Backyard fox

 
Sleeping fox in the afternoon.








 Big stretch after afternoon nap.

 I'm awake.  Looking for my next meal.

I see you.  I'm out of here!

Shenandoah Panorama

During the last new moon in September, I again ventured into the Shenandoah National Park at 2 AM.  Besides the usual deer, foxes, owls, and coyotes, the evening was highlighted by my first night time black bear sighting.  He wandered off into the field and I simply froze.  Need to get some bear pepper spray.  This night time photography could get dangerous.  

For this adventure I created a panorama with 23 merged

images.  The Adobe program "Lightroom" does all the hard work. I just have to take the photos in the dark with the bears.

Nikon d750 with Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens shot at f2.8

ISO 3200

10 second exposure

The image is downsized for the web.  The original panorama was over 1 gigabyte in size.

Perseid Meteor Shower August 12, 2016

The Perseid Meteor Shower was visible after the moon set at 1:09 AM on August 12.  The sky was virtually cloud free which made viewing quite spectacular.  The shower far exceeded my expectations with hundreds of shooting stars.  Enjoy the selected photos of the meteor shower over the milky way from Shenandoah National Park.

Milky Way Time Lapse

Here is a link to my first time lapse of the milky way. 

 https://vimeo.com/178187137

The streaks on the low horizon are airplanes.  The higher streaks are shooting stars.  The night was perfect for sight viewing and the photographic conditions were perfect.  The time lapse imaging consisted of 310 images obtained over approximately 90 minutes.  The data was processed in Adobe Lightroom and was downloaded onto Vimeo.  Needless to say, I am hooked on night time photography.

Another Night in the Shenandoah

Last night was cloud free so there was another opportunity to photograph the milky way in the Shenandoah National Park.  Besides single images, I did several panoramas (combining multiple contiguous photos into one picture).  It was also my first attempt at a time lapse (combining 310 photos into a time lapse sequence).  This time lapse was successful.  Now I have to figure out how to upload it for viewing.

2016 Spring Awakening

Here are some pictures from earlier this spring.  Fortunate to have two eastern bluebird nests this year in the cedar bluebird houses that I built this past winter. Wild flowers are abundant in the Great Falls National Park in the early spring.  Local woodlands feature a variety of ferns and my special variety of Jack in the Pulpit.

Eastern Bluebird

Awakening Fern

 Jack in the Pulpit Breaking Out in Early Spring

Jack is Out

Great Fall National Park Wild Flower

Great Falls National Park Wild Flower

Japanese Iris

Montana Milky Way

Here are the latest photos from my recent cross country trip to Montana  (5428 miles).      These images were obtained along the Madison River near Quake Lake in Montana and on Dry Creek Road near Augusta , Montana.                                                                                                                                                                                   

Starry Night in Shenandoah National Park

I've been waiting for the new moon, the optimal conditions for night photography.    The night sky at home looked less than optimal as there was scattered cloud cover.  Before I decided to call it a night due to poor conditions for  photography, I checked the sky one last time at 11 PM.  The clouds had decreased, so I took a chance and drove the 2 hours to Shenandoah National Park.  Dodged a few deer in the park, but no serious encounters.

The sky was not perfect but I decided to take a few photos.  Here are the results. Hopefully there will be another clear night during this new moon cycle.