Night Flight

Last night I finally had the right confluence of flying at night, a window seat, cloudless skies, and having my DSLR handy. Here are some of my shots.

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/10 Sec., ISO 6400

I was on a flight from Dallas/Fort Worth to Tucson when I captured these shots. They aren't as good as I was hoping for, but I hope aren't too bad. The motion of the plane (and the photographer), combined with the optically poor window glass of commercial airlines and the internal lights within the plane, made getting the shots pretty difficult.

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/25 Sec., ISO 6400

My knowledge of the Dallas/Fort Worth area is pretty limited but it is easy to pick out sports lighting. There are four fields in the shot above and one in the shot below.  Both were taken from a high enough altitude that you shouldn't be seeing glare from the fields, yet there it is - light pointing upwards. Poorly directed sports lighting contributes not only to sky glow (lighting up the underside of airplanes) but also light trespass that can disrupt neighborhoods for miles around.

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/50 Sec., ISO 6400

Much of the light in these photos (and in almost all cities) is misdirected and could be improved. Doing so would save energy, lessen the impact of light on the nighttime environment, improve visibility and reduce light pollution. To learn more, check out the website of the International Dark-Sky Association.

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/30 Sec., ISO 6400

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/10 Sec., ISO 6400

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/10 Sec., ISO 6400

What is this?

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/10 Sec., ISO 6400, cropped.

From 30,000 it is difficult to tell, especially since I don't know where the plane was when the shot was taken.

Unfortunately as we came towards Tucson all electronic devices had to be turned off.

Canon 3Ti 50mm 1/10 Sec., ISO 6400

I only got this one, bad shot (above). Sometime I hope to get some good night shots here, but last night wasn't it.

If you like any of these shots you check out my Cities From Space posts, they are the most popular on my blog (much more popular than my Star Trek posts which will continue again soon).