Low level light for better, and easier, astro photography

I’ve had a soft spot in my heart for the Orion constellation ever since I delivered sailboats out on the open ocean between the east coast and the Caribbean. I spotted him and his belt framed by some boulders at Joshua Tree National Park in the middle of the desert.

First framing

I noticed Orion as I walked in the wedge formed as I passed these two boulders. I set up to make the photo and made the first one with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III and the M.Zuiko 12-100mm f/4.0 Lens. But, I didn’t feel there was enough detail in the rocks. The silhouette was way too deep for me.

Add light

.mgl-masonry { display: none; } #mgl-gallery-634ed22d4001e { column-count: 2; margin: -5px; } #mgl-gallery-634ed22d4001e .mgl-item { padding: 5px; } #mgl-gallery-634ed22d4001e figcaption { padding: 5px; } @media screen and (max-width: 800px) { #mgl-gallery-634ed22d4001e { column-count: 2; } } @media screen and (max-width: 600px) { #mgl-gallery-634ed22d4001e { column-count: 1; } }

I tried to use my red head lamp to add some depth without much success. I followed that with a flashlight, but there was just too much light with too little control. You can see in my examples how uncomfortable the lighting was with those attempts.

Low level light

Low level light to the rescue. Since there was a longer exposure to capture the stars, I set a small light panel about 30 feet away. It was dialed down to about one percent output and had a little diffusion cover over the front as well. When making long exposures you can light a scene with VERY little light as you can see.

Low level light is now my go-to for night sky photography. You don’t need more than the equivalent of starlight so you don’t irritate other sky watchers.

Yours in Creative Photography, Bob