Astro Photography – Page 2 – Circadianreflections Blog

P52 29/52 Moon over San Jose, CA City Hall

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Photography, TravelTagged Astro Photography, Cityscape, Moon, Night Photography, Project 52, San Jose California City Hall, San Jose California Nature Photographer4 Comments

I met my friend Alex downtown last night to shoot the Moon over City Hall’s Rotunda. City Hall is comprised of the Tower where the Mayor has an office on the top floor, the plaza, and the Rotunda which has council rooms, meeting rooms and a large space for events. The space and rooms in the Rotunda can be rented out for events such as weddings.

The Rotunda reminds me of an Observatory very much like those at Lick Observatory that sit high atop Mt. Hamilton which overlooks San Jose from the East side in the Diablo Range. Lick Observatory was the first permanently occupied mountain top astronomical observatory. Constructed between 1886-1887. I don’t know if that reference is what the architect (Richard Meier) had in mind when he designed the Rotunda though. I can’t find that information.

This new City Hall complex opened to the public in Oct. 2005, replacing the former City Hall complex civic center located on North First Street, which was used from 1958 until 2005. From 1889 to 1958 the city hall was located in what is now Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San José.~Wiki-pedia

I shot the foreground then switched lenses then waited for the moon to rise above the mountains and buildings then I exposed for the Moon to make the second frame, finally in post development I blended the two frames together.

Nikon D700| Tripod
Frame 1- AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm @ 24mm
Frame 2- AF-D Nikkor 80-200mm @ 200mm

P52 26/52 Milky Way Rising and Falling Star

June 30, 2014June 30, 2014Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Photography, Project 52-2014, TravelTagged Astro Photography, Falling Stars, Milky Way, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Silhouette, Stanislaus National Forest, US National ForestsLeave a comment

Some friends and I went camping in North Eastern CA over the week-end to take advantage of the Moonless nights, and get away from light pollution which is ideal for night sky imaging. I got lucky and saw quite a few falling stars throughout the week-end.
The sky was so dark that ISO 3200 wasn’t enough to bring out more of the Milky Way’s light. I made adjustments the following evening. In this image the Milky Way is just rising above the mountains and was still too light out to get the rich detail of the gas, dust, and dark vein of the Great Rift, but I want to share the falling star that was streaking along the MW that I captured. Though faint I thought it was neat.

Travelerette enjoying the view of the Stanislaus River. This was right behind our campsite.

Our campsite was in a Walk-in campground. There were 10 campsites, with one Vault toilet, no potable water, and tent camping only. Fortunately, we were able to get a spot with shade and on the river. No reservations; this campground is “first come-first serve.

My tent is on the left under a big pine tree. It’s a Big Agnes 2. I have plenty of room for me and my stuff. The tent set up is color coded so, it’s a breeze to set up.

I took my old Red Rider wagon which made hauling our gear to and from the campsite a piece of cake. The hike in was about an 1/8 of mile…maybe a wee bit less. The days were hot, but not unbearable, sitting in the shade I got chilly, the nights, and mornings were chilly, but by 8AM both mornings I was shedding layers. We met some lovely people all were also from the Bay Area.

more to come…

P52 21/52 One Thousand Five Hundred Seventy Five Seconds under the Stars

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Photography, TravelTagged Astro Photography, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Star Trails, Yosemite National ParkLeave a comment

Taken from Washburn Point in Yosemite National Park.

Last week while in Yosemite I shot the stars for an hour, but the Moon was out early and so bright, being nearly Full that it washed out the majority of the stars. I decided to make a return visit since the Moon wasn’t going to rise until midnight.

I thought I’d be alone up there after sunset, but there were two more star/night sky enthusiast there. It was really nice to have the company.
It was lovely meeting you both David, and Brian!

15 frames| 105 seconds each| stacked in StarStaX

P52 17/52 Spring Morning Sun

April 23, 2014Posted in Astrophotograhpy, PhotographyTagged Afternoon Sun, Astro Photography, Astro-imaging, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Solar Imaging1 Comment

It’s been sometime since I last made an image of the Sun so, I thought I’d dig out my Solar Filter and capture the Sun while it was still fairly low in the morning sky for this week’s Project 52 image.

There are two nice Sun Spots showing up in this image; one in each hemisphere. I’ll have to look at NOAA’s image and see how many they see with their bigger lens and better filter.

I had a nice surprise when I opened the Solar Filter’s box. I discovered the B+W ND Filter I’ve been looking for. I couldn’t remember where I put it, but knew I put it somewhere safe when I was boxing up the house to have new carpeting and flooring put in last October. I have been looking for this ND filter for months. I’m happy to have found it. I will use it next month when I return to Yosemite for my birthday hike.
Nikon D300s| AF-S Nikkor 300mm f4@ f20| 1/30s| ISO 200| Manual Priority| Matrix Metering| Tripod| Orion Solar Filter

Campsite 24

March 10, 2013March 10, 2013Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Copyright 2013 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved., Nikon, PhotographyTagged Astro Photography, Fremont Peak State Park, Night Photography, Nikkor, Nikon D700Leave a comment

I’ve wanted to shoot my tent under the stars for about a year now. Last night the opportunity arrived. It’s not the shot I’ve imaged, but it was good practice and a great learning experience. As always there are a couple of things I’d do differently, but overall I like this shot.

I had a lot of fun hanging out with like-minded photographers last night, and I hope to do more shoots like this as the weather gets a bit warmer.

“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. “)

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