Just got a few bell peppers out of my Earth Box garden on the west deck this evening. My tomatoes hate the heat, but the peppers seem to be enjoying it.
This was not originally supposed to be an artistic shot, or even a formal shoot, just an image of a pepper, but a white countertop and black microwave and refrigerator seem to have encouraged other traits for the image.
This is by no means the crispest, best shot that has ever been taken, but it is my attempt at doing shorter exposure night sky objects. This object seemed to be close to the brightness of the waxing gibbous moon (image below). Based on the best information I have available, this object is likely Jupiter (one giant object, and 4 smaller visible objects, and Saturn isn’t up). The apparent size of the object matches something that would be planetary and the objects near it and within its space in the sky (doesn’t usually happen often with objects that size) reinforce that assessment. I have requested a few images from a telescope array operated by Harvard to double check what I observed.
I know what this object is. Our only natural satellite, and the object that seems to be the easiest for me to photo.
In the past week, I have seen three of my digital photographs printed and framed at a size of 24×36, which is quite an impressive size to see. Seeing those prints hanging on walls has caused me to begin reflecting on where I have come from as a photographer and also where I would like to go as a photographer. A year ago I spent a lot of time thinking about digital cameras and their functions, attempting to decide where I fit and what technology fit with me. Last March I decided to take a borderline hobby and began considering following it through to an academic pursuit, merely as an experiment. At some point between May and July when I was working on assignments I found myself being very interested in photography. It had never really been my hobby, more of a hobby I observed through Chris and his talents (he is shy, but very talented). Out of a requirement for the course I searched for a camera that would be adequate for executing the assignments. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I selected the very modest, but very capable Fujifilm S5200 to serve as the camera for my academic exploration of photography. I really had no idea what I was doing then. In December the D60 came into my life and I began relearning photography, with the new camera. That was a difficult time for me, in some ways I was still very attached to the Fuji, all of the controls were familiar to me. I had a momentary encounter with wanting to not be involved with photography, but that eventually passed.
Now, today, I find myself on Flickr, much as I was a year ago, only this time, instead of analyzing everything I see, I am trying to become involved. I am joining groups that are relevant to me, including groups for my lenses, and groups for subjects I like to photograph (boots, plants, etc). I am seeking to share my photography, as well as learn new techniques and avoid becoming boring to myself. I want to remain active with this hobby and not let it fall away like others. I have taken pictures 117 out of the last 190 days, which is something that a year ago I would have thought would have been impossible for me. I do take breaks in photography, but I tend to also photo many days in sequence before doing so. I want to get better with photography. I want to take less exposures per day and have more of them be something I am happy with, but you never know how something will look until you line it up in the viewfinder and take the exposure.
This image is one of my first attempts at astrophotography with the D60. This is through my 70-300mm lens at the 70mm end, in a really dark place (rural Polk County, NC). Apparently all it takes for any type of astrophotography is a dark sky and a long exposure. One thing I encountered but gave no thought to is the impact of the rotation of the earth on the exposure. This image sucks at full size, but is decently cool in smaller sizes.
I have been fighting with my Orion SpaceProbe 130 on the topic of astrophotography for quite a while now, originally with the midget Nikon N7900, which went ok, then with the Fujifilm S5200, which was worse and then with the Nikon D60, which was almost a nightmare, in all configurations. After visiting my local planetarium (James H. Lynn Planetarium, part of the Scheile Museum of Natural History), I began thinking about the topic again.
Tonight I have looked through Orion’s selection of inexpensive astrophotography rated telescopes. I am looking for something more light weight than my primary telescope, as well as something that is better enabled for the type of activity I want to do. I am having a hard time understanding the specifics of how these things are supposed to work. On the most simple approach, there is to be a naked SLR camera mounted directly as a T-mount to the telescope make it work. In my case, that seems to lead to things being out of focus. In other instances, I have tried mounting with the lens attached, which is a little better, but still not great. Because my telescope is a reflector, I see the mirror and its associated hardware through my viewfinder, which isn’t a very nice effect. I really want to make this thing work, which is why I am considering a scope that is designed specifically for the task.
Another annoyance of my present scope is that its weight causes it to move on the tripod without any intervention, but it isn’t particularly conducive to long exposure imagery, the primary objective of astrophotography (the only way to see nebulae and less dramatic features).
I have decisions to make on the topic and to determine if getting a different scope and/or the associated accessories would be worth my time and the cost.
I’m sorry I have not blogged recently, nothing really noteworthy to say, but yet, I have been extremely busy with my aunt’s party preparations and such.
I thought these shots were kind of fun. These are crops at exactly 1600 x 900 as they appeared on my 20” monitor, where I decided they looked cool. These are crops from the 10.2 MP originals. The shots were taken while sitting on a swing by my aunt’s pool.
The new lens arrived this morning. Amazon listed the item as “unknown delivery date” until sometime Wednesday evening, and then on Thursday before I returned home, the lens had shipped and it arrived today. This lens concludes the summer upgrades to my camera system. At this point the lens has only been used for about 18 shots, since the weather has been less than ideal for f/1.8 images today, and this evening at dusk (a good time for the lens) I was busy with a Statistics test.
In a complete irony, an Introduction to Optics textbook that I purchased recently arrived today as well. It was interesting to read how the f-number is calculated.
From the few images I have taken with the new lens I must conclude that it definitely lets a lot of light in and creates an interesting depth of field. It also seems as though the D60 has a few issues metering with the lens, since the automatically metered modes read things a little overly bright.
It is somewhat difficult for me to work with a static prime lens on the D60, since I have gotten so used to sitting still to compose and then zooming to adjust. Now I have a lens that will essentially do nothing notable except let light in, but in photography, that in itself is a wonderful thing.
Here is a sample image, it is Chris holding the 18-55mm lens, which was mounted on the D60 at the time the new lens arrived.
The image is a little overly bright and not as sharp as it could be, probably due to the fact it is too bright (too many stops too slow). My only complaint with this lens is that it is not a VR lens, but oh well, the faster lens speed is supposed to make up for that. While at first I wasn’t sure about using flash with this lens, I now think it might be an interesting thing to try, if for no other reason, just to see how low of a power the flash has to use to match what is needed.
Primarily this lens will be used for portraits, macro and landscapes. It is equivalent to around 50mm on my D-SLR.
I have mixed feelings about this photograph. Sometimes I look at it and want to do a poster-sized print of it to place on my bedroom wall, other times I look at it and think about how badly blurred it is. The color draws me to it, but so does the motion. I am conflicted on the depth of field and how badly distorted the subject is. Any thoughts from outsiders?
Meet CMK7, the newest member of my fleet. This system is the direct successor to CMK5, my 5 year old, aging, desktop. Surprisingly, CMK7 was built to replace CMK5 because CMK5 was running too warmly, not because of any other issues related to speed or hardware problems. Physically, CMK7 stands about 6 inches shorter, and 2 inches less lengthy than CMK5. I also selected a high-gloss case for this system, to match the computer’s intended operating system, Windows 7, as well as its new 20 inch wide display that replaced a 17 inch standard display that replaced a dead 15 inch standard display.
Now for the geeks:
Case: XION XMP 100
Motherboard: MSI K9N2 SLI Platinum AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: AMD Phenom 9600 Quad Core
RAM: 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
HDD: 500GB SATA3
Video: GeForce 9400, 512MB
PS: 500W ATX
Other: System also features a DVD burner and built-in card reader.
Not a particularly high-end system, but it meets my needs and then some.
Current active members of the fleet: CMK4 (file/print/mail server), CMK5-m (laptop), CMK6 (web/media server), CMK6-m (Mini9), CMK7 (new desktop), CMK3-m (laptop on alternate assignment). In addition, my fleet includes several wireless access points, a digital media receiver, and a pair of network printers. At this time there are no future plans for CMK5.
On a side note, this is the first published picture taken with my new speed light (flash), my room is no where near that bright. What do you think?
