Astrophotograhpy – Page 4 – Circadianreflections Blog

Sutro Baths in Moon light

January 9, 2013January 9, 2013Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Nikon, Photography, UncategorizedTagged Deborah M. Zajac, Moon, Night Photography, Nikon, Nikon D700, San Francisco, Sutro BathsLeave a comment

Sutro Baths in Moon light, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

This is from my archives. I’ve wanted to shoot this scene with the full moon for about 2 yrs. Unfortunately when the moon has been full it hasn’t quite lined up or the weather didn’t cooperate. So when I had a waxing gibbous 3/4 moon I went up to the city to get this shot as “practice”.
Since I’m spending a good deal of time at home these days I’ve turned my mind to cleaning out my closets, freecycling lots of clothes, cleaning out my 2012 files and reference materials…I shredded and recycled about 20 pounds of paper, and culling my photo files. While doing that I have discovered photos that are worth working on…like this one.

This is a two image composite. I took the foreground photo then switched lenses to my 70-300mm and shot the moon. Both images were taken the same night within minutes of each other. I blended them in Photoshop CS6. Someday I hope to get this shot with a bit of atmosphere and the full moon lined up just right.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 17-35 & 70-300mmVR

3,186 seconds under Heaven

September 7, 2012September 7, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, hikes, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged Astrophotography, Cathedral Peaks, D700, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon D700, Photography, Star Trails1 Comment

3186 seconds under Heaven, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

That little bit of mist on the lake was cool. It would come and go all the while my companions and I shot here. While shooting on the other side of the lake an hour before we heard a pack of coyotes howling and yipping in the distance. While shooting these star trails something caught my eye moving just to the left on the shore. I thought it was a coyote and in the dark you know how your eyes play tricks on you right…well thankfully it was a only a lone Doe walking by.
I wondered why she was alone and not already fast asleep safely in her den at that hour.
Her belly looked a little large so my thought was she was pregnant. I couldn’t get a shot of her it was too dark… and I admit it I darted behind Enrico when I first caught sight of her in the dark. 🙂 Yes, my instinct is flight not fight.

The Moon and Martian Triangle

August 24, 2012August 24, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, PhotographyTagged Astrophotography, Mars, Martian Triangle, Moon, Nikon D700, Photography, Prime lenses, Saturn, SpicaLeave a comment

The Moon and Martian Triangle, originally uploaded by dmzajac2004-.

Via Flickr:
Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I had to be up rather early for work so I didn’t stray farther than the end of my driveway to take a photograph of the Martian Triangle with the Moon before it set.
If I’m not mistaken above the Moon is Spica, to the right of the Moon is Mars. Above Mars is Saturn. Please tell me if I got that mixed up. Thank you Jackie for telling me about my error. It’s corrected now!

See the “Martian Triangle” in the Sky Tonight! (universetoday.com)
Have You Noticed The Martian Triange In The Sky? (fox41blogs.typepad.com)
Young crescent moon, Spica, Mars and Saturn in August 20 sky (earthsky.org)
Waxing crescent moon, Spica, Saturn and Mars in evening sky (earthsky.org)

“Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.” Neil Armstrong

August 11, 2012August 11, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, PhotographyTagged Astro-imaging, Astrophotography, D700, Neil Armstrong, Nikon, Perseid Meteor, Prime lensesLeave a comment

My friend Dali and I went out last night to watch and photograph the sky hoping we’d see and capture a meteor or two streaking through the night sky. We saw one huge fire-ball streaking over our heads and I’m going to blend those exposures in the future and share them, but there were a few like this that I was fortunate to capture on film. Do you see the faint one below this big one and sort of center? My camera caught several like that, but I wondered all night if my eyes were playing tricks on me.
The weather was perfect too. It was a lovely night for star-gazing.
The Perseids peak tonight. If you get a chance to go out and watch the sky I recommend it.

Nikon D700| Nikkor 18mm| f3.5| 23 sec| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Tripod

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” Carl Sagan

July 9, 2012July 9, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, PhotographyTagged Astro Photography, Carl Sagan, D700, Long Exposure Photographs, Milky Way, Nikon, Wide Field AstroPhotography2 Comments

Even with all the light pollution I think this came out pretty well.

I was happy to see I still was able to get to my Internet server when I arrived home after midnight this morning. I hope this bodes well for my week. “)

Transit of Venus June 5, 2012

June 6, 2012June 6, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Astrophotography, Nikon, Nikon D300S, Photography, Sun, Transit of Venus, Venus, Venus Transit4 Comments

This Transit was a rare event. A once in a Lifetime event for those of us on the West Coast, USA. The next Transit of Venus happens in 2117. I doubt anyone alive today will see it. I didn’t want to miss this special day. I had work on Tues. the afternoon of the Transit. I knew I’d be missing First contact and the first 2.5 hours. No time-lapse for me since I wouldn’t be satisfied not having it from start to finish, but I wanted to see it and if the sky was clear get a photo or two.

The sky around my hometown was full of fluffy clouds all day. The forecast had called for clear skies, but kept changing as the weather kept proving them wrong each hour. Monday, a friend invited me to join him at NASA Ames. Tues. he emailed me updates about the sky condition. Just after 2PM he emailed, “the sky is “mostly clear”. I called my friend Dali and invited him to meet me at NASA Ames then quickly gathered my gear after work, and drove the 12+ miles to get there. I was thrilled to discover commute traffic was light heading north allowing me to drive 65mph the whole way up.

I met my friend Dali in the parking lot and together we found my friend John who stands 6’4″ a good head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd that gathered there to view the Transit.

I set up my tripod and camera/lens/solar filter and started taking photos of the Sun with Venus making its way across the Sun. On my photo above the large black spot is Venus, and the smaller black dots are Sunspots.

John and many other amateur astronomers had set up their telescopes and were allowing people to get a closer view of the Transit. He’s also a Nikon user like me. He kindly let me hook my camera up to his telescope to get a bigger photograph of Venus transiting the Sun. I’ll post that soon.

Thank you John for sharing your scope, and space with me yesterday it was fun, and send my thanks again to your daughter for the goodies. The coffee cake I sampled was delicious!

Dali’s photos of the Transit are here and here.

Nikon D300s| Nikkor 80-200mm @ 200mm + Tamron 1.4x extender= effective focal length 420mm| f11| 1/200s| ISO 400| Manual Priority| Tripod

Strawberry Moon

June 3, 2012June 4, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, PhotographyTagged Moon, Nikon D700, Strawberry MoonLeave a comment

I went out in the backyard to take this photograph of the Strawberry Moon. I thought it looked pretty in the Twilight with the interesting clouds, and that halo.
Native Americans called this Moon a Strawberry Moon because the short season for harvesting strawberries comes during June.
This is a composite blend of 2 frames.

Share this:

Share this:

Related articles

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: