North Wildwood offers many things to photograph on your photography journey.
During the day, you can see dynamic colors, moving waters, and an abundance of people in the area and on the boardwalk.
At night time, you can do long exposure milky way photography just a short distance out of town on the beach. This is one of the very few places where the Milky Way is visible in New Jersey. There is also a fishing pier less than a ten-minute drive that makes for some great long-exposure milky water effect photography and fabulous sunrise images. The bayside has ample opportunity for sunset photography.
We focused on the Milky Way on this trip, that we needed to go back for one more day. You can get tons of light trails and long exposure images at the amusement park on the boardwalk. If you stay at the Florentine Motel, which we highly recommend you do, it’s just a short walk to the boardwalk at night time to get your light trails while photographing the excitement of the town. We will be going back to get more night trail images of the boardwalk for you.
If you have your family along for the trip and they don’t want to follow you around doing photography, there are a plethora of things for them to do. There are also all kinds of festivals all season long, from the Elks Weekend, Boots on the Ground, The Firemen’s Convention, the Italian and Irish Festivals, and more.
There is a bird sanctuary, The Cape May Wildlife Refuge, just a few miles away at the other end of the barrier island for our bird photographers. The snowy owl makes a showing at this location on occasion.
Nearby Avalon Beach Milky Way Night Photography
It’s a little too dark in North Wildwood, but just a short drive over to Avalon Beach, you have dark enough skies to do Milky Way photography. The last image on the right is East Point Lighthouse, which you can do on your second night traveling from this location. We will venture out to another area near the south side of Wildwood, where the wildlife bird sanctuary is located. It may be dark enough to see the Milky Way, and we will add our information for you. We are also going back out for a night of amusement park long exposure light trail photography, so more will follow in a Wildwood Photography Hot Spot, the other end of the barrier island.
Private Jet Photo Tours out of Teterboro, N.J.
Not from New Jersey? We can fly you by private jet to meet the group for the photo tour and arrange your return flight home. 5-Star Private Jet Tours
While in North Wildwood, Stay at the Florentine Family Motel
This is one of the TOP-TEN families we met in our worldly travels.
The Number One Ranked Traveler Hotel in North Wildwood
You will love this family-owned and operated establishment. The owners live on the premises, and you are in very caring hands. We fell in love with the whole atmosphere and did not want to leave. This hotel is just a short hop from the beach and boardwalk and is immaculate in every area. The deck that overlooks the pool was quiet and relaxing. The atmosphere is geared towards families; your children will enjoy the heated pool and dolphin swim at night. People have been coming here regularly for many, many years.
The one image of the TV screen with the number forty-five (in our gallery) on the top displays the person’s name who has been returning to the hotel for forty-five years. A customer coming back for that many years sums up how well you are treated and how excellent this hotel is. They display a long list of return customers and how many years they have been coming in the slideshow. If you stay here, you, too, will want to return year after year.
The service is outstanding. The dedication of the owners is very apparent when you see every last detail has been finely tuned. The exceptional personalities behind the desk may have a lot to do with why so many people keep returning year after year.
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Free wifi
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Beach and boardwalk block
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Laundry room and grills on the premises
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Heated pool
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Sundeck
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Various specials throughout the season.
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Captain kid weekend. Meet the Captain at the Florentine.
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Stay and play packages that include tickets to an amusement park and water rides.
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Great view of the fireworks, Friday nights, June – September.
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Dolphins in the pool at night. A family event geared for children.
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Various style of rooms that sleep up to ten guests.
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. Keep that in mind; 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.
AREA
INFORMATION
Park and Area Information:
Entrance Fees: None
North Wildwoods has FREE beaches. North Wildwood: 609.522.7500 – Transport via surf chairs at First Aid Station at 15th Avenue.
Dogs are allowed on all beaches from October to May. Dogs are not allowed on the Boardwalk at any time. A dog park and beach are located at Glenwood Ave in Wildwood and clearly marked with a giant fire hydrant sculpture. Hours are from 6 a.m. until dusk. A dog park is located on the east side of the beach at 24th Avenue in North Wildwood; a permit ($10) is required for your dog, and hours are 8 a.m. until dusk.
There are no fees to visit East Point Lighthouse. There are no tours inside.
HOTEL
INFORMATION
WHAT HOTEL TO STAY AT
The Florentine Family Motel
The Best Place to Stay in North Wildwood
Address: 1901 Surf Ave, North Wildwood, NJ 08260 – Phone: +16095224075 – Hours: 8:00am-10:00pm
This Motel offers you everything you need with a fabulous pool, immaculate rooms, great management at one of the best prices in the North Wildwood area. Look no further.
We highly recommend you stay here! Book Now.
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CAMPING
WHERE TO CAMP
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FOOD & DINING
RESTAURANT INFOMATION
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WEATHER?
Area Weather: Click here to see what the weather at this location
WEATHER INFORMATION
Click here to see what the weather is near the location.
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!
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