Photography

[Shoelessjoe]

Thank you! That was a "star trails" shot. The camera is set up on a tripod, pointed towards the North Star - that's the one fixed star in the upper left. I use an intervalometer to take a series of shots - this about 90 shots, 60 second exposure each, shot one after another. I have a free program that lets me stack and merge them in Photoshop.

Moose, those night shots especially the one with the light house and the Milky Way is great. You have little to no noise.  What was your gear, camera and lens, and what were your settings.  There are astronomical and night photographers that try to do this with less success then you.

[Shoelessjoe]

Lenn, I just traded in my old gear and purchased a new camera and lens.  I got a great deal from Adorama, the official camera store of the NY Giants.  I had been looking at the Sony Alpha A7RII 42 MP camera for awhile but when they came across with this deal I couldn't turn it down.  The deal was $898.00 for the camera and a sony 28 - 70 F3.5 - F5.6 E mount lens for $398.  So I'm now in the full frame mirrorless world which we discussed awhile ago.  The trade in of three lenses and a nikon D7200 crop camera was about $1,000 so it came to a net of $300.00.  In addition, it came with a Vivitar ND Filter set (3 in the set), a shoulder bag, 1 Extreme Pro 128 GB San Disk card, an Optical Care and Cleaning Kit, and Corel PC-Photo-Video-Art Software Suite.

[LennG]

Lenn, I just traded in my old gear and purchased a new camera and lens.  I got a great deal from Adorama, the official camera store of the NY Giants.  I had been looking at the Sony Alpha A7RII 42 MP camera for awhile but when they came across with this deal I couldn't turn it down.  The deal was $898.00 for the camera and a sony 28 - 70 F3.5 - F5.6 E mount lens for $398.  So I'm now in the full frame mirrorless world which we discussed awhile ago.  The trade in of three lenses and a nikon D7200 crop camera was about $1,000 so it came to a net of $300.00.  In addition, it came with a Vivitar ND Filter set (3 in the set), a shoulder bag, 1 Extreme Pro 128 GB San Disk card, an Optical Care and Cleaning Kit, and Corel PC-Photo-Video-Art Software Suite.

Frank

Sounds exciting. Enjoy the new toys. I am nowhere near that point yet so I'll have to 'suffer' with my Canon.

[Shoelessjoe]

This was my Christmas gift to myself.  I earned it.  I don't want anything else.

[Moose135]

Moose, those night shots especially the one with the light house and the Milky Way is great. You have little to no noise.  What was your gear, camera and lens, and what were your settings.  There are astronomical and night photographers that try to do this with less success then you.

Thank you so much! I shoot with a Canon 5D3. I used a Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 lens. The shot was 15 seconds, f/2.8, ISO 3200. The 5D3 does well in low light, but I did use some noise reduction in post processing. Processing Milky Way photos is something of an art form to bring out the colors.

That's the Bodie Island Lighthouse in the NC Outer Banks. I've shot it a bunch of times, and it's really ideal for night photography. Unlike most lighthouses where the beacon rotates, this one illuminates two times for about two seconds, then is off for a little over 20, which is just about perfect for capturing the stars. I trip the shutter (with a remote) just as the light is dimming, and leave it open for 12 - 20 seconds. That gets some light in the beacon without blowing it out.

On the other hand, this photo had the same settings, but I timed it to get more light from the beacon.

[LennG]

Just a magnificent shot Moose.

We know that lighthouse very well from our few times on OBX.

We were driving back from Cape Hatteras about 3 in the afternoon when the fog just rolled in in seconds. I couldn't believe how dark it got really, in a matter of minutes.

We stopped at Bodie Light and I took a few pix. Nothing like yours, but I always thought it was a good shot.







Another time we went to this lighthouse for a few pix at sunset.



Funny story about this last shot. We were walking along the boardwalk,. back to our car when this huge possum ran out on the boardwalk and literally scared the you know what out of us. Being city folk, we haven't had many encounters with possums.

[Moose135]

Very nice, Lenn! I love that sunset shot.

[LennG]

Out of all the lighthouses on OBX, Bodie is just so much more photogenic than the others.

I am just an amateur compared to some others. I know nothing of photoshop and usually just try and enhance the pics just a bit. Frank has done some amazing things with these 'tools. I also don't get very technical. I know some, but usually shoot on automatic unless I am in low light where I will try and open things up a bit longer. I just LOVE to look at other people's work and get ideas for myself. Your night shots are simply amazing and I would love to even get neat that.

My biggest challenge is trying to shoot lightning strikes. I just can't seem to get that at all. Have you done that and any hints would be appreciated.

[Moose135]

My biggest challenge is trying to shoot lightning strikes. I just can't seem to get that at all. Have you done that and any hints would be appreciated.

I had one really good session photographing lightning a number of years ago - I've tried a couple other times, but never had the same conditions. I was still living in Syosset, and one night I was putting out the garbage and heard thunder coming from the North Shore. I checked the weather radar and saw a line of strong storms along the Connecticut coast of the LI Sound. I threw my gear in the car and headed up to a beach in Bayville.

I had the camera on a tripod - I was shooting with my old Canon 40D DSLR at the time. I set the camera at f/7.1, ISO 100, and used a remote to operate the shutter. I just kept popping off shots, varying anywhere from 15 to 40 seconds, as the lightning did its thing. It was a big storm with plenty of lightning, and I ended up with a bunch of decent shots. If there isn't a lot of lightning, it can be hit or miss on what you get. You can get a lightning-activated trigger for the camera, which will automatically fire a shot when it senses lightning, but I've never done enough of it to bother looking in to those.





This one is my favorite. In the upper left, you can see the light trails of a jet turning in towards LGA. If you look close, you can see the silhouette of the aircraft against the clouds which were lit by the lightning!

[ozzie]

Much like Lenn, I have always wanted to get a great shot of lightning but it has yet to happen.
Those pictures of yours are just phenomenal, Moose!!

[LennG]

Much like Lenn, I have always wanted to get a great shot of lightning but it has yet to happen.
Those pictures of yours are just phenomenal, Moose!!

I agree Moose, just amazing shots.

BTW, where are you now. I live in West Hempstead for the past 25 years.

[Moose135]

I

[LennG]

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[LennG]

 Let's try a few 'close-ups' today

[Shoelessjoe]

To all you night photographers or those who would like to delve into this area the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn will happen again on December 21st.

Both planets will appear in the sky just 0.1 degrees apart... Super, super close!

We