Knowing When to Call It

Aug 6

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Sometimes when editing a project, whether it’s a video or a photo, one has to make a hard decision, tens of hours in, to push away from the computer and call a project DONE.

This being my first summer in Maine, I really wanted to photograph fireflies. A single frame image is impressive in its own right, but if one can learn how to stack the images to really show all the tracks of the fireflies in one evening, it can turn a great image into a show-stopper. With how much night photography I do, I’ve always wanted to learn how to stack images, as there are several applications for this in night photography in particular, but it’s felt so daunting to me that I haven’t, until now, learned how. What’s more, I haven’t yet developed a comfort level with Photoshop to even have a basic understanding of how to use it (so there’s your answer if you’ve ever wondered if any of my photos were Photoshopped!).

I have, on several hard drives, photo sessions that would benefit from me learning how to stack the shots. It’s just a matter of making it happen. I’ve tried watching a handful of tutorials and to wrap my head around it, but it just hasn’t clicked.

This week, I finally sat down once again and read watched a few more videos. I tried doing even basic things on Photoshop and cried more than once when things just weren’t working as they did in EVERY demo showing the exact same thing.

It didn’t help that I uploaded 450 RAW images into Photoshop, using a huge amount of hard drive space on my computer to process this and slowing things way down.

But I like to think that the combination of that and my hard work have paid off, and I didn’t want to miss any of the beautiful flashing lights from the fireflies.

I took the shots in this at the end of June, and here we are at the beginning of August. But the images are stacked, and after tracing each of the lights, I was able to get them all onto the image I wanted to keep as the background, with the moonlight lighting up the trees, rocks and a tiny bit of fog created by the waterfall.

I captured this 6/30/25 at Screw Auger Falls at Grafton Notch State Park, Maine over the course of about 3.5 hours. I got there shortly after sunset, taking photos of the upper and lower falls (this shot is of the latter) and waiting for the bugs to make their appearance. I set up this camera perched precariously on a rock overlooking the falls, praying a sudden breeze wouldn’t cause it to tumble tens of feet into the river and granite below.

I set up a second camera capturing shots from the top of the falls, but this angle was far less impressive as I viewed it on my computer. I’d hoped to angle it at the upper falls, but the whole night, I didn’t see any fireflies there.

I lay on my back on the flat granite near the upper falls, watching the bugs and the stars and the moon as it sank behind the peaks of the White Mountains as my cameras took shot after shot. I wondered if a moose would sneak up on me, seeking out a drink of water from the Bear River, but none did.

This was edited in Lightroom and Photoshop.

EXIF:

Sony A7Rv with Sigma 35mm DG DN Art f/1.4 lens

10 seconds

ISO 2000

f/2.8

Magnus TR-17L tripod