Wildlife Photography across the Water: stars

Saturday, 19 November 2011

The Sky at Night

Well the back problem persists and anybody who has suffered with their backs will know all to well how debilitating it can be, Many years ago i damaged my back at work and there followed a year of sleeping on the floor and a small op to try and get things back to normal, I would not say that its that bad but its like having a toothache in your back-always there and ready to get worse, The nights have been bitterly cold so i have opted to stay in the warm rather than sit it out and get some shots, Your health should always come first,
Now not many people know that i have for a long time had a fascination with the stars and planets and the last few nights have been awesome for clarity, Being out of the city helps as you dont get the light pollution, The skies where i live are not like Africa or India where you dont get any light and cities are hundreds of miles away but they are pretty good, Jupiter and Saturn can be seen easily and if you have a reasonable pair of binoculars the 4 moons around Jupiter are easily seen if you wedge yourself up against something to get a good stable view, I used to have a good telescope which i sold in France and that allowed good views of the Saturn and the rings that go around it, Its an amazing place and just look with your eyes and then through a pair of binoculars and see the difference that extra magnification makes, Its made me want to get another good telescope but the funds just dont allow at the moment, I quite fancy trying some astophotography, The major constellations are in view with Orion dominating the winter sky late at night, I find star gazing to be a great leveller and if things get too much, a small time looking at the stars brings things into some perspective, The North star or polaris is very clear and great to focus on if you want to get perfectly round star trails, The North Star or Polaris is not the brightest star in the sky which a lot of people think, Look at Cassiopeia and follow the top star towards the big dipper and the star in the middle if the North star, Easy when you know what to look for, If you have never really been into the stars or night sky have a look, especially through a pair of binoculars

Dave

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Keep an open mind and an open eye

The last few mornings have seen me sitting under dark starry Tennessee skies waiting for the gates to open at Cades Cove, I used to enjoy star gazing and thought that i would stop looking and try and get a shot, I put the 14-24 on the D3 and fixed it to my tripod and made sue everything was strapped tightly down, i used a remote cord and set the camera to manual exposure and wound the dial down to 'bulb' Then it was a matter of taking a test shot which meant holding the remote down and counting, i started at 20 secs and worked my way through to 45 seconds, I couldn't see anything through the view finder so i set the lens to manual and to infinity,Orion is very visible in the early morning sky so i made sure to get that in, I made sure that there was some tree tops in the image giving some depth to the scene, there have been lots of shooting stars the last few mornings but i never managed to get one in the image, The line on the image is a plane, If nothing else it gave me something to do whilst waiting and gave me a chance to practice with some long exposure times

Dave

Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.