Official Photography Thread

[tooblue]

Astro is something I've never tried. One of these days. I don't think my lens would fare much better, these are great. Were they at 24mm? I thought most astro was done with wide angle, large aperture lenses, 2.8 or larger to keep the ISO down. The 70mm would be too long for most astro which I think is more dramatic with a wider field of view like you have. I'll be out at the Oregon coast next week, might try to see what I can get. f/2.8 @17mm is the largest/widest combo I have.

It's the 24-105. A wide angle lens is recommended, but I don't really have access to one. Autofocus is turned off and set to infinity (use live view to manually focus on the brightest object). Also, remember to turn off Long exposure noise reduction as well.

Edit: I think the new moon is on the 18th, so the skies will be dark, dark early next week. I will be with my boys on our annual canoe trip far away from light pollution, so I will be trying to get some good shots as long as there is no cloud cover.

[swampfrog]

I had an old Cannon 6D and upgraded this year to a 6D Mark II. I wish I had swampfrog's lens but the 24-105mm that comes with the 6D body is great for most of my needs. I was mostly shooting at 15" F4.0 with an ISO 6400. The middle image was 20"

Astro is something I've never tried. One of these days. I don't think my lens would fare much better, these are great. Were they at 24mm? I thought most astro was done with wide angle, large aperture lenses, 2.8 or larger to keep the ISO down. The 70mm would be too long for most astro which I think is more dramatic with a wider field of view like you have. I'll be out at the Oregon coast next week, might try to see what I can get. f/2.8 @17mm is the largest/widest combo I have.

[tooblue]

Incredible shots tooblue! I posted a shot my wife took in another thread. Your pics are what she was going for. What camera do you use?

I had an old Cannon 6D and upgraded this year to a 6D Mark II. I wish I had swampfrog's lens but the 24-105mm that comes with the 6D body is great for most of my needs. I was mostly shooting at 15" F4.0 with an ISO 6400. The middle image was 20", and the image where I capture the streaking meteor was set at 10"

[USUC]

Got out on a perfect night to catch the Perseid Meteor Shower at its peak. I played with different exposures, randomly taking shots hoping that I might capture a shooting star in one of them. The last photo was literally the last shot I took. I placed the camera on the ground, pointed it skyward, hit the shutter button and stepped away ...

Incredible shots tooblue! I posted a shot my wife took in another thread. Your pics are what she was going for. What camera do you use?

[Bo Diddley]

Nice! I've been wanting to do some star gazing recently. I think we'll try something soon when conditions are right.

[tooblue]

Got out on a perfect night to catch the Perseid Meteor Shower at its peak. I played with different exposures, randomly taking shots hoping that I might capture a shooting star in one of them. The last photo was literally the last shot I took. I placed the camera on the ground, pointed it skyward, hit the shutter button and stepped away ...

[swampfrog]

Those are outstanding shots, sf. What a lucky break (to go along with your skills).

Yes, had I not just switched settings for flight (with ISO 3x higher than I almost ever go), I would have had a bunch of blurry messes. Turned a bad day around.

[Northwestcoug]

Those are some great shots.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Gorgeous shot.

[mtnbiker]

I sense some Zoom virtual backgrounds here.

[swampfrog]

When I had rented the 500, I went to the local osprey nest. Contrast this shot with the eagles. This is probably my favorite shot to date of anything I've taken. It will hang on my wall shortly. Click to see the larger version.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Those are outstanding shots, sf. What a lucky break (to go along with your skills).

[All-American]

Jeez, those are incredible.

[swampfrog]

Great shots!

They're on the noisy and soft side (hence lacking detail), but the subject down low and close makes up for it. One of the many times I would loved to have had a full frame body and expensive lens. Putting the 2x extender on significantly reduces focus speed and accuracy. After playing with rented expensive glass, I know what I'm missing.

The first one may end up as an entrant to the local annual photo contest for the refuge.

[swampfrog]

Wow!

What is that red-winged blackbird doing?

They regularly harass predators to drive them away from nests. I have a series of one doing the same to a great horned owl that will eventually show up in the Oregon tour thread. Other birds do it also.