Martinique — Day Sixteen — Trying Some More Astrophotography with the Fuji X100T

I tried shooting the night sky again tonight, and failed miserably, just like last night. Perhaps it’s my post-processing. Perhaps it’s the camera. Or a little of both, and a lot of my own fault. Nevertheless, today I learned that despite walking about a kilometre or two away from the nearest light sources, the lack of lighting on Martinique still gives off a surprising amount of light pollution.

Table of Contents

Day One — Our Airbnb Host Was Nowhere to Be Found.

Day Two — Like a Bloody Fire Engine!

Day Three — Things You Need to Know About Renting Cars and Dining.

Day Four — I Know Where the Rum’s Gone!

Day Five — The Diamond Rock / Rocher Du Diamant.

Day Six — A Beautiful Sunset.

Day Seven — Beaches and Nudists.

Day Eight — How to Avoid Crowded Beachs on the Weekends.

Day Nine — The Volcano and Jardin de Balatan.

Day Ten — Banana Museum.

Day Eleven — Sunsets.

Day Twelve — the One With Me Being Lazy.

Day Thirteen — Les Trois Ilets, Pointe Du Bout, and the Museums.

Day Fourteen — Anse Michel, Anse Trabuad, and Driving Down a Road Narrower Than Our Car.

Day Fifteen — Astrophotography of the Night Sky with a Fuji X100T.

Day Sixteen — Trying Some More Astrophotography with the Fuji X100T.

Day Seventeen — Restaurant Pignon Nouvelle Vague in Les Trois Ilets.

Day Eighteen & Nineteen — Probably the Best Vacation in My Life.

Please remember that these images are heavily compressed for the web.

The camera in the header photo was positioned at the Milky Way, set to f/2, ISO 6400 and the shutter was opened for 20 seconds. I could and should have tried a 15 second shutter speed too— perhaps I would have picked up less light pollution, of which there is a tonne here, and would have been able to push the exposure and shadows more.

This was shot at almost the same settings — I chose f/2.8 instead of f/2. I also moved to a different vantage point and the camera was pointed closer to the horizon. That was stupid.

Same shot as the one before it, but at f/2. More light gathered from the Milky Way, and less light pollution. By the way, I used gradient filters to remove a lot of it.

This time I pointed the camera higher up towards the sky, away from the horizon. ISO 6400, f/2 and 20 second exposure.

The final shot is probably the best. My X100T was set to the same settings as above, but I pointed the camera even higher up.

Not pleased with the results to be honest, and I don’t think I’ll be attempting any more astrophotography with the Fuji X100T.