Badlands Nation Park, and why I'll probably never be an astrophotographer

We visited the Badlands National Park recently.  The entire purpose was to try my hand at astrophotography. It was a bit windy the night we went out, but I was still able to capture a few shots. None of them are worth showing the public though; they all turned out a wee bit blurry because I used way too long of a shutter speed. At least I know what I did wrong. 

Badlands Selfie | Lisa Kerner | Simply Living Photography

Besides the shutter speed, I learned a few things about astrophotography...

  • It is way harder than it looks
  • With my camera I need to be in place, and focused in, before the sun goes down
  • I am a great big chicken when I am standing out in the middle of no where, in the pitch black. 
Badlands by Day | Lisa Kerner | Simply Living Photography

I seriously would have had a Blair Witch Project experience if my family had not been out in the pitch-black-you-can't-see-beyond-a-foot-in-the-darkness-of-night with me.  I can totally relate to those poor kids...

Joshua Leonard:
I heard two noises coming from two separate areas of space over there. One of them could have been a deer, but the other one sounded like a cackling.

Heather Donahue:
No way!

Joshua Leonard:
Yeah, it was like a serious cackling.

~Blair Witch Project

Badlands by Dusk | Lisa Kerner | Simply Living Photography

I think I will stick to the daylight for now, and something I happen to enjoy, panoramas. 

Things you will need for beginning astrophotography....

  • A tripod
  • A remote trigger.... I have an app that will do this for me, or you can use your timer. Which is what I ended up doing because I forgot about my handy app. 
  • I used a wide-angle lens, because I was wanting a landscape shot.
  • An editing program, because no matter how great of a shot you make, astrophotography almost always needs a boost from editing. 

This is a great site if you want to explore astrophotography further.

You can see more of our visit to Badlands Nation Park at my new Instagram gallery called @wanderingroad

Whoooh , it’s been a busy semester. I’ve left this little space on the back burner. Sorry friends. Who’s happy fall is officially here in a little over a week. 🙋🏻‍♀️ Our colors are really beginning to change, and I’m excited to capture them this year. The sunflowers are hanging their heads, but they are still so beautiful. #sunflowers #sunflowers🌻 #ladybugs
When you’re looking for a specific photo for a photography assignment and you realize that you managed to delete... every! single! picture! of your Yellowstone trip!! 😳😱🤬 To be honest, I’m so mad at myself I can’t even mourn it yet. Gaaaahhhhhh. And yes, before you preach to me about backing up, I have three separate backups, and they are gone! On all three. 🤮🤯🤬 I can always go back. Matter of fact, we are already looking at going back just to shoot, but I can’t replace the family pictures I took. Gaaaahhhhh. 🤦🏻‍♀️💆🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️#photographerproblems
Ummmm.... fall is in the air. “August was nearly over - the month of apples and falling stars, the last care-free month for the school children. The days were not hot, but sunny and limpidly clear - the first sign of advancing autumn.” ~Viktor Nekrasov
I prefer sunsets to sunrises. It might have a ton to do with the fact that I’m not a morning person. More than that though, I am in love with the tones of the sunset hour. To me, sunrises are not nearly as beautiful as sunsets.
We bought some more cherries today. They look so yummy I almost want to eat them. 🍒❤️
A couple of my colleagues and I were chatting about kids, and how they have definite opinions about art at an early age. By the age of two my daughter’s favorite color was yellow. If she had a choice between two of the same object, but one was yellow, she’d choose the yellow one every time. Lollipops, my little pony, stuffed animals, and even art... it didn’t matter she always went with the one that had more yellow.
“Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it.” ~Russell Baker
These babies are still blooming in the hills. I am amazed at how many wildflowers there are due to all the rain we’ve had this year. Usually, we get two weeks of what I like to call “Ireland Green.” This year we are almost to August and still “Ireland Green.” I’m loving it. My soul was parched from the previous years of colorless summers.
“I'm not one of those people who wakes up and thinks, 'Bring on the day!' I have to have about 7 pints of coffee before I'm even remotely awake. But I love the golden hour in the evening, as hokey as that sounds. Just as the sun is about to set and you get those lovely shadows and everything looks gold and yellow.” Me too Stacy London. Me too! #goldenhour #nightowl
Happy Weekend everyone... do you have any grand plans for your weekend? Man do I have the itch to be in a far off destination, exploring a new world. 🤔 I think it might be time to renew my passport.

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Tutorials, Wandering RoadLisa KernerPanorama Photography, landscape photography, The Badlands National Park, Astrophotography