Starting in 2020, I had been making(infrequent) trips up to Headlands International Dark Sky Park, at the northern tip of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. As the name implies, this is a dark sky site, meaning that there is very little light pollution, which is excellent for star gazing. The last time I was there, I scouted around the region for a campground. I found one very close to Headlands: Wilderness State Park. So I reserved a few days in September 2024, booking rustic cabins(no heat, no running water, no neighbors, and importantly, very little light pollution).

In another post, I will tell you what Cyndi and I did during that vacation. But for this post, I wanted to share at least one picture: the moon rising over the Mackinac Bridge, which connects Michigan’s Lower Peninsula with the Upper Peninsula. I came prepared with my DSLR, a tripod, remote shutter release, and knowledge of when to expect the moon to rise(and a compass). Unfortunately, the horizon had some clouds, and it took a while for the moon to rise above them. Then I quickly had to point the camera more precisely, lock it down on the tripod, and take the shots.

I knew ahead of time that I would have to use ‘exposure bracketing’. The human eye has very high dynamic range(HDR), meaning Cyndi and I could easily appreciate the rising moon, the reflection on the water, and the bridge. Cameras lack this ability, so I needed to take at least two shots. One of the shots had to be exposed enough to show the bridge lights, which will ‘blow out’ the moon(making it far too bright and the wrong color). At least one other shot had to be exposed properly for the moon, which will make the bridge lights so dim they would be invisible. I took several shots, and after vacation, went home to process the images. Which I procrastinated about until March 2025, sigh.

I finally took the time to learn how to postprocess these images, and created this picture that represents what we saw that night. Click to enlarge.

One of the things you have to be careful with in this hobby is to be sure and appreciate the view as you see it, in the moment that you are there to witness it. I assure you we did that, but it’s also nice to have this reminder.