Post by scottmason on Dec 10, 2012 23:43:17 GMT -6
This year has been one full of adventure and discovery for me. Since I met with Patrick in Sunken Gardens in March and he showed me the ropes of his EQ Mount, I have been soaking in and testing out all of the knowledge I possibly can. I came as far as teaching a course this September at Lill Street Art Center on night photography, in which I included the basics of astrophotography. Astrophotography has really pushed me into new boundaries of the art and continues to do so.
After my college graduation last December, I had about a 6 month period of time in which I was freelancing and had a very open schedule. This opened up lots of opportunities to travel and check out as many dark sites as I could.
I have not posted photos from most of these trips on CA, and I would like to share them with the community here. Positive and negative feedback is welcome. I'm still learning every day how to improve my astrophotography.
There was the trip to my parents' house in May, which I made a thread about. I'll skip those but here is one I like.
Not astrometry related, but my girlfriend came across an orphaned kitten and we took him in. His name is Bela and he's 6 months old now.
In July I was flown down to the Bahamas to photograph my cousin's wedding. My family has a history on Harbour Island, Bahamas. My grandmother owned a small bayside property while she was still alive. Although it was sold last year, my cousin had in the meantime fallen in love with a Bahamian man and decided to tie the knot.
The island is about 1X3 mi and has zero light pollution (no street lights or big businesses).
I picked a night that was clear and had about a 3-hour time window before moonrise. I anxiously sat through dinner, checking my GoSkyWatch app nonstop. Once dinner was over, I rushed my dad into the golf cart and we drove straight to the beach. I knew this was going to be a treat. All of the photos I got were non tracked. I hadn't even a tripod with me so I propped the camera up on some beach chairs and fired away.
In this one we have my father sitting in the foreground with all the splendor of the milky way.
Later that night I went into the yard of the house we were staying and got another shot with a tree framing the milky way.
A 3-frame panorama from that night:
I had another night before returning home that started out clear. I came down to the dockside this time for some different shots.
This was July 6th, which is the Bahama's Independence day. In the next shot you can see fireworks from across the water on Eleuthera island. I was glad to be on a smaller island away from the lights.
And then the clouds rolled in..
This one I call "Earth Cloud Meets Space Cloud"
I've always thought this region looked like an evil face.
Another wide view:
Captured some meteors on the left in this one
That night ended up with the clouds sweeping in so fast, I didn't have time to get off the dock until it was pouring. The room my aunt and uncle had rented on the dockside was locked, as they had flown back home to the states earlier that day. I stood by the doorway trying to keep myself and the equipment dry.
Here's one more
I took a trip up later that month to Wisconsin and stayed with some friends who live on a farm in Green Lake. They have a really nice tree house which I slept in that night as to not impose on anyone. The weather was great that night.
The barn
This one was definitely tricky to get. I ran around in one of their fields as the moon was setting to get the right symmetry and depth of field.
While visiting my mother in late July, I attended one night of the WOW Observers Weekend star party in Hartman Creek State Park in Wisconsin. I arrived early, got all set up and by the time it was nice and dark I was having issues with my scope's go-to functions. It was pointing in the exact opposite direction of the sky that it should have. I was led to a veteran astronomer who was an expert with Celestron gear who was baffled with my situation. I decided to go wide field, as that doesn't require precise tracking. Here are the results
Aquila (false color)
Cygnus
Non-tracked
We took a trip to Tippecanoe to catch the Perseid meteor shower.
We saw some huge fireballs, none of which I caught on my camera. In fact, every meteor shower I've intentionally tried capturing has yielded next to no meteor shots. The meteors always show up in my images when I'm not expecting it.
There was a nice, big dark yard where a few others were quietly sharing Oohs and Ahhs. People coming and going were very courteous with their car lights and kept them off as they drove by.
A funky wide angle shot from Tippecanoe State Park
My favorite from that night
We took a trip to North Carolina in October. The girlfriend wanted to see what it was like as a potential place to move to and I also wanted to check out the skies and culture.
We camped in South Mountain State Park one night. The moon was very bright until it went down, probably 80% full.
The creek by our campsite
Plenty of clouds
Our campsite
Orion comes up later
Only caught one meteor from the Orionids shower. It's a small guy to above left of the tree in the middle.
The elevation offered a crisp view
Outside of Asheville, a small "healing sanctuary" we stayed at a couple nights called Compassionate Expressions.
Orion over a tree
Daytime moon
Spinning an LED hula hoop
The field at the sanctuary by day
A "MoonBow"
A walkway
I visited my parent's house on Thanksgiving. There was plenty of cloud interruption. This one ended up looking like the northern lights
A side-by-side of the Pleiades. One with my 50mm lens on my tracking mount and the other through my scope.
Here's the Eskimo Nebula I did a few weeks ago from Sunken Gardens.
And I'll end with a shot that I got a couple weeks ago from Lawrence Ave with my zoom lens.
Thanks for reading!
After my college graduation last December, I had about a 6 month period of time in which I was freelancing and had a very open schedule. This opened up lots of opportunities to travel and check out as many dark sites as I could.
I have not posted photos from most of these trips on CA, and I would like to share them with the community here. Positive and negative feedback is welcome. I'm still learning every day how to improve my astrophotography.
There was the trip to my parents' house in May, which I made a thread about. I'll skip those but here is one I like.
Not astrometry related, but my girlfriend came across an orphaned kitten and we took him in. His name is Bela and he's 6 months old now.
In July I was flown down to the Bahamas to photograph my cousin's wedding. My family has a history on Harbour Island, Bahamas. My grandmother owned a small bayside property while she was still alive. Although it was sold last year, my cousin had in the meantime fallen in love with a Bahamian man and decided to tie the knot.
The island is about 1X3 mi and has zero light pollution (no street lights or big businesses).
I picked a night that was clear and had about a 3-hour time window before moonrise. I anxiously sat through dinner, checking my GoSkyWatch app nonstop. Once dinner was over, I rushed my dad into the golf cart and we drove straight to the beach. I knew this was going to be a treat. All of the photos I got were non tracked. I hadn't even a tripod with me so I propped the camera up on some beach chairs and fired away.
In this one we have my father sitting in the foreground with all the splendor of the milky way.
Later that night I went into the yard of the house we were staying and got another shot with a tree framing the milky way.
A 3-frame panorama from that night:
I had another night before returning home that started out clear. I came down to the dockside this time for some different shots.
This was July 6th, which is the Bahama's Independence day. In the next shot you can see fireworks from across the water on Eleuthera island. I was glad to be on a smaller island away from the lights.
And then the clouds rolled in..
This one I call "Earth Cloud Meets Space Cloud"
I've always thought this region looked like an evil face.
Another wide view:
Captured some meteors on the left in this one
That night ended up with the clouds sweeping in so fast, I didn't have time to get off the dock until it was pouring. The room my aunt and uncle had rented on the dockside was locked, as they had flown back home to the states earlier that day. I stood by the doorway trying to keep myself and the equipment dry.
Here's one more
I took a trip up later that month to Wisconsin and stayed with some friends who live on a farm in Green Lake. They have a really nice tree house which I slept in that night as to not impose on anyone. The weather was great that night.
The barn
This one was definitely tricky to get. I ran around in one of their fields as the moon was setting to get the right symmetry and depth of field.
While visiting my mother in late July, I attended one night of the WOW Observers Weekend star party in Hartman Creek State Park in Wisconsin. I arrived early, got all set up and by the time it was nice and dark I was having issues with my scope's go-to functions. It was pointing in the exact opposite direction of the sky that it should have. I was led to a veteran astronomer who was an expert with Celestron gear who was baffled with my situation. I decided to go wide field, as that doesn't require precise tracking. Here are the results
Aquila (false color)
Cygnus
Non-tracked
We took a trip to Tippecanoe to catch the Perseid meteor shower.
We saw some huge fireballs, none of which I caught on my camera. In fact, every meteor shower I've intentionally tried capturing has yielded next to no meteor shots. The meteors always show up in my images when I'm not expecting it.
There was a nice, big dark yard where a few others were quietly sharing Oohs and Ahhs. People coming and going were very courteous with their car lights and kept them off as they drove by.
A funky wide angle shot from Tippecanoe State Park
My favorite from that night
We took a trip to North Carolina in October. The girlfriend wanted to see what it was like as a potential place to move to and I also wanted to check out the skies and culture.
We camped in South Mountain State Park one night. The moon was very bright until it went down, probably 80% full.
The creek by our campsite
Plenty of clouds
Our campsite
Orion comes up later
Only caught one meteor from the Orionids shower. It's a small guy to above left of the tree in the middle.
The elevation offered a crisp view
Outside of Asheville, a small "healing sanctuary" we stayed at a couple nights called Compassionate Expressions.
Orion over a tree
Daytime moon
Spinning an LED hula hoop
The field at the sanctuary by day
A "MoonBow"
A walkway
I visited my parent's house on Thanksgiving. There was plenty of cloud interruption. This one ended up looking like the northern lights
A side-by-side of the Pleiades. One with my 50mm lens on my tracking mount and the other through my scope.
Here's the Eskimo Nebula I did a few weeks ago from Sunken Gardens.
And I'll end with a shot that I got a couple weeks ago from Lawrence Ave with my zoom lens.
Thanks for reading!
