Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
We have seen a few great photos of the “Great Conjunction” between Jupiter and Saturn. There is even one photo with the International Space Station splitting the space right between the two planets.
But, this is a first. As you may recall, on December 21st, we have a once in 800 years event when Jupiter and Saturn appeared especially close in the night sky. Unlike any earthly photos that we have seen, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured a stunner image from space.
Roger Brendhagen has mastered the art of capturing wildlife and birds with backlight. It takes a lot of planning, experience, and patience to nail these shots. And while this is not about the gear, it helps to know the camera and how to dial in the optimal settings for each shot.
Roger was kind enough to share his process, gear, and techniques with DIYP readers. He will also share some of his favorite images and tell the story behind his most cherished shot.
Pablo Ruiz Garcia captured a spectacular image of this Halloween’s blue moon. A full moon occurring on Halloween is rare and only happens every 18 to 19 years, and a super moon is even rarer. We do not know for sure why blue moon is the name of this super moon. To the casual observer a full moon in general can have a slight blue tint due to smoke or particles in the atmosphere.
Pablo captured this image at the lighthouse of Isla de Mouro, Santander, Cantabria Spain. He will in the following tell us a little about how he captured the image.
This spring, Roger Brendhagen spent quite a few afternoons sitting as quietly as a mouse along the edges of a field. He was waiting for a Horned Owl, which would hunt for smaller mice. The Horned Owl is most active early in the morning and during dusk. Then one can watch it fly low over the cultural landscape, hunting for mice and other small rodents.
When the owl hunts, it makes sounds with its beak to terrify its prey into the open. The owl can identify the prey area with its amazing hearing capabilities. During the daytime, it is challenging to spot the Horned Owl. Then it sits close to a tree trunk and makes itself small by drawing in its plumage.
Exploring the Martian surface in 4K is cool, but The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is about to raise it to an even higher level. Teaming up with broadcaster NHK, JAXA is developing 4K and 8K cameras that will be sent to Mars and take photos of its surface, but also explore its moons Phobos and Deimos.
Do you get a bit envious at those epic photos of the Moon from other photographers? I admit – I do! But guess what? We can take awesome Moon photos, too. If you still haven’t tried it, B&H has an ideal tutorial for you. In this short, yet informative video, Maria Perez shares with you some tips that will help you to get started.
Most of the cameras that have been on the Moon have reportedly stayed there. So, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll find one here on Earth. Or is it? Photographer and space camera maker Cole Rise managed to find Gene Cernan’s missing camera from Apollo 17. And no, he didn’t have to fly to the Moon to get it – it has been in a museum in Switzerland.
This is something I’ve been wanting to attempt for a while but the skies have not be clear enough to do so. Iowa skies in fact have been almost constantly cloudy of late – or a least when one wants to shoot the moon.
On 7 April we had this year’s second supermoon, a so-called Pink Moon. It’s a real treat for photographers, and Ilja Kagan managed to get some stunning shots. He used his crop sensor camera, a second-hand telephoto lens and two teleconverters, ending up with a whopping a 3600mm equivalent focal length. We chatted with Ilja a bit about his process and he kindly shared the images and some details with us.
UPDATE: there will be no smiley in the sky tonight. What we thought of as a smiley, will be a rare conjunction (close pairing) of Venus and Mercury.
As Forbes points out, on May 22, 2020 you will see the bright planet Venus about 10º above the horizon. Look just beneath it and you’ll see the tiny red dot of the planet Mercury. They will be just 0.5º apart
It’s almost like a great cosmic “It’ll be ok”, but next month, on May 16th, to be precise, a crescent moon will sit in the sky beneath Jupiter and Venus to form a smiley face amongst the stars. The scientific term for such an event is an occultation and in this case, it happens when the moon is positioned between Earth and Venus.
The timing of such an event might seem like a sign from above, but they’re not as uncommon as you might think. It was visible in 2008 from Asia and 2012 from Australia to North America. But they are easy to miss, only being visible for a short period after sunset.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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