IT’S GOING to be a beautiful week of sunshine and frost for the Isle of Man with the Met Office 5-day forecast predicting a cold week for the Isle of Man.
Following the relatively mild and wet spell of the last week, the coming days will be perfect for photographers in the early morning with ground frost being predicted every day through to the weekend.
The official forecast says “fair or fine” until Thursday with slightly more cloud cover on Friday. Winds are 10 to 15 mph (force 3-4). Visibility every day is “good”. Minimum temperatures fall to between 1C and 3C but it’s likely to be colder in sheltered valleys and glens.
Photogaphers will also be able to take some spectacular night time shots this week as clear skies are also predicted. It’s possible to get some really beautiful shots of the stars, but there are one or two essential pieces of advice.
A wide angle lens is best so that some foreground detail can be included to give the photograph some scale. You must use a tripod or something totally stable on which to rest your camera. The stronger the tripod the better; some of the flimsy small ones are just not good enough for this.
Set the camera on manual (M) and set the exposure to 15 or 20 seconds (you may need to experiment). Set the aperture to f5.6 or f8. Set the ISO on 1600. Pre-focus the lens using the manual setting as autofocus will probably not work. Press the shutter as gently as possible and then wait for the results. A sample of what can be achieved is shown in our gallery.
The moon is very bright in the night sky this week, so your results will be affected by the brightness of the moonlight. However, the moonlight can also add some stunning effects. If you are taking a shot of the moon with a long lens then the exposure changes dramatically from taking pictures of the stars. A sturdy tripod is essential.
For a picture of the moon the exposure should be around f8 at 1/60th second and probably higher as the moon really is quite a bright object. ISO settings can be reduced to 800 or even 500, but again you will need to experiment before finding the one which gives the best results.
• We would love to see your results. If you take any interesting photographs this week - whatever the subject - we will be happy to publish them. Send to newsroom@isleofman.com
5-DAY FORECAST:
Tuesday 18th January:
Min: 2. Max: 7. No rain.
Weather: Fair or fine.
Wind: WNW or NW 10 or 15, locally 20.
Visibility: Good.
Ground frost at night.
Wednesday 19th January
Min: 2. Max: 7. No rain.
Weather: Fair or fine.
Wind: NW or WNW 10 or 15, locally 20 at first, backing WSW later.
Visibility: Good.
Ground frost at night.
Thursday 20th January
Min: 1. Max: 7. No rain.
Weather: Fair or fine.
Wind: WSW 10 occasionally 15.
Visibility: Good.
Ground frost at first & again later.
Friday 21st January
Min: 3. Max: 8. Very slight chance of rain.
Weather: Mostly fair.
Wind: WSW 10 or 15 increasing W or WNW 15 or 20.
Visibility: Good.
Ground frost at first.
All photographs: Bill Dale www.isleofmanphotos.com
