Very pitch-black. By the way, 48 years ago we were taken out of class and on a hill to witness a total solar eclipse. The teachers kept us from looking straight at the diminishing solar disc, though we all had miniature pinhole camera obscuras to observe an image. When totality arrived we could see three or four stars in the weirdly darkened sky. I remember how they swiftly vanished and how we could see sunlight approaching. It was exhilarating to realize we were watching the trailing edge of the moon's shadow.
I'm sure in our more enlightened age some members of the Administration attribute eclipses not to the moon, but to demons.
Oh dear. Again, I was first to mention this. Good grief O'Reilly. Your presumption that because you didn't know, I can't have done either, highlights your incorrect assumptions about others. May I suggest you don't rely on preconceived ideas?
I used to play guitar in a band. We practiced at the drummer's house which was the gate house at Little Sur, California about two miles north of Big Sur. Our coast south of Carmel is dark. Most of the time it seemed like when I stepped outside at night the moon was out in one of its phases, and the night sky was much the same as anywhere else with the planets visible, and the major constellations shining bright, but nothing to write home about. Finally , one night, we took a 02:00 break ( no neighbors so we'd play all night), and I went outside to a moonless sky, and I almost fainted.
It was a life-changing moment for me. In an instant I understood how ancient civilizations had figured out the night skies, and their relationships to location, navigation, and the change of seasons, and even how they knew the earth rotated around the sun. This was all right in front of me in the night sky of the Big Sur coast.
Point being, the moon is bright enough to block the view of the Milky Way, even with most lens filters, and had I not gone outside I would have been none the wiser about the real night sky. Sure, it doesn't block out all the stars, but it blocks the the galaxy. I know I'm not saying anything most people here don't already know, but obviously one person doesn't get this. I type this at 01:04 at my new job working night audit at a small motel in Pacific Grove, California. The ocean is about 75 feet away from my desk. We get many night photography specialists here during the week. I see them with their tripods, and various cameras. And I am becoming familiar with the night sky again. At some point I'll buy a night tripod for my DSLR, and practice night photography too.
I'm certain if I use the lens settings the Apollo astronauts did I won't have much luck.
I find myself 10 pages behind once again. Don't expect I've missed much.
Here's a challenge for Vixen.
Go outside on a clear, dark night, in dark surroundings. (May be a challenge in Finland this time of year.) Enjoy the stars.
Put on an LED headlamp, or get a strong LED flashlight. Illuminate a subject with the light. Which will be much less bright than the sun.
Take a picture of the subject using the LED illumination. Get one with the subject properly exposed and showing stars.
Single exposure only.
I'll wait.
I should point out that the only Mike Oldfield I actually like is Tubular Bells and I think that's because his Terry Riley etc influences are more obvious on that.
Trivia: I was born on Mike Oldfield's 18th birthday. And I used to work for a guy called Mike Oldfield, who'd occasionally give autographs which I thought was utterly lousey.
Trivia: I was born on Mike Oldfield's 18th birthday. And I used to work for a guy called Mike Oldfield, who'd occasionally give autographs which I thought was utterly lousey.
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idea.