Photography

[Moose135]

Hope we get some good weather. A few of us are making plans for a relatively dark spot near Charlotte. Fortunately, it will be visible shortly after sunset, so we won't have to be out all night to catch it.

[LennG]

What is the best time to shoot a night sky, like is the winter a better time because of the colder weather might make the sky a bit clearer?

[Shoelessjoe]

What is the best time to shoot a night sky, like is the winter a better time because of the colder weather might make the sky a bit clearer?

Actually it's not all about the time but also where you shoot because of light pollution.  The best time to get the milky way is in February and July or August.  To shoot the moon or the sun it will depend on where you are.  Let's take the moon.  The full obviously occurs once a month but it will rise differently depending on your location and the time of the year.  The tool Photo Pills that I talked about will tell you where the moon will be at a given location at a given date and time.  So say you are or will be at the famous lighthouse in Maine that you showed photos of earlier.  The tool can tell you exactly where the moon will be so that you can track it and catch it behind the lighthouse.  You don't have to guess where or when it will be in relation to where you are.  The tool will provide you with exacts days, times at the exact elevation when and where the moon or the sun will be.  It does the same for the milky way which is best viewed in the early morning hours usually about 2 to 4 am.

Also, you will be given the exact times of the golden hour and the blue hour which gives you those beautiful soft magenta skies.  The blue hour isn't really and hour.  If you are on the equator there will no blue hour just the golden hour.  The further away from the equator you get the longer the blue hour.  For example where I am the blue hour is at 6:43AM and the golden hour is at 6:55AM with sunrise at 7:13. In the evening the golden hour is at 4:40 PM and the blue hour 4:59PM.  The galactic center is not visible until Saturday 1/16/21.

Light pollution is the night light created by humans.  It show itself as a light on the horizon and will prevent you from seeing stars at that level.  It is difficult to avoid in the US east of the Mississippi.

[Shoelessjoe]

This is a rather long presentation, 1 hour and 21 minutes, by Jennifer Khordi who is a professional photographer who specializes on photographing the moon.  The Statue of Liberty is an absolutely amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGn_ShntWtc&list=PLI-0nYk64zjr3Z8BuNc5txBYbHoMD3NIV&index=5

[LennG]

OK first snow of the season and that usually makes for some great pix. (If you are into things like that)

Looking thru some of my 'snow' pixs here's what I came up with

[Shoelessjoe]

From - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1615/how-to-photograph-the-conjunction-of-saturn-and-jupiter/

The 2020

[LennG]

I would LOVE to be able to photograph this event. My longest lenses is a 300MM, but listening to the weather forecast for the week, they say cloudy most days. Don't know if we will even be able to see this.

[ozzie]

Don't know that I'll be able to photograph it, but our skies are supposed to be pretty clear tonight so I'm hoping to at least be able to see it.

[Shoelessjoe]

At least try to see it.  I probably will not be able photograph it but will try.

[Moose135]

I haven't gone through my photos yet, but I don't know that I got much. We were in a local park, at a beachfront on a large lake, and the wind was blowing something awful. I did get some wide shots, but my big lens (Canon 100-400mm with a 1.6x teleconverter) was acting like a sail, and even on the tripod I was having trouble keeping it steady. We tried a couple of different spots, but couldn't find anywhere out of the wind with a view of the sky.

[Shoelessjoe]

I couldn't see it last night with a heavy overcast sky.  By the way, if you go to the video that I posted earlier, which is over an hour long, the speaker, Jennifer Khordi, talks about wind and the problems that it presents.  Some tripods have a hook on the center pipe at the bottom that you can attach a weight with a rope to it to weigh it down.  She said it is a big problem in Manhattan.  I can attest to that from working in lower Manhattan for 16 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGn_ShntWtc&list=PLI-0nYk64zjr3Z8BuNc5txBYbHoMD3NIV&index=5

[Moose135]

As I had mentioned, we went out to shoot the Conjunction last night without much success. We were at a local park, at a beach on the lake. It was crazy windy, and I couldn't get a stable image. I've tried that technique hanging something heavy off the bottom of the tripod, but I don't think that would have helped much last night.

I did get a few wide shots.




Tonight, the wind was gone, and I was able to see it from our backyard. We grabbed our gear and started shooting...




And here's a bonus shot of the Moon tonight.

[LennG]

Since it was supposed to be visible. it has been cloudy every single evening. We had a couple of nice days but by 4 PM the clouds were all around so I couldn't even see it, let alone photograph it.

I'll guess I'll have to wait 800 years till the next viewing.

[LennG]

A few more pixs that I wouldn't mind seeing on a holiday card

[ozzie]

Here are a few more from me just to keep this thread rolling. All taken in my backyard within the past few weeks....











These two I am almost embarassed to post after Moose let us see his great shots of the "Christmas Star", but this is what I got from the backyard