Cape May New Jersey Photography

Cape May Photography and the Sea Crest Inn

Great Photography and a Great Place to Stay

The Seacrest Inn

Rooms and Information

  • All Rooms & Suites Non-Smoking
  • Free Wireless Internet
  • Easy walk to restaurants and shops
  • 100% Off-Street Parking

Book your stay today.

Address: 101 Beach Ave, Cape May, NJ 08204
  • Panoramic views of ocean, beach, and pool
  • Tranquil adult atmosphere
  • Fully equipped kitchens
  • Large heated swimming pool
  • Poolside gazebo
  • Poolside whirlpool
  • Beautifully Landscaped Gardens
  • Elevator
  • Health Club Passes
  • Coin-operated laundry
  • Daily Maid Service

Subscribe

* indicates required

How to Shoot Milky Way and Night Sky Photography

What you will need:

Light pollution map – light pollution map

Camera – You will need a camera to control your ISO, shutter speed, and aperture manually.

Lens – A fast wide-angle lens of 1.4 – 2.8 is ideal. If you use a 3.5 or higher (slower lens), you will have to increase the ISO. The higher the ISO, the more grain or digital noise or grain in your photos.

Tripod – A good sturdy tripod is essential for night photography. If it gets windy, you will need a sturdy one. Remember that when you buy one, it should be sturdy enough to withstand the wind but small enough to fit in your suitcase.

Sky Map – Sky Guide is $ available through the iTunes Store for $1.99. It has a 5 out of 5-star rating on both the current (3.2) version (1200+ ratings) and all previous versions (8600+ ratings).

Flashlight –  Our choice is Coast brand for flashlights. The ideal flashlight will have high lumens, and you will be able to zoom in and out on the amount of light emitting from the flashlight. Get the HP7, PX45, or the G50. Ideally, go with the  HP7.

Moon Phaze Map – The best time to go is during a new moon, and you want to be in the darkest area possible. The week before the new moon, when the moon has not risen, is a perfect time to go, so check the moonrise chart to see when the moon will be up.

Remote Shutter Release – When painting with light and you want to go over a 30-second exposure, you must have a shutter release to use your bulb mode. When exposing your pictures in general, you can use the remote release, or you can use your camera’s built-in two-second timer.

Use a Tripod – First, you must be on a tripod. A good sturdy tripod is necessary if it is windy. If the tripod moves, your picture will blur.

Focus – Use live view. Use your camera’s live view to focus in the dark, hit the zoom button, and focus on a bright star. You can also use the infinity setting on your lens but do several test shots to see if it is accurate. It can be off a little on some lenses. You can also light it up with a flashlight, focus, then gently, without touching the focus ring, put the camera in manual focus so it will not search for the focus. Each time you move your camera to take your next angel, you would have to do this.

Camera Settings

ISO – Start with ISO 1600 – 3200. This is just a common starting point, and you will adjust from here.

Shutter Speed – Remember, the earth is rotating. If you leave the shutter open for too long, you will see star trails that will not make for a crisp image. We want crisp non-star trail images. Here is the formula to avoid star trails. The 500 rule – Divide 500 by the focal length of your lens. So, if you have a 24mm lens on a full-frame camera, you will set your shutter speed to 20 sec. (500/24 = 20.83). If you are using a crop sensor camera, first do the math of the crop sensor to find the focal length. Cannon is 1.6, and Nikon is 1.5. Convert to full-frame focal length, then use the formula. Nikon 18mm x 1.5= 27mm – 500/27 = 18.51 seconds.

Aperture – Depth of field isn’t critical in these shots, but letting the light into the camera is; therefore, you should shoot wide open. If the depth of field is essential to you, try not to go too high. (wide open =the lowest aperture your camera will allow). You will have to increase the ISO some, which will give you digital noise.

White balance suggestion: Use live view mode to change your white balance settings and see what it will look like. You can shoot in shade or cloud mode as a standard-setting and adjust things later.

USE camera information photography

Basic Photography Information

Cape May can be very dynamic and diverse. You have sunrise and sunset photography opportunities, the milky way, and wildlife.  When there is not much to shoot in New Jersey during the holiday season, you can come here and photograph the architecture and the decorated stores. Ask for Santa and tell him we sent you.

It is also a very haunted town, so bring your ghost-hunting gear after you read our Ghost Hunting Information.

ghost-hunting-lessons-square

Learn from Award-winning-photographer Pamela Goodyer who is also a psychic medium. Photography lessons, tours and workshops.

Individual one on one lessons in Photography or Ghost Hunting

Hire Paranormal Pam to bring on the apparitions and lead your ghost hunt or join her on a Ghost Hunting Photography Tour.

CHECK FOR DISCOUNTS

Photography-Lessons-Pam-Goodyer
FOOD & DINING

FOOD & DINING

Add Your Restaurant Here

Do you want us to send our photography and ghost-hunting friends to your restaurant after their ghost-hunting trip? Put your restaurant information here. We will put a picture of your establishment, the website link, the phone number, and the information on your restaurant to make it easy for our photographers and ghost hunters to find you.

The best hotels while doing photography

HOTEL INFO

Where to Stay

The Sea Crest Inn is the only place we stay. See above for complete details.

Add your hotel here!

Do you want us to send our photography and ghost hunting friends to your hotel for their photography or ghost hunting trip? Put your hotel information here. We will put pictures of your hotel, the website link, the phone number and your information on your hotel.

Would you like to be a featured hotel like this article or this one?  Please send us an email.  You will be surprised at how affordable our prices can be.

area information - photography

AREA

INFORMATION

Cape May Park and Area Information

Entrance Fees: There are no entrance fees to parks in Cape May, but you do have to pay to go on the beach during the season.

WEATHER

 WEATHER?

Don’t forget that you can use a rain sleeve on your camera if it is raining. If it is bright and sunny, you want to use a low ISO such as 100.

If you are doing photography along with your ghost hunting on cloudy days, you can do running water or waterfall photography to avoid the glaring sun. You can also use an ND filter to get a long exposure for dramatic effects, even in the sunshine. If you ghost hunt indoors in abandoned places, be careful!

GOOD CAMPING

CAMPING

Where to Camp in Cape May

Add your campground here!

Do you want us to send our photography and ghost-hunting friends to your campground to stay during their ghost-hunting trip? Put your campground information here. We will put a picture of your establishment, the website link, the phone number, and the information on your campground to make it easy for our photographers and ghost hunters to find you. They are good at getting there in the dark.

Would you like to be featured in an article as a place to stay while doing photography or ghost hunting? If so, please send us an email. You will be surprised at how affordable our prices can be.


error: Content is protected !!