events, and the response has been incredibly positive and rewarding. Our next NightScapeWalk is March 11-12 near Wendover, Nevada.

This Dark Sky Finder map shows that Brighton, UT (the middle purple marker) is only 15 miles from the
inner city lights of Salt Lake City, UT. Brighton and nearby Silver Lake are still in a fairly light polluted
Bortle Scale Class 6 (orange color). However, the rising Milky Way in the eastern sky (to the right)
lies across darker regions (yellow, green, blue and gray with Bortle Scale Classes 5 through 2).

Acceptable Astro-Landscapes in a light-polluted environment: Even though the site is affected by light pollution from the nearby city, and is in a Bortle Scale Class 6, acceptable images of the Milky Way sky were still obtainable because the camera was pointed away from the largest source of light pollution and towards a region having darker skies (Bortle Scale Class 5 through 2).

NightScape Photo Walks near your city. I'm looking to do free photo walks in other areas around the world. Like our Salt Lake City event, the location needs to be conveniently close to a major city, yet far enough away to provide reasonably good photography of the starry night sky. You can check to see if your favorite area meets this criteria by referring to this Dark Sky Finder map of the United States. Your location should have a Bortle Scale Class 5 (yellow) or lower. Use this Dark Site Finder map for all other locations in the world.

An invitation: I invite photographers everywhere to suggest future photo walk venues by tagging your favorite astro-landscapes with the hashtag: #NightScapeWalk (capitalization is not required) — on Instagram, Facebook or Google+. Please include the location of your NightScape and any other interesting background information in your photo description. To qualify, locations should be within 50 miles (80 km) or 90 minutes drive time (which ever is less) from a major city or metropolitan area (over 100,000 population). You can also suggest a location on my NightScape Meetup page.

Showcasing your images: From time-to-time, I will feature some of the best images on my @RoyceBairPhoto Instagram account, complete with credits and links to the photographer. The featured images will also appear on my Facebook fan page. These suggested locations may also become venues for future NightScape Photo Walks that I will organize and provide free to the public.

Paid Workshops: I also do paid group workshops. Past and future workshops are listed on my NightScape Meetup site. Private workshops of 1-4 people are also available.

Finding Darkness

These Easter Island look-a-likes are in the southwestern United Stakes. They are sandstone hoodoos in the Devil's Garden area in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah.  Light painted from behind for accent and separation. This is one of the darkest regions in the USA (a Bortle-1). The stars were so brilliant! One exposure with a Canon 5D Mark III, using a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens • f/2.8 • 20 sec • ISO 8000 ~ © Royce Bair

"Finding Darkness" is a new quest I have to help others locate and photograph some of the darkest "NightScape" skies in the world.

An invitation: I invite photographers everywhere to join me on this pursuit by tagging your darkest astro-landscapes with the hashtag: #FindingDarkness — on Instagram, Facebook or Google+.

Please include the location of your favorite dark sky NightScapes and any other interesting background information in your photo description. To qualify, locations should be on a Bortle Scale of Class 3 or lower. You can check to see if your favorite area meets this criteria by referring to this Dark Sky Finder map of the United States. Bortle Scale Class 3 areas are in blue, Class 2 areas are in gray, and Class 1 areas are in dark gray. Use this Dark Site Finder map for all other locations in the world.

Showcasing your images: From time-to-time, I will feature some of the best images on my @RoyceBairPhoto Instagram account, complete with credits and links to the photographer. The featured images will also appear on my Facebook fan page.

Not-so-dark areas. Not everyone has the opportunity to visit "Truly Dark Areas" within a Bortle Class 1 or 2 Scale. Most of us live in and around light polluted metropolitan areas. Yet, even in these circumstances, there are often nearby regions that one can do acceptable starry night photography. Please help me find acceptable NightScape Photo Walk locations in your locale.

Bristlecone Pine and Milky Way from Bristlecone Loop Trail, Bryce Canyon National Park (This is a Bortle Scale Class 1 area)  ~ © Royce Bair

Starry Night Quotes is a 2018 wall calendar you can order to beautify your home or office and help preserve our dark sky sanctuaries.

Dave Morrow: Night Sky Photography On the Edge of Reality

"Sometimes Things Get Complicated" ~ a panorama composed of 11 images ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

 Night Photography is a completely new field to Dave Morrow. Looking at his portfolio, It's hard to believe that he took his first shots of the Milky Way only two months ago!

Editor's Note: This feature is an update on a post I did about Dave back in October 2012.

"I have always been a huge fan of the subject," says Dave. He looked at thousands of pictures of the night sky, which made him want to create something completely different from everyone else.

"Night Tremors" ~ Ruby Beach on the Olympic Peninsula ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

 Two months ago, Dave was headed to the North Cascades to shoot Picture Lake and overheard someone talking about the meteor showers that night. After shooting the sunset he laid out and waited for the stars. His first shot was a bit dark, and the ISO was to low, but after messing around for about 10 minutes he managed to get something he really liked.

"When I got home from my first shoot and upload the picture onto my computer, I had no clue how to process this beast of an image," reports Morrow.  He decided to experiment and see what happened. As he moved different sliders around in Lightroom, some great colors start to come out in the image, so he decide to run with it, and the rest is history.

"When Worlds Collide" ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

Free Tutorial: Dave's star photography has been so well received on the Internet, he has produced a free tutorial and a set of inexpensive Lightroom presets to help others interesting in this type of night photography:

• Free Star Photography Tutorial (includes a 70-page eBook download)
• Dave's Star Photography Lightroom Presets (48 Lightroom presets for $10.00)

Challenges: Dave's biggest challenge in this new style of star photography is trying to come up with some cool stuff in the foreground to keep his shots interesting. "Finding new compositions that keep people coming back for more is a huge challenge that will continue to grow as I take more shots," remarks Dave.

"Shoot Me to the Stars" ~ Mt. Rainier from Sunrise Point ~ Photo by Dave Morrow

Favorite Equipment and Tools: Morrow's favorite piece of photographic equipment is his Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G lens. "Shooting super wide angles at fast apertures is key to star photography, and this thing handles it like a beast," whips Dave.

Number two has got to be the Nikon D800 which he feels seems to have a star photography “sweet spot” of ISO 5000. "I have never seen a camera handle ISO 5000 like this one does," reports Dave.

Number three would be his Really Right Stuff Tripod. Extending to 72 inches tall is a huge advantage when shooting the night sky for hours, due to the fact that he can look up at his camera without slouching over. The rest of his gear can be found here on his website.

And because the moon is a Milky Way photographer's worst enemy, Dave uses The Photographer's Ephemeris to know when the moons rises and sets (and how bright/big it will be on any given night), as well as the times of the sunrise and sunsets. He also uses a free light pollution map (by Blue Marble). Other tools are mentioned in his online tutorial. (Editor's Note: If you live in the continental United States, another great light pollution map is the Dark Sky Finder mention in our 12 September 2012 blog post.)

On the Edge of Reality: "Escaping people, and at times reality has always been something I enjoy now and then. In order to get good dark skies for stars photography you must do both of these things," says Dave. Adding somewhat philosophically, "So it works out well!"

More of Dave Morrow's photography can be found at his website. Dave also has a Free Learn Photography eCourse.

 

Recognizing the Milky Way in a Light-Polluted Sky

Milky Way rising over Silver Lake near Brighton, Utah ~ © Royce Bair (click to enlarge).
Reddish glow on the left is light pollution from Park City, and on the right is from Heber City.

Last Friday, I participated in an evening photowalk with about 100 local photographers. With the help of a lecture I gave a few days before, I guided many on their first ever photographs of a starry night sky. For several, it was a dream-fulfilled to see and photograph their first Milky Way.

People from big cities throughout the world often write and tell me that they'd love to see and photograph the Milky Way, but it is too light-polluted in their region. For the most part, that's true. However, in almost any area of the world, you can still see the Milky Way if you're willing to drive a few miles and train your eyes to see the shape and features of our galaxy—viewed from the perspective of our planet.

The above photo was taken only 11 miles from the edge of Salt Lake City, and we are still in a 'orange' zone according to Dark Sky Finder's map of the area. Even after the Milky Way appeared at 11:00 PM, in the region that I had predicted, many still could not see it until I photographed it and showed it to them on my camera's LCD monitor:

Even this raw, unprocessed view is 4X brighter than the naked eye view, because of the
light-gathering power of a 20-seconds time exposure, a fast lens, and a high ISO.

It's not hard to recognize the Milky Way in the top, post-processed photo, but it takes some education, experience, and practice to recognize the features of our galaxy, especially in a light-polluted sky, where the contrast and colors of the stars are muted by stray, artificial light.

More light-gathering: The top photo is a double-exposure of the middle image and this 3X exposure to increase the detail in the landscape and the reflection in the lake water:

A 60-seconds exposure washes out the sky and blurs the stars, but adds detail to the landscape. Adding the post-processed sky (mainly contrast adjustments in Photoshop's 'Curves') from the middle image produces the final photo (top).

Jack Fusco: Finding Darkness in New Jersey

"Night Watch" ~ Cape May, NJ ~ © Jack Fusco

Living in New Jersey is definitely the biggest challenge for starry night photographer, Jack Fusco. New Jersey is the most densely populated state in the U.S. so escaping light pollution isn’t an easy task and often feels quite impossible! Because areas near the ocean have the least light pollution, much of Jack's work takes on a bit of a nautical feel.

"When I started photography, I was very big into seascapes and have finally found myself back at the ocean, but more recently under the stars, instead of waiting for the sun to rise. 
After I took my first set of star trails I was immediately hooked on night photography. It was a lot of experimentation at first, but each night was more exciting than the night before. I found myself out shooting any time the skies were clear driving around trying to find new places to shoot or visiting places that I had shot before, but only during the day. Before I knew it I was driving further, sleeping less, and drinking much more coffee!" says Jack.

"Live Endlessly" ~ Strathmere, NJ ~ © Jack Fusco

This photo near Strathmere, NJ is a typical example of his frustrations and his ecstasy. After a few weeks of bad weather or just bad timing, clear skies were finally in the forecast. Fusco excitedly headed out to a spot he had been waiting to shoot only to notice a haze settling in. Jack decided that it had been too long since he was able to last shoot, so he was going to carry on towards his destination. "I stayed positive and continued on hoping it would clear up by the time I got there, but didn’t have such luck," laments Jack. Still determined to shoot, he decided to explore some areas other areas in Strathmere. He continued to found himself staring at nothing but hazy skies, but looking out east over the ocean he saw a sky full of stars. He was able to set up just in time to catch the Milky Way rising over the ocean and spent the next few hours relaxing out on the sand!

"Finding Sirius" ~ Ocean City, NJ ~ © Jack Fusco

After three hours of shooting star trails Jack decided to take a few extra minutes before making the drive back home, and ended up taking this shot. Aside from being one of his favorite shots, it serves as a reminder to him to keep looking beyond what his plans. It reminds him to not just plan his shots, but keep an open mind and always remember to have fun while he's shooting.

"Star Shepherd" ~ Acadia National Park, Maine ~ © Jack Fusco

Fasco sometimes travels to neighboring states for his star photography. The Bass Harbor Lighthouse is at the top of his list when he visits Acadia National Park, Maine — a 12 hour drive from his home in Toms River, NJ. He stayed out until around 3:00 am to take this panoramic, before starting the long drive home.

"Sea Isle Stars" ~ taken w/ his new D800E

Equipment and tools: Jack just recently made the big switch from Canon to Nikon. He's very excited about his new setup for shooting the stars which consists of a Nikon D800E and a Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8. Unfortunately, the weather conditions haven’t allowed him much time to really get out and push his new gear, but so far he couldn’t be happier with the results he's been able to get.

His most valuable tools have been web sites like ClearDarkSky, (light pollution maps and clear sky charts) and apps like Star Walk (astronomy guide). A lot of pre-planning goes in to his shots and both tools are integral parts of his process. Jack first uses the ClearDarkSky site to find new locations and monitor the conditions in those areas. After he as picked out a location, he then then uses Star Walk to figure out exactly when he needs to be there for what he planned on shooting. Editor's Note: Dark Sky Finder is another tool that can be used to find the darkest skies in your area.


What Drives Jack's Night Work?  "I find photographing the night sky to be rewarding on many levels. After driving for hours to get as far from light pollution as possible, there’s a huge rush of excitement when you first get out under the stars. It’s like an entirely different sky that you’re looking up at compared to what I see when I step out of my house. After running around and getting all set up to shoot, you then get to relax and take in all of the beauty of a star filled sky.

"I often have people make comments about how I must have a great deal of patience to sit out there while taking stars trails, but it really couldn’t be further from that. I find the time spent out there to be like an escape from the rest of the world. Once the shot is all finished and ready to be posted online, seeing positive or excited reactions to it is certainly a great feeling... Hearing that someone wants to go explore and get a good view of the night sky after seeing my work is a really amazing thing to hear. [It] is probably one of the best compliments I can receive."

More of Jack Fusco's work can be found on his website and his Facebook page.

Editor's Note: The day I interviewed Jack (via the Internet), Hurricane Sandy was about to make landfall. Fusco's home town of Toms River, is only about a mile inland from one of the hardest hit areas of New Jersey: Seaside Heights and Seaside Park! As I finish writing this, I can't help wonder how many residents wouldn't mind having more connected power and light pollution at this moment (See satellite view of Hurricane Sandy's mid-Atlantic blackout)! I still have not been able to make contact with Jack, but he did manage somehow to post this message on his Facebook page: "We were very fortunate and made it through the storm okay. We're still without power, but certainly lucky to have what we do. There was an incredible amount of loss that is still difficult to fully comprehend. My thoughts are with all of those that have and that still are going through this tragedy." I ditto Jack's concerns, and hope many will join me in making a contribution to a relief charity of their choice.