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The challenge remains...
The film is back, and although I've achieved more this year than I did last year, the results were by and large not spectacular.
As I was photographing the showlast nightthis morning, I knew that meteor trails were forming in front of my lens. Unfortunately, only the brightest of these were registering, even given the 1600 speed of the film. (Last year, I learned that digital cameras are not sensitive enough to capture meteors.)
Here's an example of what I captured:
The bright "star" in the picture is actually the planet Jupiter. If you give your imagination a whirl, you can see a reversed question mark that starts around the middle of the photo and moves down, forming the "C" part of the question mark, with the tail pointing down and to the right. That's the constellation Leo, which gives the shower its "Leonid" name.
If you spend much time outside during the Leonids, a presentable number of meteors seem to be coming out of this constellation, and that's the result of the same kind of perspective illusion that makes train tracks converge in the distance. This photo, by the way, illustrates that phenomenon, as both trails point to Leo.
Enough lecturing... can you see the meteor trails? If not, here's a slightly "annotated" photo:
The whole business of scanning photos introduces an uncomfortably high level of loss. The trails are faint, but definite on the original photo, but weak and indefinite on the scan. The lack of "black' in these images is due to the fact that (basically) a full moon is shining pretty high in the sky behind me (I'm actually situated in the shadow of my house, so as to minimize the effects of the moon on my observations.)
Here's another meteor trail, which is somewhat better defined on the photo.
The next photo is my favorite, despite the fact it shows no meteors. It was taken (as were all of these shots) with a 28-mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens on an old 35-mm camera. All of the shots were made using the "bulb" shutter speed, which basically means light can enter the camera for an arbitrary amount of time (determined by the photographer, who manipulates a cable release), and the shutter was held open for between 45 seconds and 1 minute for most of the shots I took last night.
I've told you how bright the moon was last night, right? (Duh... Only about a dozen times!) Well, check out the following photo, which was taken with the camera pointed in a generally easterly direction, at some time between 1 and 2 in the morning:
This is not a trick photograph. The white sky along the horizon is accounted for by clouds (which continued to move east). The trees and mountains were reflecting moonlight into the camera for however long I held the shutter open, and you can see Jupiter and Leo in the sky as well. This shot makes up for my disappointment with not having captured more meteor trails.
The whole experience was fun, despite the cold and poor photographic results. Reports say the Leonids won't be spectacular again until some gawdawful long time (like 2098), but they will be there (along with other showers) on an annual basis. Maybe if I do a little research, I can improve my "astrophotography" techniques.
Cheers...
As I was photographing the show
Here's an example of what I captured:
The bright "star" in the picture is actually the planet Jupiter. If you give your imagination a whirl, you can see a reversed question mark that starts around the middle of the photo and moves down, forming the "C" part of the question mark, with the tail pointing down and to the right. That's the constellation Leo, which gives the shower its "Leonid" name.
If you spend much time outside during the Leonids, a presentable number of meteors seem to be coming out of this constellation, and that's the result of the same kind of perspective illusion that makes train tracks converge in the distance. This photo, by the way, illustrates that phenomenon, as both trails point to Leo.
Enough lecturing... can you see the meteor trails? If not, here's a slightly "annotated" photo:
The whole business of scanning photos introduces an uncomfortably high level of loss. The trails are faint, but definite on the original photo, but weak and indefinite on the scan. The lack of "black' in these images is due to the fact that (basically) a full moon is shining pretty high in the sky behind me (I'm actually situated in the shadow of my house, so as to minimize the effects of the moon on my observations.)
Here's another meteor trail, which is somewhat better defined on the photo.
The next photo is my favorite, despite the fact it shows no meteors. It was taken (as were all of these shots) with a 28-mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens on an old 35-mm camera. All of the shots were made using the "bulb" shutter speed, which basically means light can enter the camera for an arbitrary amount of time (determined by the photographer, who manipulates a cable release), and the shutter was held open for between 45 seconds and 1 minute for most of the shots I took last night.
I've told you how bright the moon was last night, right? (Duh... Only about a dozen times!) Well, check out the following photo, which was taken with the camera pointed in a generally easterly direction, at some time between 1 and 2 in the morning:
This is not a trick photograph. The white sky along the horizon is accounted for by clouds (which continued to move east). The trees and mountains were reflecting moonlight into the camera for however long I held the shutter open, and you can see Jupiter and Leo in the sky as well. This shot makes up for my disappointment with not having captured more meteor trails.
The whole experience was fun, despite the cold and poor photographic results. Reports say the Leonids won't be spectacular again until some gawdawful long time (like 2098), but they will be there (along with other showers) on an annual basis. Maybe if I do a little research, I can improve my "astrophotography" techniques.
Cheers...
no subject
no subject
As I noted, the bottom pic is my favorite. I'm even thinking of getting an enlargement made, for no other reason than I like it.
Cheers...