Night Moves...

Bob Seger's Night Moves is one of my oldy favorite songs.

So the past few days with the 'new' moon phase arriving, I've been spending quite a few nights trying to 'catch' star trails and the Milky Way.

That meant spending some time in the tent so I could just pop out of the flap and see the night sky. That did not worked out well since I missed that night sky but got to see some amazing Saturday morning fog and the Crescent Moon over the Meadow.

I decided to try it again on Saturday night.

I went out to the camp with the intention of seeing the night sky appear and getting some amazing shots.

Hmmm. That didn't happen either. The dogs and I spent a little bit of time out at the 'camp'. It was hot and sticky, but I thought it would be nicer at the campsite. It usually is.

But.
It wasn't.

It was horrible. I could handle the humidity and the heat, but I couldn't handle the mosquitoes! There were hoards of them!

It was so bad that when Hannah came up to me, she had mosquitoes all over her nose and face. I abandoned the 'camp' and headed home to the 'safety' of the house.

At home there was a very slight breeze from the southwest that hadn't been drifting through the trees. I decided to try going out much later and seeing if I'd get eaten alive.

Thankfully, I wasn't!

I experiment quite a bit when 'shooting' the stars and the night sky. I really wanted just to get the Big Dipper the first night.

I got part of the Big Dipper along with a bit of clouds and even a firefly squiggly.

So I tried another shot with a longer time of exposure. The clouds moved through and again and there were more firefly squiggles.

I thought, okay, now I've done that, now I need to try the Milky Way. 

The first shot is turned to black and white. This was the night that had a few clouds. The clouds were an odd color as well as the Milky Way. Everything had a weird green tint.

[I am still trying to learn why I get the odd colors, is it stray light from a town 3 miles away or is my color balance just really awful. I need to study that some more. Sometimes I do a great job and at others? I suck.]

I quit after an hour or so of trying to get a proper shot. 

Oddly enough, I wasn't bothered by the hoards of blood sucking mosquitoes.

So I went back to the old standby of doing another Star Trail. If I were a true Astro photographer, I'd seek out a wonderful exotic place and position the Milky Way over a barn or some other scenic place. But I am not that good at it, so I spend my dark summer nights practicing over and over again in my own yard. 

Travelling to another location seems to be frivolous for me since I am still learning.

Plus--> I have pretty good dark skies in my hollow.

I really like this Star Trail shot. There are little tiny streaks of green in the sky from the Fireflies flying above the camera. By this time, the clouds had moved away. 

So maybe I was getting just a bit better with the star trails and I still sucked big time with the Milky Way. [That just means I can practice more late at night!]

I'm not one to give up. The next night was supposed to be clear. Just as the stars came out, I decided to try for the Big Dipper once more. In the shot below, I can see where it is...just barely. 

Our little house is right below the Dipper. I rather liked the blue in the night sky in the early evening.

I tried again when it got a bit darker and cropped the photo. 

Now I can see the Big Dipper. 

Mission accomplished!

I wanted to try another star trail so I set it up. 

It wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be, but I decided to just go with it. 

There is something about the streaks of stars that appeal to me. 

The night sky is

so incredible even in a boring setting.

 

Failures of the Milky Way:

Maybe one day I will be successful. I have really good luck sometimes and really poor luck other times.

I wonder sometimes if it is light reflection from far off and if humidity has an affect on how the camera sees the night sky and the Milky Way.

In my head, I was photographing this instead. 
[sky swapped--> which I don't believe in doing. I want to truly do this proper!]

😢

I keep studying and learning, that is what feeds my curiosity. Eventually, I'd love to say that I've done a shot just like the one above on my own.

I can adjust my white balance more to a lower Kelvin temperature [I know this doesn't make sense to others but apparently the right temperature should be somewhere between 3600-3800 for a pleasing bluish night sky.
I've looked at a filter that is supposed to cut light pollution, but not sure I want to drop $ into something that is more of a hobby for sleepless nights.

I think I'll watch some instructive videos for my particular camera to see if I can improve my star photos.

It would be a good choice today with temps outdoors that are rising to 95 this afternoon.

I could go out this evening and try some more skies. After all the sky will be dark.

It would also be a great day for a nap and reading a mystery.

After all, a year ago, I got pretty close to what I felt was satisfactory.

[View from the porch]

What I know...

 ...from Mary Oliver's Poem

What Is There Beyond Knowing

What I know
I could put into a pack

as if it were bread and cheese, and carry it
on one shoulder,

important and honorable, but so small!
While everything else continues, unexplained

and unexplainable. How wonderful it is 
to follow a thought quietly

to its logical end.
I have done this a few times.

But mostly I just stand in the dark field,
in the middle of the world, breathing

in and out. Life so far doesn't have any other name

but breath and light, wind and rain.

If there's a temple, I haven't found it yet.

I simply go on drifting, in the heaven of grass

     and weeds.

Some Infrared Photography

 Of all the paths you take in life,

make sure some of them are dirt...

John Muir

I love all sorts of photography. Some people can play instruments, some people can sing. Others can draw or paint.

I enjoy the power of the camera's creativity. I started exploring Infrared years ago when I got a filter and stuck it on my camera.

At that time I had no idea what I was doing. The filter made everything so dark and off color. The 720nm filter I purchased created super long exposures with a black and pinkish tint to everything. I soon learned that the way to go Infrared was to have a camera modified.

I found a place where they sold a used pocket camera that was modified. I figured it wouldn't be overly expensive and I could try it out.

For the first several weeks that I had the camera, I carried it everywhere turning it on just to look at the back screen and enjoy the view of seeing everything in a different light spectrum. I didn't understand how it worked really, but it was fascinating to see green turn to white in the camera. Or greens turn blue and skies turn orange.

The Infrared works best on very sunny days with foliage. These are the times when a regular camera in our visible light spectrum doesn't work as well. Suddenly I found myself taking the pocket IR camera everywhere and trying it out on everything I could find.

I admit, shooting in a different light spectrum can be very challenging. The photos come out with a strange color to them. The photographer can choose to edit the photo or leave the strange colors in. No matter what, the photos become an experiment in magical, mystical, and artistic formats.

My first Canon ELPH shots were of everything and anything around the farm.

The grass looked like snow, the sky had some incredible depth to it. 

I read that IR photography was popular only in the spring and summer. Yet I found that I could have fun with it in the winter.
What was a boring mid afternoon photo turned into something a bit different.

Eventually I took my old Olympus camera and had it converted to 'Full Spectrum'. That meant I could use different filters for Infrared on the lens.

The most amazing thing about infrared and its different light spectrums is that sky details are more intense. The shot above was taken in the winter. The trees and some of the dead plants had a tint to them. The spectrum of light picked up clouds I could not see with the naked eye.

Last year, I sort of left my IR camera at home and didn't pick it up very much. I was really focusing on toy photography and macro photography. Besides, with our drought, everything was so dull and uninteresting.

Then this past week, the weather proved remarkable. 

Another foggy morning with sunbeams shining through the light fog. 

A storm approaching...

This was when we had a severe storm warning, with possible gusty winds and hail coming in with the front.

The last shot was done inside on a rainy day. I took a photo of a red geranium. I lit up the geranium with an Infrared Flashlight and got this beautiful ghostly blue tinted flower portrait.

Infrared Photography to me is an outlet for creative art. 
Watch out...I'm finding my groove again in IR.

Chill out

 

Charlie and I took a very different walk yesterday. We went to the ridge and decided to hike the cropland hayfields. This way we avoided slogging through mud. We could have walked along the gravel road but one neighbor choses not to watch their dog.

This dog has attacked but has not yet hurt Charlie and I just don't want to risk it. The last time this dog attempted to get at Charlie, I held him and sprayed her with Pepper spray. She got a snootful and wouldn't leave us alone....
Anyway...

We walked this high ridge and kept to the fields. It was much more interesting for Charlie because of all the critter tracks. So many good smells for a dog.

I left my camera at home and just walked with my cell phone, and was a bit sorry that I did not bring my camera with a long lens. We reached the road across the ridge and stopped to admire the fields for a bit. I heard a chirp that I haven't heard all winter.

And there they were! Bluebirds! [sorry the picture isn't very good!]

We headed back along the fields and came to a patch of trees in the middle of this cropland. It is in a slight dip where water runs. I got to the deer trail and walked in among the trees. I looked back and Charlie was sitting just outside of the trees. He refused to follow me.

More than likely it would have been the fresh scent of a coyote that lingered on the trail that deterred him.

So we detoured and walked up one of the waterways and decided to just sit down and enjoy the warm afternoon sun.

From here we could see the intersection [if you want to call it that] to our dead end road and the other gravel road that crossed the ridge. 

When we got home the two of us sat on the porch bench and listened to the world around us. 

The antique wash table got the addition of some real flowers to mix in with the Lego Wildflower Bouquet.

I'm enjoying the bright colors!

Woke last night...

to the sound of thunder...
how far off,
I sat and wondered...
Started humming a song from
1962
Ain't it funny how the night moves... [Bob Seger]

I love the night sky too much to be afraid of darkness...

[Let me qualify that by saying that I live in a very rural area so any life I'd run into at night would be wildlife and not humans]

I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk across the ridge top and through the corn fields before the corn got too tall.

I brought a tripod and thought it would be fun to try some Milky Way shots. I am always experimenting and learning. I may even improve a little as I keep going!

Lightening Bugs and stars 

Walking on the road

Headed across the open fields

An attempt at a panorama shot that didn't quite work. Two shots.

I ended up a mile from home on a ridge and I wanted to try another shot where it was sort of a selfie shot with my head lamp shining into the Milky Way. 

The swirls in my light are moths

 that came to dance for me. 

I spent about two hours on the ridge walking and admiring the skies.

My night moves included watching a 'possum watch me. Deer eyes glowing in the woods and further off in the field. Unseen creatures moving about in the underbrush.
No coyote noises. 
No sounds of traffic.

I thought I'd try something different on my way home. My photos of fireflies were sort of bleh and dark so I thought I'd try some 'light' painting with my headlamp.

What felt so amazing is that I'm sure the fireflies danced just for me. I could have stayed all night.

Nothing is more amazing than a clear night sky full of stars and the Milky Way.

Exploring ICM and IR

I couldn't decide on which colors I liked

best for this shot. Nothing spectacular but

as least you can see that 

there are some neat choices.

These shots were with my Infrared Full Spectrum camera. And the colors I picked with this filter allowed me to have fun. I love watching the sun and fog mix here. It takes a bit longer for the sun to appear over the trees since we are in a 'hollow'.

Next photo. I was having a rather boring afternoon and really felt the need to 'create' something. I took my tiny dried lavender out and Bang! An idea came to mind.

I put my tiny bears to work sorting and putting dried lavender that I'd sprayed with fixative into a tiny vial I had found in a thrift shop.

They were very cooperative.

Later on I watched a video by Olympus UK regarding something kind of bizarre and interesting. It is called ICM. Intentional Camera Movement. 

You know me, I had to try it.

My goal was to create visually pleasing images and in this case not necessarily realism in the way that traditional straight photography is done. More abstracts of color and motion.

Done with an Infrared Camera at dawn...

I tried this next with my little pocket camera.

And wow...I really like it.

Memories of self

I put was able to get the pocket camera to have a 30th of a second shot with a short delay. I pressed the button and dangled it by its strap for the above photo.

Now...

back to my regularily scheduled program...

Strange times

So no yard mowing today due to heavy particles of smoke in the air. That put the kabash on the Big Plan for the day. 

I guess if the grass really got out of hand, I'd do what I did in 2008 and again in 2016. Put a hot wire around parts of the yard and let my critters do the mowing.

Instead I picked berries this morning then closed up the house for the A/C to hopefully keep hubby feeling healthier.

Cell phone shots of the berries. 

The top photo is from the top of the ridge and the unripe ones are midway down into the valley. There are micro climates in our woods and I am beginning to understand that certain areas will produce berries in different stages.

Since I couldn't mow due to how wet it was and how bad the air was, I collected some flowers to try 'pressing' and drying. I dyed some Queen Anne's Lace with food coloring and some Fleabane.

Here is my sample of flowers I am pressing between two boards:

There is also Chicory, wild Vervain, Cosmos, Bee Balm, and Marigold. This method is supposed to take about a week or more.
I have to change the paper every few days to draw the moisture out. I used some rocks from my garden as weight for the top board.

Now I have some ideas of trying to put some of the flowers on handmade greeting cards so I will watch some videos of that. Another option is to place the pressed flowers into a picture frame and use it as a decoration?

It all started because I wanted some Queen Anne's Lace to use for some Still Life photos and perhaps dry some for a bouquet in the winter. 

What strange times we live in, when the midday sun is but an orange orb in the sky.

I almost feel like I am living in a science fiction novel.

A secondary smoke plume will then be
transported southward across the state Saturday afternoon into early
Sunday morning. Elevated fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
concentrations are anticipated to result in air quality index (AQI)
values in the UNHEALTHY FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS level over this period.
Sensitive groups include children, elderly people, individuals with
respiratory and cardiac problems, and anyone engaged in strenuous
outdoor activities for a prolonged period of time.

So... I was out doing garden work and dead heading the petunias when something very odd happened. I noticed I had a splotch of brown paint or maybe bug goo on my glasses. It was in sharp focus and moved when I stood up. Totally freaky! 
So I grabbed my glassed off and it was still there.
I brushed my face because, just well, because.
It moved and then swirled. I dropped my crap right then and there and headed to the house. 
Visit to Urgent Care sent me to the ED. After some testing I was given the diagnosis.
Vitreous Hemmorrhage. 
Vitreous is the clear gel in the center of your eye. Mine had blood in it. 
I will see an Ophthalmologist on Monday.
No bending. No lifting. No straining. No exercise. Damn, they should have included NO cooking too.
I get to sleep sitting up.  
I am not in pain but apparently this needs to be figured out and I don't need more blood seeping around in my eye. It sort of looked like this, but brown:

I still see stuff floating about and coming into my visual field. Hmmm. Mmmm.
Strange Times indeed.
Have a great weekend. 

It is IR Season

So many photographers that experiment with Infrared Photography literally put their cameras away once late fall arrives. 

One of the reasons I've become fascinated with it, is because it is sometimes very difficult. Many times the shots turn out like crap.

I do try to find shots I can take in the winter when there is no foliage to reflect the classic white leaves and grass. But IR is so much more than that.

There are certain elements that really make IR pop and other elements that simply make IR nothing but a HUGE dud.
Here is a winter shot of Weister Creek in infrared with the elements that work in my opinion.

Water
Sky
Clouds [oops, no clouds! Just bright skies!]

Sunlight

Water

Ice

Reflections

Green Pines

I tried this very same shot with my regular camera and it didn't impress me at all.

Shot with a Canon ELPH 180

Other winter photos can be found here: In all things of nature

Now I have to laugh because the standard rule for interesting IR photography is those things I mentioned. Water, sky, clouds, leaves. None of those were in that winter walk. It was overcast, cold, with a gunmetal sky at times. I used my pocket camera that I stuffed inside my winter coat to keep it from freezing. 

I read an article by PetaPixel I think in which the photographer they interviewed said that 90 percent of his photos were tossed when he used IR. He didn't shoot unless it was summer, he didn't shoot unless he had sun, clouds, water, and sometimes a building. He went for reflections in the water too.

Let's note here that this fella was a pro. He sold his photos. 

Me? I'm not a pro and don't want to be. I just want to experiment and explore.

A shot from my adventure last week...shot from the Beaver Dam.

Original File below:

When the clouds moved in  and I tried other shots, they just ended up being total duds.

I just reviewed them and tossed them. Nothing here folks! 

Here is one I would have tossed, but I just had to mess with it a bit.

It was the sky that fascinated me. Without the IR filter, the clouds were nearly invisible. The nice thing about IR is that no one expects certain things to be a certain color.

Just some fun here while I was checking fences. Fence line above the creek in the Wooded Pasture. Yep, I did a channel swap and played a bit. Pink leaves and Turquoise sky? 

Then there are those moments in which elements present themselves and you just have to go for it.

I'll keep experimenting because that is so much fun. 

Time to get back to work. I hear the critters calling my name.