Milky Way Over a River Gorge
Holy crap it was dark
Sometimes when I’m out at night there’s just enough ambient light to barely see the landscape to feel like I know where I am, but staring into a gorge like this at the edge of the trees…I might as well have been in a cave. But in a good, holy crap it’s dark, kind of way.
The green color in the sky is from airglow, and the orange glow is from light pollution.
This is probably the most dangerous spot I’ve ever stood at to photograph anything. I’ve shot in the dark from the edge of a cliff a whole bunch of times, but this spot was slanted downhill to the top of the cliff. My tripod was at the edge of the cliff to see around a tree, and I was right behind it standing next to a rock that doubled as a table for my bag. Rock climbers had attached one of their metal loops to the top of the rock, so I was hanging onto that with one hand whenever I needed to turn around.
Nikon Z 6 with NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S lens @ 16mm and f/2.8 for all shots. Sky: Star stacked result of 20 shots each at 10 seconds and ISO 6400. Foreground: Focus stack of two exposures each at 10 minutes and ISO 1600.
Star stacking is a method of taking multiple short exposures to get pinpoint stars and then stacking them in software to average out the noise, resulting in a low noise image. You can learn more about this in my free webinar or my book Night Sky Photography: From First Principles to Professional Results.
Join my Maine Milky Way workshops to learn how all this is done!
2026 Maine Milky Way Workshops
Join me under the stars on my 2026 Maine Milky Way workshops! These are all held in Lubec, Maine, 2 hours east of Acadia National Park.
Jul 14-17 (3 nights)
Aug 11-14 (3 nights)
Sep 8-11 (3 nights)
Come explore the Bold Coast of Maine! These workshops focus on Milky Way photography but we will also capture dramatic sunsets with rugged coastline, lighthouses, and lobster boats as our foreground. There are also opportunities to photograph wildlife including bald eagles, seals, porpoise, and whales.
You’ll get 10% off lodging as part of the workshop.
I’m holding my first ever winter workshops! These are also held in Lubec, Maine, 2 hours east of Acadia National Park.
Jan 12-15, 2026 (3 nights)
Feb 11-14, 2026 (3 nights)
We will focus on lighthouses, landscapes, and fishing boats. Hopefully we will have snow and sea smoke! This is for hearty folks who can stand being out in the cold! Dress warm! See the workshop page.
2026 Newfoundland Iceberg Workshops!
ONLY 1 SPOT LEFT!
I only have one spot left on my May 2026 Newfoundland workshop!
Join me for the adventure of a lifetime on the Canadian island of Newfoundland during peak iceberg season. Each spring icebergs from Greenland and Labrador show up along the northern coast of Newfoundland after making the two year journey. We’ll also photograph dramatic landscapes, iconic fishing villages, puffins, and more.
Twillingate - Fogo Island - Bonavista
May 25 - June 1, 2026 (7 nights, 8 days)
5 spots total, 1 spot remaining
This workshop will start in Twillingate, one of the regular hot spots for icebergs in Newfoundland. We’ll then spend a couple nights on Fogo Island capturing more icebergs and iconic red fishing sheds, then head over to Bonavista for a lighthouse, icebergs, and puffins that can be photographed from land!
Learn more here!
Night Sky Photography Book
My book Night Sky Photography: From First Principles to Professional Results is an Amazon best-seller and has almost 500 ratings! Thanks everyone!
Free Milky Way Crash Course Webinar
My free Milky Way Crash Course webinar is back up for viewing! Many of you have seen this already, but if you haven’t it can get you up and running with Milky Way photography pretty quickly. It covers camera gear, camera settings, shooting with stacking and exposure blending in mind, and planning basics.
Be safe out there, Adam. You are too good of a night sky photographer to lose.