Time-Lapse: Milky Way over East Boothbay, Maine

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Sun photographer Karl Merton Ferron braves mosquitoes for a night under the stars, creating a time-lapse video of scenic East Boothbay, Maine.

While vacationing with my wife Denarah in East Boothbay, Maine, I chose to spend a Friday night, capturing photos of the stars. I remembered the news reporting that the Milky Way would be spectacular to see and photograph from the Southern Hemisphere.

After walking our chow Kuma and not quite finished with the evening, I stayed dressed in shorts and a rain coat, spraying another touch of bug spray to my legs.

Walking up Shore Road (coordinates 43.822166, -69.605332‬‎ ‪+43° 49′ 19.80″, -69° 36′ 19.20″‬), I anchored my Nikon camera with a full frame sensor onto a monopod with detachable legs, framing the scene at the Ocean Point pier.

The night was peaceful, but the air was damp with moisture, or the scene might have been even more stunning.

I counted fames by tossing a single rock at each shutter click onto a pile at an open parking spot overlooking the water. At one point, losing track of my stone-pilling, I curled up and napped, bundling up with my rain coat to avoid countless mosquito bites.

Only a worn down battery stopped me from shooting more.

Between 12:13 and 1:30 a.m., 152 images were taken.

I set the camera to take an image every 30 seconds (about six second delay between each shot) at f/4, set at ISO 3200. All the images were assembled in QuickTime, creating six seconds of footage. Raw images were captured at over 2K, meaning that each frame was more than twice the size of full 1080p high definition.

The resulting footage provided in-depth detail that I could show different scenes within the clip, extending my time-lapse video.

*Edited to clarify the process.