Author: mb

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Orionids

The 2am alarm felt like it came early. I made a quick check to see if the cloud cover projection has improved – the forecast went from partly cloudy at 70% at bedtime to 25% over a few hours of sleep. I grabbed a backpack with my camera, sit pad, tripod, warm layers, and my 40d summer sleeping bag. On the way out the door I tossed in some Via coffee and my MSR Windburner and a Nalgene.

By 3 I was on the road, by 4 hiking up the ~1.75 mile forest road / trail to Silver Lake. I got set up and snapped the first few test shots and settled in on the shore.

Silver Lake runs north south on the western side of Vermont. It has a ridge to the east and west. Its fairly well protected from light from Middlebury, and Orion would be visible to the south.

I parked at the Falls of Lana trailhead and made quick time of the old forest road to the lake. I scouted from the dam and settled in at the beach. It wasn’t long before I started seeing meteors. After taking a few test exposures I setup a 2 second delay followed by 10 shots.

I varied the shutter time a bit – and I think I either was a few seconds too long or I missed my focus point on some of the images.

After about an hour was quite chilled – so I pulled the 40d summer bag from my pack and wrapped up in it and fired up the stove for some coffee. The light continued to change – it was lovely to see night turn to day, and watch the stars shift slightly to the west as the sky went from dark to blue.

Silver Lake was quite still – there was no breeze at the lake – and the water reflected the stars and the distant ridge.

I was surprised at how clear the reflection was – I was able to make out Orion and the Pleiades in the reflected light on the water, as well as the rocks and the lake bottom just below the surface.

Just before sunrise I packed up and made my way down the hill to the car. I was home before most of the family was out of bed… just in time to make breakfast with the girls, and make another round of coffee for myself.

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Orion and the Pleiades

A first attempt at stitching a panorama of the stars. I used PTGui and 5 frames I captured yesterday morning. The meteor is missing – so I need to learn about masking things as the panorama gets stitched.

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Dynamic Sky

I was planning to ride this morning due to the mountain forecast looking unfavorable for a hike and some photography – but when the pup got up to go out at 3am I checked the forecasts and saw the winds dropping and the sky revised to ‘partly cloudy’. I put on coffee, ran around getting gear together, and was hiking by 5am. Summit by 6:30 or so, where I found a spot semi sheltered from the wind.

Trail under the light of the Petzl NAO
Trail marker
Peek at the moon

I ran a quick time lapse test on the G7X Mk2 – but it was very very windy – so I focused on shooting stills. In the Gossamer Gear Summit pack I had the Canon M6 with 4 lenses, Canon G7X Mk2, 2 tripods (1 small, 1 regular height), sit pad, water, snack, and warm layers.

Sunrise!

The color was pretty incredible with the dynamic sky. Before the sun snuck over the horizon we were in and out of the clouds. That calmed down a bit once the sun was up.

The little cloud that could!
Summit selfie
Unreal light

After about an hour of hanging out on top I descended and played with a 50mm f/1.8 lens on the M6. It shoots pretty long on the new camera – but it produces lovely images. Lots to learn – but I like it.

Tree – playing with the ‘nifty fifty’ on the way down
Lonely leaf
Fungi and color
Burl and Bokeh
Trail paint and color – playing with the ‘nifty fifty’ on the way down

I took a few dirt road diversions on the way home to check out the fall color. All in, a great morning.

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Learning

Learning to shoot the night sky, with basic, carry everywhere photography kit has become a challenge, and a bit of an obsession. Goal – make nice images with as little equipment and processing as possible. Which may be difficult to achieve, but the learning curve has been fun.

My IF, bridge, and the stars – ‘Daylight’ WB
My IF, bridge, and the stars – ‘As Shot’ WB
This morning I rode out to the bike / pedestrian bridge over the Winooski River in Burlington, VT to use the bridge as a silhouette against the sky. The moon has been shrinking – every day the ambient light becomes a little less than the previous –  so if I get lucky and have a clear night with a new moon I may see more stars.

The bridge and the stars – ‘Daylight’ WB
The bridge and the stars – ‘As Shot’ WB
In addition to re-learning the camera (its been a long while since I shot anything resembling an SLR) – I am also adapting my ‘developing’ process in Lightroom to work with dark images. That learning curve is also a challenge unto itself.

Orion and bridge, and the stars – ‘Daylight’ WB
Orion and bridge, and the stars – ‘As Shot’ WB
Images with 2 different white balances for comparison – ‘As Shot’ – what the camera adjusts to in the field, and ‘Daylight’ – one of the many settings in Lightroom (and also in the camera). There are arguments all over the net for how to shoot the sky. I’m torn between ‘natural color’ (taking into account light pollution (that you see here), air glow, etc. etc. – as well as making an image that works emotionally for a given time / setting place. That process, and mindset will likely evolve the more I wander down this path.

The bridge frame and the stars – ‘Daylight’ WB
The bridge frame and the stars – ‘As Shot’ WB

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Sunrise

Sunrise, Camel’s Hump over the Farm Barn

Sunrise at Shelburne Farms. Ava and I got up early, got her packed for school and brought coffee and hot chocolate to watch the sun rise alongside Camel’s Hump and over the Farm Barn.

The sun between Mt. Mansfield and Camel’s Hump

Both ‘HDR’ images done as a test – 3 bracketed shots built right in Lightroom with the Photo Merge> HDR feature. Then manually adjusted before export.