Moon phases are beautiful

These photos of the moon were taken during the month of February, 2017 with:

                       Nikon d750
                       Nikon TC 14E II 1.4X teleconverter
                       Nikon 300mm F4D
                       1/180 sec @ f11

The weather for the past few weeks has not been optimal for night photography due to rain and clouds.  When the clouds part, the tripod is set up.  First use of this lens was outstanding.

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