Testing ISO and Shutter at Lighthouse

I’ve never considered myself a professional photographer. It’s just a hobby and one I enjoy without worrying too much about rules or techniques. Most days, I shoot when the mood strikes, and today was one of those days.

Bored from writing reports all day, I grabbed my camera and decided to experiment with light. I wanted to see how it behaves under different ISO and shutter speed settings. I needed a subject that could really showcase the contrast, and what better than a lighthouse? The nearest one was two hours away, but that didn’t stop me. I jumped in the car and made the drive.

By the time I arrived, the sun had already set and the lighthouse stood tall against a star-speckled sky with darkness surrounding it pretty fast. Standing alone in the dark got a bit eerie at first, but once I got in the zone, I barely noticed it.

I spent hours playing with long exposures to capture the lantern’s glow as a radiant starburst, and faster shutter speeds to freeze the beam slicing through the night. To bring out the stars in the background, I pushed the ISO past 10,000 knowing I’d have to denoise the images later to smooth out the grains.

The long exposures revealed satellite trails. So many of them. The sky isn’t just full of stars anymore, it’s littered with artificial light streaks too. I tried my best to remove them while processing.

Here are a few shots from tonight. Hope they have captured the wonder I felt out there.