Just when I felt an adrenal rush from the force of Storm Dennis, the wind picks up another notch, the wave sets get bigger and the sea turns even more crazy wild.

With no more dry cloths left and sleeves to wipe the lens clean I hung onto the rattling tripod and grabbed a few hopeful shots. Ok, I didn’t get the best clarity of image through the salty smeared filter but managed to capture the choppy churning power of the Atlantic as the spring tide reached its high point

Practicing long exposures with an ND filter. Was set up with my grandmothers equipment as I am waiting for my ND filter and Intervalometer to arrive. Thanks to her and her willingness to teach and share her equipment I was able to get some decent shots and have a great time!

I recently discovered a small wood of old oak trees on the outskirts of Dartmoor.

It’s not the well known Wistmans or the copse in the valley.

I’ve been waiting for misty/foggy atmospheric conditions for quite a while. The start of the autumnal tones of the dense ferns looked amazing with the morning dew in early September.

It was 3:00am as I walked out to the camera that I'd left in the desert on a tripod connected to my programmed intervalometer to check on the second star trail exposure series of the night.

I was aware the moon had risen during the exposures, and sure enough, it had pretty much ruined the 14 5 minute exposures, which had all been bleached out too much to work with. But the moon… it was absolutely incredible the way it illuminated the stone formations in the desert out there. The best part of all was the way it lit up the Sierra Nevada under the night sky filled with the Milky Way and billions of stars. So I knew I had to make the best of the situation and immediately set up to make some Milky Way photographs with this beautiful arch framing Mount Whitney and Lone Pine Peak under the moonlight.

I set up the camera, dialed in the settings, and pressed the shutter release on the remote. About 20 seconds later, a very bright meteor zipped across the sky, right in front of the Milky Way, and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. 10 seconds later, the shutter clicked closed, and I knew I had the shot. When this image popped up on the review screen, I just packed up the camera and went back to the car.

Dramatic clouds and blue-sky reflected in still waters of the lake from Hallin Fell as the morning sun lit up the landscape. Certainly worth the wait from first light.

Windy Post Waterfall - Dartmoor

The flow of water photographed at 1 second shutter speed looked great as the light caught the cascade. This was edited in photoshop which looks a little like it’s a HDR image but it isn’t.

The waterfall is only a short walk from the large Merrivale car park where the ice cream van is usually parked

A wider angle view than my previous image of the amazing barn on Porlock marshes. Early one morning, the highest tide, still on its was in, is about to cover the last patch of grass. Feeling good at the barn and as Nina Simone sang in 1965 “ It’s a new day , it’s a new lawn”😊☀️

Nikon d5100

11mm

ISO 800

f/3.5

229 x 30s

This is a couple of hours worth of star trails taken at The Pinnacles Desert about two hours north of Perth in Western Australia. I used my old camera for this and let the intervalometer run until the battery ran out while I was off taking Milky Way shots with my other camera.

Well the Perseid Meteor Shower was disappointing this year, about what I expected considering the nearly full moon. Clouds ruined any chance of getting decent shots will it was dark before the moon rose, plus the damn wind made it nearly impossible to get good focus. Don't know why I bother going out to the west desert of Utah to do imaging anymore, every time it's the same crap with the clouds and wind. At least the thunderstorms were cool, that's about the only reason to go out there. Decided to use just one camera this year to save myself some sanity with the editing, was hoping to get about 10-20 good meteors with a few fireballs. Only ended up getting about a half dozen meteors and one fireball. All well, next year should be better with the new moon phase.

Right after the moon rose I captured all my foreground and sky shots, each being 1 minute exposures at ISO 400 and f2.8 shot with my Nikon D800E and Sigma Art 35mm lens on a Sky Watcher Star Adventurer tracking mount. After I got those exposures I just set up the intervalometer to take continuous exposures pointing due north, exposures were 20 seconds at ISO 800 and f1.4. I stitched the sky and foreground exposures separately and then blended them in Photoshop. With the "final" image I layered the shots with meteors (after aligning to where the image matched the base layer using some foreground markers) and then masked just the meteor onto the stitched/blended shot.

If you’ve never heard of this famous tree it’s situated at the northern end of the lake. We walk passed the Cream Tea shop and followed a footpath through a working farm then continued a short distance downwards to Buttermere shore. The water level was low with dark clouds and blustery winds blowing across the lake ; I think we had all the sunshine earlier.

It only took a few minutes to find the ‘Lone tree’ that all togs like photograph. I had a vision in my mind of a silhouetted tree with a smudged heavy clouded dark sky from a long exposure shot.

This spindly little birch tree looks so frail yet stands defiant on such a breezy afternoon. What a dramatic landscape with the surrounding mountains.

I was pleased the conditions were so moody even though the ‘star of the show’ was being wafted about making it tricky to photograph.

Located the constellation Scorpius at about 5200 light years. If you look closely, you’ll see colourful stars which appear within the ring. It is about one minute of arc in our skies.

Canon EOS 60D Ha Modified @ ISO 1600.

50x30 sec subs with calibration frames added.

Celestron C11 at f6.3.

Tracked on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 mount with no guiding.

Polar aligned : Polar Scope.

Filter : None.

Acquisition : Intervalometer.

Imaged from suburbia.

Processed in APP and finished off in LR.

I first started enjoying and learning photography on my local beach often getting drenched by the waves. For many years I only used a wide angle lens and loved its dramatic results. Here’s a recent image taking advantage of the motion of the ocean on this amazing remote beach

Camera: Nikon D50

Lens: Nikkor AF 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED

Multiple lightning strikes above one of Australia's famous icons the Sydney Opera House.

This shot is one of my favourites because it is so difficult to get lightning during daylight or sunset light. I took about 300 pictures to get 5 frames with strikes in them.

The setup was reasonably simple: I set a 5 second delay, to allow me to get ready. Once the camera started taking pictures (continuous shooting, about 7 frames per second), I tossed the ball into the air, and ran to catch it. I omitted a couple of frames at the end of the sequence, so that I didn't "overlap" with myself. (Hence the small gap in the ball's trajectory.)

Taken with Canon 70D, Tripod Mounted, Manual Mode. Used a separate intervalometer to control the delay and shutter: Configured the timer to wait 5 seconds, then hold the shutter open for 2 seconds. However, since the camera was set to continuous shooting, it took ~14 consecutive frames during those 2 seconds, which captured the action.

Used 7 of the captured photos / frames for the final shot. ISO 200, 12mm, f/5.6, 1/400s. I pre-processed the original RAW images in Lightroom, and converted to smaller JPEG images. Imported the JPEG images in Photoshop, each in a separate layer. Then used layer masks to select just the "action" in each shot, allowing all to blend together.

This image of the Grand Canyon nearly featured lightning. I did consecutive sets of nine 10-second exposures with my camera's built-in intervalometer trying to catch it. Of course, within one second of those 90 seconds of exposures ending, about 10 lightning strikes made their way across the scene. Figures.

The storm quickly engulfed us afterward, and as we waited it out in the truck, I cursed the missed opportunity. Despite being a well-trod location, it's still amazing taking in the sheer 3,000-foot drop to the Colorado River below. Good times were had with friends on this evening!

#BogKY #Pleiades #M45 #Astrophotography

Tech.details-brief:

Sony Alpha 7R2 / ILCE-7Rm2 (FF)(ISO1600), Sony LA-EA3 + Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di USD (A011)(600mm f/8), 60s*9frames(Time Lapse Intervalometer Jintu,DSS); RAW stacking

Fork arm from Celestron NexStar 4 SE in eq.mode

Alt ~ 107°

Az ~ 41°

Local date and time of session 13.10.2018 23:18 - 14.10.2018 00:35 (UTC+6)

Photo taken from the balcony (Omsk city)

Engl.: Pleiades

About the M45, see additionally en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades

Landmark in the frame:

Open cluster M45 (Pleiades, Seven Sisters), 1.20m

Star of Taurus Atlas, Атлант (Атлас, 27Tau, HIP17847, SAO76228, HD23850, HR1178, WDS J03492+2403AB), 3.60m

Star of Taurus Pleione, Плейона (28Tau, BU Tau, HIP17851, SAO76229, HD23862, HR1180, WDS J03492+2408Aa,Ab), 5.05m

Star of Taurus Alcyone, Алкиона (Альциона, 25Tau, HIP17702, SAO76199, HD23630, HR1165, WDS J03475+2406AB), 2.85m

Star of Taurus Merope, Меропа (23Tau, V971 Tau, HIP17608, SAO76172, HD23480, HR1156, WDS J03463+2357AB), 4.10m

Star of Taurus Maia, Майя (20Tau, HIP17573, SAO76155, HD23408, HR1149, WDS J03458+2422), 3.85m

Star of Taurus Asterope, Астеропа (Sterope, Стеропа I, 21Tau, HIP17579, SAO76159, HD23432, HR1151, WDS J03459+2433AB), 5.75m

Star of Taurus Electra, Электра (17Tau, HIP17499, SAO76131, HD23302, HR1142, WDS J03449+2407AB), 3.70m

Star of Taurus Celaeno, Келено (Целено, 16Tau, HIP17489, SAO76126, HD23288, HR1140, WDS J03448+2417AB), 5.45m

Star of Taurus Taygeta, Тайгета (q Tau, 19Tau, HIP17531, SAO76140, HD23338, HR1145, WDS J03452+2428AB), 4.30m

Reflection nebulosity NGC 1435 (Merope Nebula, Tempel's Nebula), 4.18m

Reflection nebulosity NGC 1432 (Maia Nebula), 3.88m

Rus.: Плеяды

О рассеянном скоплении M 45 (объект Мессье 45, Плеяды, Семь сестёр) см. ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%8F%D0%B4%D1%8B_(%D0%B7%D0%B2%D1%91%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5)

Родители сестёр:

Атлант (Атлас, 27Tau, HIP17847, SAO76228, HD23850, HR1178, WDS J03492+2403AB), 3.60m

Плейона (28Tau, BU Tau, HIP17851, SAO76229, HD23862, HR1180, WDS J03492+2408Aa,Ab), 5.05m

Семь сестёр:

Алкиона (Альциона, 25Tau, HIP17702, SAO76199, HD23630, HR1165, WDS J03475+2406AB), 2.85m

Меропа (23Tau, V971 Tau, HIP17608, SAO76172, HD23480, HR1156, WDS J03463+2357AB), 4.10m

Майя (20Tau, HIP17573, SAO76155, HD23408, HR1149, WDS J03458+2422), 3.85m

Астеропа (Стеропа I, 21Tau, HIP17579, SAO76159, HD23432, HR1151, WDS J03459+2433AB), 5.75m

Электра (17Tau, HIP17499, SAO76131, HD23302, HR1142, WDS J03449+2407AB), 3.70m

Келено (Целено, 16Tau, HIP17489, SAO76126, HD23288, HR1140, WDS J03448+2417AB), 5.45m

Тайгета (q Tau, 19Tau, HIP17531, SAO76140, HD23338, HR1145, WDS J03452+2428AB), 4.30m

Голубые чертоги Плеяд образованы двумя отражательными туманностями (это они придаюит синее свечение Плеядам):

Туманность Меропы (NGC1435, IC349, VdB22, Ced 19j), 4.18m

Туманность Майи (NGC1432, VdB21, LBN771, Ced 19f), 3.88m

* * *

Shared: Sony-Club

I came across this attractive composition while walking

near Postbridge just after first light. The seasonal conditions were lovely with soft mist and a light powdering of snow.

Taken just before lockdown.

#snow #snowfall #landscape #landscapephotography #dartmoor #winter #mist #Postbridge

A beech tree at Gun Lake (Michigan) under spring stars. Don't miss the tiny shooting star!

Stacked from about 100 exposures (50 minutes worth: 30 sec. each, f/8, ISO 3200). I could have taken more shots, but I'm still learning how the intervalometer on my Nikon D5500 works. Turns out -- not exactly how I thought!

I had a lovely morning on Dartmoor at Mel Tor watching the first sunrise of September. I never expected to see this wonderful rainbow stretching over Dart valley towards Sharp Tor on the right.

What a great way to start the day!

So this is my first shot of Comet Neowise (C/2020 F3) in what turned into a week long chase trying to get as many shots of it as I could before the moon got too full and the comet got too far away. Shot on July 19, 2020.

I shot this towards the tail end of the blue hour here on the South Plains of West Texas at one of my favorite abandoned houses. Shortly after I got this, the clouds moved in and the comet disappeared behind them. Of the images I took before and after this, this was the only one that I was lucky enough to capture some lightning from the approaching storm as well.

Shot with my Fuji X-T2 & Meike 25mm f/1.8 lens; ISO 1600, f/2.8(ish), 15 seconds, 3100K WB; single image + dark frame (subtraction for NR); edited in Photoshop using a few Topaz plugins.

IG: www.instagram.com/jamesclinich/

FB: www.facebook.com/jamesclinichphotography/

Prints available: james-clinich.pixels.com/featured/neowise-and-the-approac...

Devoke Water (pronounced ‘Duvvock is a hidden away mountain lake (tarn) on Birker Fell and is one of the most remote fishing lakes.

‘Seat How’ makes a fantastic backdrop to the boathouse.

The light in late afternoon was dramatically fantastic.

Candler is an unincorporated community in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It lies on North Carolina Highway 151 and U.S. Routes 19, 23, and 74 Business, at an elevation of 2,122.7 feet (647 m). The ZIP code of Candler is 28715. The community is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. This mountain community nestles in Hominy Valley, approximately halfway between Asheville (to the east) and Canton (to the west) via Interstate 40 (about 20 minutes either way). Mt. Pisgah, with access to the Blue Ridge Parkway, stands to the south, Asheville to the east, and Newfound Gap to the north. Most or all of Candler lies within the district of Enka High School, a public secondary school. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candler,_North_Carolina)

Hominy Valley Youth Cheerleading

www.facebook.com/HVYLCheerleading/?fref=ts

Facebook Car Show Event page:

www.facebook.com/events/115598782192149

This image was created from multiple exposures blended together in Photoshop CS6 layers using the "Lighten" blend mode. All exposures were taken with a single Paul C. Buff Einstein strobe with a 22" beauty dish attached to a Elinchrom boom arm and a 3-stop B&W ND filter attached to my lens. If you send me a FlickrMail message, I'll be more than happy to send you some information on mostly how I photograph this style and what equipment I use, along with some YouTube video links that help explain this process.

Please have a look at my automotive photography album: www.flickr.com/photos/kenlane/albums/72157634353498642

The beginning of a vivid rainbow out to sea in the muddy Bristol Channel towards South Wales. It was inevitable that we were going to get a soaking as a dramatic rain storm was fast approaching.

From a high ridge on Sevenmile Mesa near Fisher Towers in Utah, the Milky Way seemed to balance on a sandstone spire. The view straight up was fairly clear, but strands of smoke were already apparent on the horizon. The plan was to use this ridge for shots of the Perseid Meteor Shower the following nights, but the sky was choked with smoke by dawn (my two previous posts), so I packed up to seek clearer air in the mountains of Colorado.

Mars is the bright light to the left of the Milky Way, Saturn appears as if it were in the Milky Way (between a light and dark portion of the galaxy) and Pluto is between them. The meteor trail just above the horizon on the left is unrelated to the Perseid Meteor shower--just good fortune. Thirteen photos were stacked with Starry Landscape Stacker, and the composite was then joined with a long exposure photo of the landscape and the meteor trail using layer masks in Photoshop.

As the intervalometer accumulated the star shots a pack of coyotes serenaded me.

My 2nd visit to Pulpit Rock was less rushed so I was able to climb lower and look around to catch the golden hour. I was expected calm seas but several waves hitting the rock ledges made it interesting photography.

On my way home from shooting another location, I noticed that the flood lights at this rather isolated granary were all off. I quickly stopped hoping to get a few shots before the morning light. This was quite difficult as there is a chain link fence all around. I put my camera on the tripod and carefully put the lens through the small space between the gates in the fence (leaning the tripod up against them; I was very lucky it was a calm, windless night). I took a sequence of shots with my remote trigger (intervalometer) and packed it up and went home.

Shot with my Fuji X-T2 and Samyang 12mm f/2.0 @ f/2.0, ISO 3200, 3800K WB; (5) 15 second shots + (1) dark frame, stacked in Sequator with final edits in Photoshop using a few plugins and actions.

IG: www.instagram.com/jamesclinich/

FB: www.facebook.com/jamesclinichphotography/

Prints available: james-clinich.pixels.com/featured/twilight-at-the-granary...

Image created from multiple exposures blended together in Photoshop CS6 layers using the "Lighten" blend mode. All exposures were taken with a single Einstein strobe with a 22" beauty dish attached to a boom arm. Send me a FlickrMail message, and I'll be more than happy to send you some information on mostly how I photograph this style and what equipment I use.

Please have a look at my automotive photography album: www.flickr.com/photos/kenlane/albums/72157634353498642

The tree with its own micro island was easily spotted from the road so we parked in the next nearest carpark.

The lake level was low allowing us to get close to the tree on boggy ground. I can imagine waders would be needed if there were more rain the week before.

I waited patiently for the wind to drop to have calm water to catch a little tree reflection.

This is the blended startrail from that windy night up Dunnideer, After a lot of hours deciding what images to use in the stack. I ended up using about a third of my images for this blend. This was due to the amount of very minor movements that the wind caused. Staying close to this landmark I'm sure I will revisit on a calm night to shoot a longer startrail.

Memorable things that happened doing this set;

The wind got so intense I had to hold the tripod......for quite a while

The Connection cable for my intervalometer had a broken wire so I splinted it straight using a kebab skewer and insulation tape to a position where it worked for that hour.

I slipped on ice descending the hill and landed on my tail bone sliding down the ice narrowly missing gorse bushes. Came to rest with my headtorch beaming into the sky and to the sound of my tripod sliding further down the hill.

.......all worth it in the end :-)

Nikon d5500

11mm

100 x 30 seconds

ISO 200

f3.5

Processed in startrails.exe

Bluff Knoll is south west WA's tallest peak at 1100m. It's about the only place that has fairly regular snowfalls in the entire state. This was taken though in the middle of summer earlier this year during the first of January's two Super Moons, called the Full Wolf Moon. I'd almost forgotten about this image as it didn't quite turn out how I liked (I stupidly set the intervalometer incorrectly) and I contemplated whether to upload it at all. I drove 4 hours to this spot so I may as well get something out of it! ;-)

Don’t you just love some of the names of our sea and landmarks!

You can just see the cave which goes completely through the white chalky cliffs to the other bay.

A pebbly beach lies beneath the single stack.

The spectacular white chalky cliffs stretch between Durdle Door and Bat’s Head of Dorset.

In summer this beauty spot would be crowded with families and even naughty campers on the other side of the river. But on a very chilly frosty winters dawn it’s peaceful and even more beautiful especially with clear skies and stunning light.

What caught my eye as I wandered around Bellever woods was the hazy golden light upstream and long shadows across the frosty grass. I composed the shot with the sun peeking through the tree creating a small starburst.

Please view large to see the full winters scene.

Milky way rising above valley at Ranau, Sabah.

The only passable shot from the various tries on 16-04-2018 - weather just wasn't right.

We "pacak" our tripods in the compound of Nagaya Homestay, so this shot was literally taken right at our doorstep. Those of you who wish to shoot milkyway in comfort, check out this 6 rooms homestay.

You can setup your tripod, run your intervalometer and then just plonk back on the queen-sized bed. All the compound lights can be turned off, and there's also campground for tent-pitching (as a props or for real, up to you) as well as good sized open hall for small class. And if you wish, they will also cater for your group!

a6000 | samyang 12mm

25s | f/2 | iso4000

© kamrul.arifin.mansor - all rights reserved

Update: This image is featured on NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day at apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200922.html

The two major contributors to the Sun's apparent motion in the sky throughout the year are (a) Earth orbits the Sun while tilted on its axis of rotation and (b) Earth's orbit around the Sun is elliptical (not circular). These factors mean that the position (azimuth) where the Sun sets on the horizon changes slightly from day to day. In the northern hemisphere, the sunset azimuth moves northward from the first day of winter until the first day of summer, then returns southward until the first day of winter. The change in azimuth is most perceptible around the equinoxes (about Mar 21 and Sep 21) and least perceptible around the solstices (about Jun 21 and Dec 21). The farther north or south from Earth's equator, the greater the total change in the sunset azimuth. Here in Edmonton, Alberta at latitude 53.5 N, the change in sunset azimuth in the six months between solstices is quite large, some 84 degrees, from 229.4 (SW) to 313.5 (NW).

A very good place in Edmonton to see sunset along a familiar horizon is Rowland Park Lookout, west of McNally High School, on the bank of the North Saskatchewan River valley. From there, one can see a very wide swath of the horizon, with a skyline from Saskatchewan Drive in the southwest, to the downtown towers directly west, and the apartment buildings on Jasper Avenue in the northeast. To illustrate the sweep of the sunset azimuth, I photographed sunset as near as possible to the 21st of each month from Dec 2019 to Jun 2020, at a fixed location near one of the park benches.

This composite image is the final result of blending seven sunset sequences across three sunset foreground images representing winter, spring and early summer. The image shows several effects on the sunset azimuth due to Earth's axial tilt and elliptical orbit: azimuth change across six months (perihelion to aphelion), azimuth change from month to month, and changes in angle and curvature of the sunset arcs.

All images were taken with a Canon Rebel T3i camera at a focal length of 10 mm, sitting on a Manfrotto tripod, powered by a 12 volt battery buck-converted to the camera's 8.4 volts and activated by a Neewer intervalometer. The solar images, filtered with a Baader solar filter, are spaced 5 minutes apart. The foreground images were taken just after sunset on three of the same dates as the solar images (2019 12 26, 2020 04 18, 2020 05 23).

Here's the essential data from the 7 shoots. Each shoot was planned to start when the Sun was at about 24 degrees altitude and end shortly after sunset.

Date, Sunset time, Az, Chg az, Az Delta 21st Num Delta days

2019 12 26, 16:18, 229.6, +0.2

2020 01 22, 16:56, 236.9, 7.3 +0.4 27 27

2020 02 19, 17:51, 252.1, 15.2 -1.3 55 28

2020 03 20, 19:48, 271.7, 19.6 -0.7 85 30

2020 04 18, 20:41, 290.4, 18.7 -1.8 114 29

2020 05 23, 21:41, 308.2, 17.8 +0.8 149 35

2020 06 20, 22:06, 313.5, 5.3 0.0 177 28

Image Acquisition

Camera: Canon Rebel T3i

Lens: Canon EF-S 10-18mm, at f/11, 10mm FL

Filter: Baader Solar

Mount: Manfrotto tripod with geared head

Power: 12v battery buck-converted camera 8.4v

Timer: Neewer intervalometer

Interval: 10 seconds. Even though I wanted 5 minute spacing for the solar images in the final composite, I shot every 10 seconds as insurance against passing clouds and for flexibility in selecting the lowest altitude solar image above the horizon which varies from flat to sprinkled with buildings of various heights.

Time on site acquiring images: About 17 hours

Image Processing

Processed with GIMP and Paint Shop Pro.

Time processing images: About 34 hours (2 hrs per sunset sequence, plus 20 hours on the final image).

Acknowledgements

Alister Ling built the buck converter for me so I could run the camera for several hours - the camera's battery just wouldn't cut it during the colder months. Although I ultimately didn't use the techniques, Alister helped me explore using Hugin to create panoramas and seamlessly blend skies, and a luminance, flat field divide technique in GIMP. Thank you Alister!

Footnote

For comparison, see my Sunrise Azimuth Sweep image from 2017.

I was stood on the quayside with the rising river level an inch below the top of my wellies and still 45 minutes before high tide.

The plan was to photograph the reflections of the old 1863 unused crane when it was submerged under the highest Autumn morning tide. The image suited a 16x9 crop with selective desaturation.

Referred to as Bode's Nebula, it is however, a spiral galaxy located close to the Big Dipper or Plough asterism in Ursa Major. It has a close companion galaxy M82 the Cigar galaxy, so close together, they are often imaged as a pair.

Lying about 12 million light years from Earth and about 90,000 light years across. Binoculars will pick up M81 as a faint fuzzy patch of light under reasonable sky conditions.

First discovered by a German astronomer by the name of Johann Elert Bode in 1774, hence Bode's Nebula. At the time no one had any clue it was a whole other galaxy.

Johann Elert Bode is the person responsible for all the butt jokes we astronomers have to endure. He's the person that gave the planet Uranus it's name. After William Herschel discovered Uranus, he originally named it Georgium Sidus (George's star), has it was first thought by Herschel to be a star or comet.

Right, now for the usual boring techie bit for those still reading or interested:

Skywatcher quattro 8" S & f4 aplanatic coma corrector

Skywatcher EQ6-R pro mount guided with an Altair 50mm & GPcam setup

Canon 450D astro modded with Astronomik CLS CCD EOS APS-C clip filter. Neewer Intervalometer used to control the exposures.

Only got six useable 6 minute exposures before the clouds rolled over at the end of the night.

Stacked with calibration frames and all processing done with StarTools.

After a long drive from Plymouth we arrived at the Lakes midday for the first location which was more of a recce for the following sunrise shoot. It was my first time in the Lake District so was very excited. I tried my 2nd sharpest 24-70mm f4 lens on my trusty 5D mkii.

I was one of the lucky ones capturing the ‘Steath Sunset’ on 24/06/19. The rain had set in for the evening so we decided to chill out and eat in a restaurant rather than grab a snack and rush for a sunset.

It was still wet outside after our meal as we were driving back to the accommodation but we noticed a hint of pink in the sky. With only 15 minutes until sunset we headed for the pink poppy fields en route watching the sky gradually changing colour every minute. It started to glow with a display of graduated shades of yellow, orange, magenta and blue . We pulled in by the field and like a mad-man I leapt out of the car in excitement, put my camera gear together in quicktime and headed for the field. OMG it was gorgeous. With it still spitting with rain I managed a few photos before the vibrant colours faded quickly into beautiful pastel tones then back to grey again. I never expected that!

The visual rotation that takes place every night under the stars, from the beautiful star colours to the odd meteor, star trails are easy for anyone with a camera, tripod and intervalometer. Captured September 20th 2020 at one of my favorite dark sky locations, a little smoke form the fires out west, a little haze and a touch of frosty dew. 6 hrs of uninterrupted trails.

Sony A6000

Sigma 10-20 @ f4

754x30" exposures

Stacked in StarStax

Processed in Photoshop.

I remember standing on the beach at first light a few metres from my car looking out at the dark cloudy sky. But you can never predict the weather so I didn’t expect this rising sun to break through the clouds and cast a spectacular beam of light under the legs of the pier and across the water to the beach.

#pier #seascape #Leefilters #landscapephotography #paigntonbeach #sunrise

I made the effort yesterday to try a sunrise shoot on Dartmoor even though it was blustery and grey. The unexpected happened with the sun finding its way through the thick low cloud. I turned around and saw this scene so frantically bumbled around trying to fit the pesky 105mm Lee Landscape CP filter and missed a rainbow but was happy with this scene. Gorgeous golden light contrasting with dark grey skies for a moment only

Once again I set up my camera's intervalometer and walked away. Approximately 260 (30 second) exposures.

Merging the star-trail exposure with the lighter foreground exposure is not coming easy to me. I'm masking out the sky using Lumenzia but I think I am missing a step. I would like to bring some green in the tops of those trees. I'll figure it out.

These are fun.

“No matter how old you get, if you can keep the wish to be creative, you're keeping the child alive.” John Cassavetes.

Some friends told me a few days ago to make a different plan on the coast, and what better plan to do that a bit of hiking to go to a beach located in a natural park and then stay to see the Perseids?

The Cañuelo Beach (or Poets Cove), is located at Punta Camarinal, between the towns of Zahara de los Atunes and Tarifa. To access it from the Camarinal Lighthouse, we have to go down through sand paths surrounded by bushes that pass near the edge of the cliffs. A wonderful place, that unfortunately has suffered a deliberate fire recently, which has destroyed a good part of the pine grove located behind the beach. After enjoying the beach for a couple of hours, we returned to the lighthouse. As I always do in these cases, I prepare the composition before the sun goes down. Then I photographed during the blue hour, to adapt the exposure as it got darker. Before the darkness was complete, I illuminated the foreground until I achieved the effect I wanted, in the end that has been my base photo, since the sharpness was quite good and the light more in line with a night picture than the ones I took at the blue hour. When I finally saw stability in the brightness of the sky, I used the camera's intervalometer to take continuous 20 second shots (with a one second interval between them), hoping to capture a shooting star.

The Perseids are a meteor shower that radiate from the constellation of Perseus, northeast direction from the northern hemisphere, being its longest period of activity between August 11 and 13. So although it would have been easier to capture more including more sky in the image, I risked with the composition that I wanted, and I got two of them, but this in the picture was the most spectacular. My wish to capture a Perseid came true.

-------------------------------------

“No importa la edad que tengas, si mantienes el deseo de ser creativo, no envejecerás.” John Cassavetes.

Unos amigos me comentaron hace unos días de hacer un plan diferente en la costa, ¿y qué mejor plan que hacer un poco de senderismo para ir a una playa situada en un parque natural y después quedarnos a ver la lluvia de estrellas de las Perseidas?

La Playa del Cañuelo (o Cala de los Poetas), se encuentra en la Punta Camarinal, entre las localidades de Zahara de los Atunes y Tarifa. Para acceder a ella desde el Faro de Camarinal, hay que bajar por caminos de arena rodeados de arbustos que pasan cerca del borde de los acantilados. Un lugar maravilloso, que desgraciadamente ha sufrido un incendio intencionado hace poco, que se ha llevado por delante una buena parte del pinar situado tras la playa. Tras disfrutar de la playa durante un par de horas, volvimos al faro. Como siempre hago en estos casos, preparo la composición antes de la caída del sol. Luego fotografié durante la hora azul, para ir adaptando la exposición conforme oscurecía. Antes de que la oscuridad fuera completa, iluminé el primer plano hasta conseguir el efecto que quería, en la que al final ha sido mi foto base, ya que la nitidez era bastante buena y la luz más acorde a una fotografía nocturna que las que realicé a la hora azul. Cuando ya por fin aprecié estabilidad en la luminosidad del cielo, utilicé el intervalómetro de mi cámara para realizar fotos continuas de 20 segundos (con un 1 segundo de intervalo entre ellas), con la esperanza de capturar alguna estrella fugaz.

Las Perseidas son una lluvia de meteoros que radian de la constelación de Perseo, dirección noreste desde el hemisferio norte, siendo su mayor período de actividad entre el 11 y el 13 de agosto. Así que aunque hubiera sido más fácil capturar alguna incluyendo más cielo en la imagen, me arriesgué con la composición que quería, y al final un par de ellas entraron en ella, siendo ésta la más espectacular. Mi deseo de capturar una Perseida se hizo realidad.

We’ve had some gorgeous winter weather recently particularly the mornings. I ventured out onto Dartmoor for a short frosty walk across Whitchurch Common from Merrivale car Park beneath Cox Tor. The dawn colours came much early than I expected so had to stride out to get to Windy Cross in time to catch this beautiful scene.

Another amazing location between Shapwick and Sturminster Marshall. It’s quiet with no crowds but the through traffic over the bridge can get busy.

White Mill belongs to the National Trust but always check the opening times.

This is reputedly the oldest bridge in the whole of Dorset, dating from the twelfth century. Walk along the banks of the river Stour and enjoy the birdlife. I sat and watched a pair of Reed Warblers in the reeds next to the bridge and hundreds of swans congregated in the field. Also in the roadside hedge were Cetti’s warblers.

I waded into the middle of the river to photograph the circular reflections of the arches and that impressive dark moody sky.

Set up Intervalometer and let it run for 10 minutes until the storm caught me and had to retreat to car. This strike scared me pretty good. Happy to get one good shot from the whole session. Also created a timelapse with the shots from this session in my feed also. Thanks for checking it out!

The poor man's pixelStick.

Press {L} for the best viewing display.

#Aberdeen

Click the link to see how I set up the shot..

www.flickr.com/photos/dazza1040/16547003503/in/photostream/

Canon 6d

Canon 17-40mm @ 17mm, Iso 640, f7.1, Exposure 1/160.

At this etting I get no ambient light.

Canon 580exII @ 1/2 power, zoom @ 24mm

Trigger YN 622c.

Magic Lantern Intervalometer...{LOVE IT}...........

Set for auto mirror lock up with 2 second timer.

Take a pic every 10 seconds.

I press go and the camera flips the mirror up and waits 2 seconds and takes a pic.

It then waits 10 seconds and repeats until I stop it.

This then lets me walk about with my speed light...

In the video I am triggering the flash for the demonstration.

Then open all images as layers in photoshop and create my own unique light.....

Click the link for the final Image....

www.flickr.com/photos/dazza1040/17136036736/

I hope this shows appreciation for the work that goes into my images.

The War Memorial and Cowdray Hall is the City of Aberdeen's memorial to the fallen of both World Wars. Designed by Dr. A. Marshall Mackenzie and Son. The lion sculpture was designed by William MacMillan, A.R.A. It was sculpted in Kemnay granite by lead mason James Philip, assisted by George Cooper.

FOV Approx 0.7x0.4 Degrees

Canon 60D 15x30sec stacked on the comet @ISO 1600.

Celestron C11 at f6.3.

Tracked on a Skywatcher AZ-EQ6 mount with no guiding.

Polar aligned : Polar Scope.

Filter : None.

Acquisition : Intervalometer.

Imaged from suburbia.

Processed in APP and finished off in LR.

2023 October 17 at 12:15UT

At about 319,839,000 kilometers from Earth.

July, its that time of the year when this wonderful field of Lavender situated near Frome is at its best and ready for harvesting. The family owners have to work hard all year, weeding, cutting the rows and extracting the oil. This field has been there for many years so the rows of plants aren’t so straight but it’s still a spectacular sight. We emailed the owner to ask for permission to photograph their field for a sunset and a sunrise and promised to put a fiver each in the donation box at the farm. The sun didn’t come out for us but still enjoyed capturing the dark sky which seemed to bring out the deep rich Lavender colour of the flowers.

While visiting a granite memorial (Cave-Penney Cross) I discovered some spectacular views and Tors. I walked upward along the path through the colourful Heather and Gorse to the top of Yar Tor. The granite spiralling wall was spectacular especially with a stunning sunset. A tall tripod and a wide angle lens were my ‘tools of choice’.