We had some guests from out of town, and while showing them around, I discovered the Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine.
It’s a very pretty lighthouse even during the day: the grass is green, there’s a red shack nearby, a blue sky, and of course the white lighthouse itself, so there’s a mix of colors. It’s on a rocky island a few hundred feet offshore. You could walk there during low tide, but there are No Trespassing signs.
I decided to come back for a photograph when the full moon is rising. I visited the day before the full moon (so that the setting sun is illuminating the lighthouse as the nearly-full moon rises behind it). That turned out to be a bust: not only was the horizon cloudy, hiding the moon, but by the time the setting sun turns red, it’s hidden behind the buildings of the town, so the lighthouse is just in shadow.
I came back a week and a half later to capture the lighthouse, illuminated by the waning moon, with stars in the background. I got the shot you see here. It’s a 15 second exposure, the longest I could do without getting star trails with my 20mm lens (and APS-C sensor). For post-processing, I used this article‘s advice for enhancing the stars. I also applied an unsharp mask to improve the stars further, reduced noise, darkened the sky, and brightened the lower half of the picture to make the rocks of the island more visible.
I think it’s one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken. You can enlarge it by right-clicking on it and viewing it in another browser tab.
