Last week I traveled to New Hampshire to spend a long weekend with some old friends. On the way there, I decided to stop at Farmington, near Rochester, in Upstate New York for the night. I had arrived in the mid afternoon, so I took advantage of the decent weather to go on a photowalk. After returning to my motel, there were a few hours of daylight left. So I setup my Canon 7D for a timelapse of the sky. Although there were few clouds at this time, I thought clouds might roll in as the sun set.

Clouds Timelapse over Upstate New York from Fourth Order Light on Vimeo.

I had arrived in New Hampshire on a stormy evening. However the next morning brought clear, bright sunny skies. This nice weather lasted into the evening, and I quickly noticed the starry sky at night. I went to dinner with friends that night, and planned to run an experimental timelapse of the stars when I returned. In the mean time, the moon had risen above the horizon, lighting up the night sky and obscuring some of the stars. I ran the timelapse anyway, but the stars are not as visible as I had hoped. As the moon moved closer to my field of view, you can see the background getting brighter in this timelapse.

First Astro Timelapse from Fourth Order Light on Vimeo.

I’ve read about people shooting astro timelapses with camera settings like 2400 ISO and 20 second exposures. With the moonshine lighting up the night sky, I set my ISO 250 and had an exposure of 2.5 seconds. It was a good exercise in astro timelapse photography. However I’m looking forward to a clear, moonless night to capture star movement.