If you're interested in doing a session under the stars, this blog post is for you. If you aren't sure what the experience is like, I'm going to walk you through it, in hopes to inspire and prepare you for a special night. Capturing photos under the night sky is an incredible thing to witness in real-time, and I'll explain more on how that happens later in this post.
What many people don't know about me is that astrophotography is what got me into photography.
The first time I traveled to Big Bend National Park, I was blown away by the breathtaking sight of the milky way galaxy. Big Bend, not coincidentally, is the darkest sky and most optimal star viewing in the United States.
Seeing the milky way is possible with the naked eye, but what's even more striking is that the digital camera sensor can pick up more light from the stars that our eyes can see!
Capturing photos of the stars is such a special experience.
I want your photos to feel just as magical as the experience of stargazing is. So, I created a guide below with information on how we will get the best viewing experience so I can capture your session to be as wonder-full as possible.
First, I'll run through some basics of how I can capture you in front of the stars, then I will lay out how I plan for a astrophotography portrait session.
The Recipe:
1. Clear sky
2. Late night
3. Long exposure
4. Get away from urban light pollution
These are the basic ingredients to an epic night shot.
A Clear Sky
Out of all the variables needed for star photography, this is the trickiest one. Planning a star photo session relies heavily on a clear night. While a couple of baby clouds in the sky won't ruin a photo, a cloudy night will definitely obstruct the view of the stars, and result in a far less than amazing shot. Because we will use a long exposure to capture the stars (more on this later) active, moving clouds will take up more space in the sky, further obstructing the amount of stars we can photograph.
If there is a single most important thing to keep in mind as a client when taking star photos it is to be flexible in scheduling. Although it can be a bummer to reschedule the session we've been planning for, it's even more disappointing to drive outside of the city only to find the skies are cloudy and starless. We'll schedule a session date + an available backup reschedule in the case of clouds or rain.
Late night
Brew that coffee + plan to hang around until 11pm so we can capture the darkest night and get the most stars in the shot.
Star photos start around 9:30/10pm and we'll shoot for around an hour so to make sure we get enough shots to build a beautiful visual story under the night sky.
This session can be built around an existing sunset portrait shoot, where we stick around our photoshoot location for an extra hour or two chatting until the stars come out. If this is booked as a solo shoot, we'll meet on location at the time of night fall and start to shoot.
Long Exposure
To capture all the light, I open my camera's shutter stop setting to around 15-20 seconds so the camera sensor can analyze all the light in the shot (aka the light coming from stars) and what we get is more stars than the naked eye can see!
To do this, you'll hold a pose as still as you can so no blur will affect the sharpness of the shot and boom- an astrophotography portrait. Standing still isn't always easy, so it takes some trial and error to be certain we have some tack-sharp shots.
Get away from urban light pollution
Light pollution from urban cities will affect the light we can see from the stars.
This means driving out 30 min or more from the city.
Make a date night of it, and let's plan to meet somewhere beautiful! I have tons of location suggestions for great a great star gaze.
I've photographed the stars around Houston for years, but have also shot the night sky outside of Austin, Galveston, Oahu Hawaii, Costa Rican and Oregon towns.
When all 4 of these requirements are met, we can ensure an amazing starry backdrop.
All of the effort is well worth it, as astrophotography portraits are a rarity.
I hope this guide has helped you if you're interested in booking a star photo session! I know this is a ton of info, so feel free to contact me with any questions. And if you're simply looking for a great place to stargaze with a loved one, I'll be happy to share my best locations around the city to do so!
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