The Windrift Hotel & New Jersey Shore Photography

Windrift Hotel.

When you stay at The Windrift Hotel, it is a central photography base location; it is a comfortable journey to the East Point Lighthouse and many other Photography Locations. It is just a short ride to The Cape May Zoo. This area is one of the very few places in New Jersey where you can do Milky Way photography. It’s very low on the light pollution scale. There is plenty to see and do during the day, and just steps outside your hotel room, to shoot the Milky Way.

This is what you can do on the beach near The Windrift Hotel.

When you stay at The Windrift Hotel, You can go to this beach at night and do Milky Way Photography!

Check out this image by Milky Way Mike Versprill, one of the best Milky Way photographers in the universe. You can purchase his work at Fine Art America.

You can also book a room at the Windrift and do your own Milky Way photography. Read our Milky Way Photography How To Pages if you are new to Milky Way Photography. You must be sure to come when the conditions are ideal, between April and October during the new moon or the week before.

Impeccable Service and Serene Upscale Zen-like Atmosphere

When you enter the front entrance to the hotel, you are immediately met with a zen-like atmosphere. You will feel right at home with its earth tones and a mix of nature and modern. The service is extremely swift, polite, friendly, and professional. We recommend the ocean-view rooms if you can get one. You should book in advance because in this type of hotel, right with great prices, located right on the beach with immaculate rooms, surely go fast.

Dining at the Windrift

Families appreciate the casual setting, while couples enjoy intimacy. Whether you want a romantic dinner, a casual evening with friends, or a chance to kick up your heels, you’ll find just the right place at Windrift in Avalon.

Breakfast is served 7:30-11:30 AM Saturday and Sunday; Dinner is served at 5:30 PM Friday and Saturday.

Proper dinner attire is appreciated in Restaurant 105. While jackets are not required, they request that guests refrain from wearing baseball hats, tank tops, and any clothes with rips, holes, or tears.

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How to Shoot Milky Way & What You Need

Light pollution map

Check out a Light pollution map before you pick your dark sky location where the milky way is visible.

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 must 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 can zoom in and out on the 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; 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. You can use the remote release or your camera’s built-in two-second timer when exposing your pictures.

How to 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 determine accuracy. 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. You must do this each time you move your camera to take your next angel.

Camera Settings

ISO

Start with ISO 1600 – 3200. This is 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, giving 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.