Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy Photography

Interrupted Star Photography

And now the story of a failed star shoot. We were in the Mountain Zebra National Park. It is a really great park. They have just brought lions in and according to the park staff the lions are “far over there” pointing towards Graaff Rienette.

We were in a fenced camp but worryingly we have seen buck inside the fences so we are not convinced that the fences are as secure as the staff say.

Anyway, at 2 AM I go outside to take photos of the stars because the skies are really quite beautiful and bright in the dry Karoo air.

My first shot and the focus is a bit off.

The milky way slides diagonally across the middle of the image with the Southern Cross (Cruxis) almost on the horizon
There are faint clouds visible on the horizon
A mountain slope with lights on it occupiesthe left bottom of the image

Taking the advice of a wise photographer, I switch to manual focus and attempt to get sharp focus on a distant street lamp.

A street lamp illuminating a tree. A few stars are vaguely discernatble.

Then I start a third photograph setting the timer to 65 seconds.

It is at 30 seconds that a lion roars. It takes about 5 seconds for me to reallise that what I had just heard was a lion, that it might be far away but I wasn’t going to take a chance of it not being in the camp, so I raced inside the chalet and slammed the door which results in a third image which is a nice blend of the stars and the inside of the chalet.

For some odd reason, I didn’t go out again. 😀

A darkened room, with curtains overlaid with stars and a long trail caused by the street lamp
Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy Cape Town Photography Table Mountain

Floodlit Table Mountain

On special occasions, the Council switches on huge spot lights and lights the front face of Table mountain. Tonight is one of those nights.

Table mountain is shown in the bottom third of the  photo. I havent fiddled the white balance so the mountain is a green colour which is quite nice.
The rest of the image has stars in a black background
The top cable car station is visible on the flat top of the mountain
Table mountain is shown in the bottom third of the  photo. I havent fiddled the white balance so the mountain is a green colour which is quite nice.
The rest of the image has stars in a black background
The top cable car station is visible on the flat top of the mountain
Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy Photography Table Mountain

Scorpio Setting

I went out to try out a new lens for my camera and got this image of Lion’s Head with Scorpio setting head first.
Click the image for best viewing.

The photo is a night image
Lions head and high peak is in the centre of the image.
The peak has bare rock on top of vegetation covered slopes
City lights are visible in the bottom half of the image.
Stars surround the peak with Scorpio nearly set to the left of the peak
Categories
Astronomy Moon Photography

Full Moon

We had a disturbance at 4 am which hurled me out of bed. Of course the camera went along. Just in case. There was a full moon just setting over Lions Head. Not a brilliant image, but fun anyway.

Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy Flowers Photography Renonvations Riviersonderend Travel

Portfolio

Recently I found that most creative people have a portfolio so I decided it was time I created a brag page so here we go.
I am a generalist or less politely a jack of all trades. Whichever title you want to use it means I am curious about practically anything so to save you from browsing through the entire website, I will provide a short summary. So here goes

Painting – oil, acrylics and pastels. Acrylic first

Oil

Pastels

Charcoal

Photography – photograph anything that takes my fancy, flowers, sunsets, stars, landscapes and birds.

A glacial pavement just outside Nieuwoudtville when we were part of Pangea.

And then there are the other things

Baking

Croissants

Bee keeping. Bees Bearding a hive to keep it cool

Hiking

Renovating a house in Riviersonderend

Categories
Astronomy

Atmospheric Images

I found this folder with all sorts of great storm and astrophotography pictures so I decided to add them. Just for fun.

And some more

Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy

Whipstock Farm Astrophotography

High up above McGregor in the Breede River Winelands is a dark sky site par excellence – Whipstop Farm. The skies are dark and the horizons are low enough not to become intrusive.

Orion setting into the light pollution of Worcestor

The only down side of the site is the light pollution from Worcester but it is far enough away to be minimally intrusive. The rest of the horizons are pretty much clear of light pollution. Even Cape Town doesn’t really feature.

Facing south. The Milky Way dominates

The light in the trees is from a nearby chalet. There are areas away from the chalets, but the management were happy to kill the lights for me.

Satellite photo bomb
Scorpio rising with the Milky Way in attendance.

I liked the effect of the lights on the trees so I left the lights of my chalet on for effect.

The famous alignment with Jupiter and Venus very close together

I was fortunate enough to be there during the great alignment with Jupiter and Venus almost touching. Such a beautiful sight.

Venus and Jupiter, plus Jovian moons

Separated by a long telephoto lens accompanied by much swearing. The two planets were incredibly bright in the morning sky.

If you fancy some good dark skies, this is the place Whipstock Farm

Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy

Jupiter and Venus

On 1st February 2008 Jupiter and Venus were very closely aligned to one another. These pictures, taken with a digital camera show that event. And some other stars as a bonus.

The Moon in Scorpio
Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy Photography

Partial Solar Eclipse 2020

I have never photographed a solar eclipse for so when the December 2020 eclipse happened I was thoroughly unprepared. Despite this, I managed to get some sensible picture. Not crisp and clear cut, but the eclipse is visible. Note that these pictures were taken as and when the sun popped out from behind clouds. The sun had set before total which was a disappointment though not unexpected.

Categories
Astro-photography Astronomy

Moon Jupiter Conjunction

Recently there was a moon Jupiter conjunction. A wonderful sight.
It gave me a chance to brush up on my astro-photography