Stars at Night

As the day's fog cleared it became apparent that there would be yet another night of crystal clear skies before the "mist and murk" began to seep through the countryside. As there is a wonderful array of farm buildings around I've been working on ways to feature them in some images. success as you can see below. During the exposure of the second image the sky was lit up quite brilliantly by a fireball meteor that burned for nearly 2 seconds. I though one of the military jets was dropping flares, gave me quite the start.







Here's to more equipment tests!

~James

Equipment Testing

I must admit that these days I take any manufacturer's claims with a grain of salt. In some cases with an entire handful to be quite honest. (I attribute it to being an "old grumpy codger" or at least aspiring to the title.) That is, with the exception of one company: Canon.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I've acquired the latest bit of digital camera kit from Canon, the 40D camera body. Having come up through the ranks with their previous offerings (Digital Rebel/Rebel XT and 20D) I knew what to expect for the most part. I had heard about how "noise-free" the newest DIGIC III chip was supposed to perform and decided to put it through some of the same lengthy exposure times I used when shooting Fuji Velvia slide film just for fun, to see if the reports were exaggerated or not.

Well, I have to say the excitement over this piece of equipment is justified. I set up looking out through a window here in England and used an exposure time of just over 11 minutes. I honestly have to say that for the first time, I'm beginning to see the gap between what digital can reproduce in night photography significantly closing! Compared to similar images coming from a 20D the difference is quite amazing and I fear this means more trips into the cold night air once again.

~James

Evening on the Farm

Fall is a wonderful time of the year, seemingly no matter where in the world you are (that is, unless you're somewhere where there IS no fall). The air gets that crispness that can catch you off guard if you're not expecting it. You look out the window at the grass and can't quite tell if there is dew or frost on the blades. Then there's the sun hitting those leaves as they make their final transformation from natural powerplant to natural fertilizer.

Then there are the nights...

Night photography has always been my time for me. Like shoveling snow or mowing the yard, it is a time when you know you'll not be disturbed. Despite being just a few steps from my door, I was able to enjoy nearly an hour of time to experiment with a new camera body and enjoy an unusually clear night on the farm. And with all the advances in technology over the years, when I photograph at night, for the most part I time my exposures with the time-tested mantra of:

"One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi..."

~James