Living in Gardens Cape Town is a privilege. The views are extraordinary. Here are some night time photos. Venus and the moon in close conjunction.
Category: Astro-photography
We spent a weekend in Grootvadersbosch and the second night was really good for astronomy. Clear and near windless. Beautiful!
Long exposure, wide angled images. This one is Venus, Saturn and Scorpio.
The Southern Cross
The new moon sets behind Lions Head as hikers descend from the top after watching the sunset.
During that photographic session I saw a green deep sky object. I am still battling to identify it and figure out why it is green. The red circle on the right is a hiker, the red circle on theleft is Venus, but what is the green object?
Taken in Nieuwoudtville and Augrabies.
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Bontebok Park
Some other pictures we took on our trip through Bontebok National Park
Ericas
Chalets are luxurious but not very well insulated.
Southern Tchagra
Jackie Hangman aka Southern Fiskal
Cape Sparrow in the evening sun.
We went to the Bontebok National park to do some astro-photography. The park is small but beautiful.
Bontebok Park website is here:
There were some clouds early in the evening which cleared up and by 2 am the stars were gorgeous.
Sunset. Clouds to ruin the “seeing”. Nice pictures though.
10 pm. Still clouds but they do add some interest.
2 am and the camera is out of focus. Pictures are still pretty good though.
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Nearly Full Moon
Taken just before Christmas.
Christmas night was full and full south easter was blowing. I couldn’t get any better than this:
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Lunar Eclipse – Blood Moon
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Astrophotography tips
Learnt over a long and hard period.
Choose dark of the moon and a place with low humidity and no mist or aerosols.
Mount the camera on a sturdy tripod.
Focus the camera using auto focus then switch off auto focus. If it is really dark focus the camera before it is too dark to see as the auto focus refuses point blank to focus on stars.
I use a Canon EOS 60 d with a settings display.
Set the exposure time to 500 / focal length. I use an 11 mm wide angle so 500/11 = 45 second exposure. Any more and the stars will start making trails.
Set the ISO the absolute maximum – mine was 6400
Set the aperture to max f stop. I had F5.6.
Hit the button and then keep your fingers crossed no one switches on a torch at the critical moment.
Repeat till you are frozen, then go inside and drain the heat out the bed which will infuriate your wife and ensure you are never allowed out the house at 3 am ever again
Simple.