Curious as to how this selfie at the Old Wharf in Kaikōura was taken?
Professional photographer, Neil Protheroe took this “light on the stars” by setting the camera on a tripod, using a wide-angle lens (the focal length used was 21mm) and exposing for 25 seconds at an aperture of f/4, with ISO sensitivity set to 6400.
Neil was able to include himself in the picture by using the self-timer to delay the shutter opening, just for long enough to take up position and then to remain motionless for the duration, head torch switched on.
Night sky exposures longer than 20-25 seconds lead to tiny star trails, whereby the points of light in the photo become short lines as the earth rotates; this is not what I wanted for this particular image. Ideally I wanted sharp stars, bright dots of light as we see them with our eyes. You can actually see a few small trails in this image, so it’s not perfect!
Why don’t you give it a go and create your own night time image to upload to our page?
