highz
Retreaded
Nice image!
Meteor Showers
- Thread starter ski3pin
- Start date
pvstoy
Senior Member
Went out to Pyramid Lake north of Sutcliff to the Willows. Meet up with our friend with his Hawk and we had our roof top tent. Got a heads up with the Ranger that there might be some noisy youngsters out there celebrating.
Decided to move further North to Monument Rock area and found a beach to our selves. There was three interesting dead bleached trees along the shore and felt would make a decent foreground for the meteor shower.
Took a quick 1 and half hour nap and was up at the crack of 10:30 pm to watch and photograph the show. What we found was clouds that were abound but was on the move. The light pollution was bouncing off the clouds from Reno and was lighting up the sky, blocking the view of the Milky way.
My gal said she saw one straight up! That was encouraging. We sat in chairs laid back in anticipation to be wowed! Well it ended up that the three of us had many conversations and was a time to reconnect with old friends... even if it was in the middle of the night. I thought I saw 2 faint ones along with my gal.
While sitting around I was being lazy and set up the tripod in front of me to catch the Milky way and a FWC Hawk. The sky cleared and got this image, not the best, but just having fun.
Back to the day before, when we arrived at the Willows we talked to a nice retired couple from California that just took delivery of a Eagle in Woodland. Saturday we crossed paths in Nixon. I asked how was your night? "Hellish" "Loud music and kids partying"..."Hellish!" I'm sure glad we moved.
Decided to move further North to Monument Rock area and found a beach to our selves. There was three interesting dead bleached trees along the shore and felt would make a decent foreground for the meteor shower.
Took a quick 1 and half hour nap and was up at the crack of 10:30 pm to watch and photograph the show. What we found was clouds that were abound but was on the move. The light pollution was bouncing off the clouds from Reno and was lighting up the sky, blocking the view of the Milky way.
My gal said she saw one straight up! That was encouraging. We sat in chairs laid back in anticipation to be wowed! Well it ended up that the three of us had many conversations and was a time to reconnect with old friends... even if it was in the middle of the night. I thought I saw 2 faint ones along with my gal.
While sitting around I was being lazy and set up the tripod in front of me to catch the Milky way and a FWC Hawk. The sky cleared and got this image, not the best, but just having fun.
Back to the day before, when we arrived at the Willows we talked to a nice retired couple from California that just took delivery of a Eagle in Woodland. Saturday we crossed paths in Nixon. I asked how was your night? "Hellish" "Loud music and kids partying"..."Hellish!" I'm sure glad we moved.
Attachments
Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
Twinkley shot, Patrick! Good move to relocate; a useful attribute of our mobile campers when confronted with problematic neighbors.
We were farther east, near Austin, NV and saw very little as well. Ski3pin and I saw one bright flash before 11pm, and were hopeful. But, the night went on and no meteors were seen : ( I had two cameras mounted and shooting too! I did catch a sequence of the rising moon with moving cloud banks that might do well as a time lapse.
We were farther east, near Austin, NV and saw very little as well. Ski3pin and I saw one bright flash before 11pm, and were hopeful. But, the night went on and no meteors were seen : ( I had two cameras mounted and shooting too! I did catch a sequence of the rising moon with moving cloud banks that might do well as a time lapse.
Patrick, that's a nice image! Well shot!
pvstoy
Senior Member
Jim I like how you got the stars blooming out of the top of the tree. Looks like you had clouds too.
Andy thanks and My gal might have seen that one meteor too. Night time lapse are cool to watch.
Thanks Wandering Sagebrush. Really have not done night photography and just did one to practice. Have not decided to lighten the foreground. I'm not going to do anything with the series, I guess just training..
craig333
Riley's Human
I was surprised just how much and how far light pollution travels. At my camp off the Silverfork Road (about 7k feet) you can almost see down to the valley. Normally I don't notice it with the campfire and other lights but Friday I had no local light and it was eerie how the red glow from the valley seemed to be all around me. It didn't blot out the milky way but it sure did dim it down.
Nice shot Patrick. We were in Lassen NF and got clouded over so didn't bother to set the alarm. Disappointing it was a bust, but then glad I didn't miss it either.
I think once you get the basic settings figured out, the secret is to just take lots and lots of captures. The clouds were moving very fast so every frame was different. Best to just sort them all out later on and zoom in on the best for composition and maybe if you are lucky a couple of meteors might make it in. A intervalometer really aids in this process although I was not using one for this capture with the clouds. Here is one from earlier in the evening which was shot with the before mentioned gizmo after basic settings dialed in.pvstoy said:
Attachments
Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
I realized you don't need an intervalometer ($129.00) 
to shoot continuous exposures.
If you have a simple cable release ($7.50)
you can set up your camera for 15-30 sec long exposures (or much less during daytime) and lock off the cable release. The camera will just shoot one frame after another. I did this with a second camera body and shot 30 sec exposures, hoping to catch a Camelopardalid
to shoot continuous exposures.
If you have a simple cable release ($7.50)
you can set up your camera for 15-30 sec long exposures (or much less during daytime) and lock off the cable release. The camera will just shoot one frame after another. I did this with a second camera body and shot 30 sec exposures, hoping to catch a Camelopardalid
I have a Vello intervalometer that was much less in $$$ than the dedicated Nikon one. They also offer many other options for time delays, etc than just continous shooting. For ex - a few summers back I set my up to start a time-lapse sequence about 2 hours after I went to bed and the moon had set, avoiding a sleepy stumble. It then controlled my camera to shoot for a couple of hours and can be programmed to stop at a predetermined time to avoid the increased light of sunrise.
I usually separate exposures by a short gap, 1-2 seconds to allow time for recording to memory card, although probably not absolutely necessary.
Fun and games in the wee small hours.
I usually separate exposures by a short gap, 1-2 seconds to allow time for recording to memory card, although probably not absolutely necessary.
Fun and games in the wee small hours.
Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
You're right, CraggyMan, an intervalometer will give you control on when to start, how long to shoot, how long between shots, and finally how many. But even the Vello version is $50.00 which is a much better deal then OEM. But for guys just starting out, who have their first tripod and just want to get their feet wet; a basic cable release can also do the trick. But only to shoot, shoot, shoot. No time delay, no gaps between shots (okay on longer exposures), and no cutoff before dawn light.
