Comet NEOWISE at Mount Hood Oregon

Here’s my contribution to the wave of photos that photographers have been getting of this miraculous celestial event. This comet wasn’t even discovered until March of this year, 2020. Whenever there’s an event such as this, which involves the night sky, you will find leagues of photographers armed with their cameras and tripod searching for the best spot to sit and enjoy the view while they create their own version of NEOWISE.

For this photo I decided to go to White River on the east side of Mount Hood to do my best to get a shot of the comet with Mount Hood in the frame. I am satisfied with my attempt. I’m glad that I was able to get a photo that included a place. A foreground that could give the photo more interest and a feeling of being there.

It was quite dark and the snow cats on Mount Hood were shining their lights as they groomed the ski slopes. Photographing the mountain from this direction will most certainly include the lights from Timberline Lodge. I just roll with it.

To create this photograph I took two shots, one being a super long exposure at a lower ISO to reveal details in the foreground, and then a shorter exposure at a higher ISO to capture the sky without any streaking of the stars or the comet. I then stacked and blended the two using layers and masks in Photoshop.

Settings:
Photo #1 Foreground: 180 sec (3 min) exposure – f/4.2 1600 ISO
Photo #2 Sky: 20 Sec exposure – f/4.2 – 6400 ISO

Prints of this photo are available at this link: https://www.gary-randall.com/product/comet-neowise-at-mount-hood-oregon/