International Space Station Flies over Branch Lake

The International Space Station (ISS) flies over Branch Lake in Ellsworth, Maine on July 25, 2017.

This was a really fun picture to take. My dad had been tracking the space station with a smartphone app, so we knew when it would be passing over the lake. The weather was almost perfect--a cool night, with clear air and few clouds--ideal conditions for taking long exposures. We trooped out to the dock after sunset and set up the tripod. I used an 11 mm lens to catch the wide-angle view. After a few test shots, we set the camera for a sequence of 30 second exposures and waited.

The station came over the lake exactly as predicted, and we started shooting. The resulting image is a composite of nine individual 30-second exposures, with the star-field rotated in each exposure to stack the light of the stars on top of each-other (compensating for the earth's rotation). We hope you enjoy!

Note this version is the adjusted (newer) version of this image, where some of the purple tones that came from the stacked image processing were shifted back towards blue, resulting in a more natural sky. The original image can be seen here:
http://www.kirkoddphotography.com/All-Galleries/For-Fun/For-Fun-Gallery/i-4wrdnqS/A


Interested in purchasing a print? Check out our New England Art Store here:
http://newenglandphotoart.com/featured/international-space-station-over-branch-lake-kirkodd-photography-of-new-england.html

BranchLakeISSGalaxyHDRAstrophotographyNight SkyNew EnglandEllsworthMaine