Tag: stars

Cottager Cover!

Published on by greavesadmin7 Comments

One of the things I love about taking photos is capturing something not many people get to see. The milky way shot I got last summer is one of my favourites of 2017. I submitted it to a few photo contests and was pleased to have it chosen ‘winner’ by The Cottager magazine.

The magazine editor (and contest judge) writes. “This photo might be chosen for best title as well, if that were part of the contest” Glad he liked it.

Here’s the description that accompanied the photo submission:
On Agimak Lake in Ignace we seldom have the combination of conditions required for an exceptional night sky shot: calm, clear and dark (no moon). The evening leading up to this shot presented all three. My neighbour granted permission to use her dock and chairs for a set up. My yard has a security light that would ‘pollute’ the scene. Just around midnight with only my mobile phone flashlight for light, I set up the scene and my camera. Using a Canon 7D mounted on a tripod with a 11-18mm lens open as wide as possible, I took a number of 30 second shots. Each time the shutter was open, I turned my cell phone flashlight on and quickly ‘painted’ the chairs with light. This one was my favourite.

This image is available for purchase on canvas or fine art paper for framing. I’d be happy to discuss options with anyone interested. Check out the Prints page for pricing and other images available.

Dark night; Bright sky

Published on by greavesadmin4 Comments

Was fortunate to enjoy a clear night out at The Cabin.

There were some serious challenges with my gear (actually the operator) and I wasn’t able to get the focus set properly; so much yet to learn.

But the lights of the Milky Way shone bright.

Milky Way

Night lights

Published on by greavesadmin3 Comments

Didn’t see the expected meteor shower at 1:30 this morning but was treated to the beauty of a moonless night sky!

Night Sky

 

I found this article very helpful in getting my gear set properly the evening before so I wouldn’t have to do it ‘in the field’ in the dark. I used my widest, fastest lense a Tamron 17-50mm at f/2.8, 17 mm, ISO 3200 set the mode to BULB and used my wireless timer remote shutter. It was impossible for me to see well enough to fine tune the focus so I crossed my fingers. made sure it was on manual focus and dialed to infinity.

Because of the brightness of our yard light, I took several images with different exposure times. In Lightroom, I selected the image shot at 25 seconds for the horizon and sky (on the left below) and one with a 4 second exposure for the foreground.

exposure time comparison

 

The two images were then layered in PhotoShop. I added a layer mask to the darker shot then applied the gradient tool to reveal just the bottom of image for the foreground.

layered image

All definitely worth the effort, I’d say. 🙂