Spring Star Trail

It's finally warm enough outside that I can go out at night to take a star trail and not freeze up.

So with my new timer remote, I set up my camera in our yard Monday night/Tuesday morning. The remote will take 399 pictures until you have to restart it. 

So after doing all the math I figured out that with my 9 second shutter speed, I could go back inside and sleep for an hour before I had to go back out and restart it.

I was bairly asleep though, before I had to go back outside to reset it.

When I fell back asleep the second time I ended up sleeping through my alarm so I didn't get outside to retrieve my camera until like 5am. I was kind of uncomfortable with leaving my camera outside by itself, but it's a good thing we have a dog that would bite someone's head off if they tried to come onto our property and steal my camera. ;)

I guess the reason I keep doing star trails is because I hope that where ever I travel I will be able to do some with some different landscapes/foreground. Right now there isn't really much of interest to place in the foreground around here on our property, but maybe if I just keep perfecting the technique I can try it out somewhere else... one day, way off in the future.

I also made a timelapse video out of the images... but goodness, the only reason I'm posting it is because I spent time on it. I'm not terribly proud of it.
The movement is pretty slow :/ Also, it is so much darker on youtube than it was when I was making it and playing it on my Mac. So I just used the youtube editor to add in some exposure (and as of right now it is still processing those changes).
youtube.com/stars&timelapse

-MarLeahJoy

Star Trail

It might seem very unlikely, but my star trail attempts have proved to be my most adventurous/crazy photography moments ever. 

So, yeah! Tonight was no exception.

My mom was gracious enough to volunteer to go sit in the car with me while I took a star trail.

I kind of felt bad, though, because I knew that I was mainly going to be experimenting; so I wasn't sure that I was even going to come away with a picture worth her trouble of being out there with me for an hour or two.

So, I began with a few "test" pictures to figure out what lens I really wanted to use and all.

This image was actually pitch black so I had to bring the exposure up in Lightroom.

 18mm focal length   -    f/3.5   -    ISO 100   -    30 seconds

I wanted to try shooting wide open so I put my 50mm lens on and shot at f/1.8 for 15 seconds (ISO 100)

And I still had to add some exposure to it...

I decided I didn't like the 50mm crop so I got my kit lens back on at 18mm and left it on 15 seconds, ISO 100, and f/3.5.

The image was still pitch black, so I began to figure that if I just put it on Bulb I could get start testing out longer exposures until I got the image right.

So I set my timer for about 8 min., I used the remote to open the shutter in Bulb mode, then I laid down beside my camera and star gazed. 

After about 4 min. there was this HISS that came from the grass not to far from me! It scared me out! of! my! wits!!! I'm not sure if it was a snake or some sort of a cat, but whatever it was got quite a loud reaction out of me, haha! I started stuttering/screaming to my mom who was in the car with the windows down, as I jumped back in the car leaving my camera out there with the shutter still open, lol. My mom heard it hiss again after I got in the car, so we shown our spot light out in the direction of my camera and beyond to see if we could see anything. At this point I'm thinking, "Great! we just ruined whatever picture I might have had, by shinning the light out there!" But I was still too frightened to really care. Then we backed the car up and shown the headlights in that direction too, and still didn't see anything, so I finally jumped out and got all of my gear. My mom and I were done! Haha!

I grabbed my camera without closing the shutter again because I was sure the picture was already ruined anyway, so I just pressed the shutter button as I hurriedly put my camera in the back seat, and we drove off.

When looked at the image on the LCD screen, I was like, "Wow, that's actually kinda cool..."

So this is what I got.
ISO 100    -   18mm   -   f/3.5   -   414 seconds (about 7 min.)

I was actually really surprised that I had the image perfectly focused on the stars, too. I had just guessed where the focus should be with manual focus. He! Not too shabby for a shot that could have gone wrong is so many more ways than one.
I just wish I could have gotten a longer trail... like a 45 min worth trail :D

Okay, now time for bed! :)

-MarLeahJoy

Senior Trip {Personal}

I've had a blast today. It all started with withdrawing several hundred out of my bank account, haha. Heather and I headed out to Hot Springs together, and we were the first to get there of all the girls so we went shopping for all the food. 

Okay, now for a crazy obsession-confession: I love socks!

We stopped at Ross so Heather could get some socks, and I just couldn't resist.

I just bought socks YESTERDAY! So do I need more socks? NO!

But while she was looking for some I found the best socks ever, so I bought them. And that's almost all I've been thinking about this evening. Every-time I would go back inside I would change out of my flip-flops into my socks (just ask Heather, lol).

"Oh, DEAR!" I don't think anyone can understand my sock obsession... But it's very real! 

And why am I saying this? Hopefully, so someone will get a good laugh at my insanity.

Enough of that. Here's our Yurt!

It is so cool to stay here. I almost feel like I own it because it is secluded enough. 

We walked down to the dock on Lake Catherine at night,

 and it was so foggy you couldn't even see the water. 

Our yurt at night.

Us girls getting wifi at the conference room at 1am. :)

 The only normal picture we got. 

I'm already having such a great time... 

-MarLeahJoy

Summer Nights and Fair Lights

Before I went to the fair I was thinking... "Okay, my main object is to get some clips to make a short film with, but if I'm not getting what I want at least I can take pictures... I know how to do that." 

Well, I was more than pleased with how my ideas started coming together on video, so much that later when I was going through the files to get some pictures to post I realized that I had more videos than anything, and I was hard pressed to find some pictures. ;)

I even broke out my Lensbaby Double Glass optic (for like the first time since I got it :O) and I thought the effect was quite fitting for the fair.

(The last 5 images were taken with the Double Glass optic)

And it's not really a good experience until you get some overpriced fair food. ;)

-MarLeahJoy

Tent Camping

I went with my cousin on a little camping trip to capture this star trail. 

While we were out in the field getting set up for this picture, I looked to the East and

saw a blazing blue and yellow meteorite. It was so huge and close that I had the chills for a solid minute!

It's amazing how much more you can see when you are in prairie land. I loved it!

A few clouds got into the frame towards the end of the time I was shooting, so I created a quick

video of the movement of the clouds. :)

In the morning I started a little fire to cook breakfast (my first one to ever start :P).

We completely forgot utensils and plates so we used branches and elephant ear leaves. I'm secretly glad we

forgot them so I could have more of a "roughing-it" experience. ;)

It was such a relaxing spur-of-the-moment camping adventure.
I'm ready to do it again. :)

-MarLeahJoy

Star Trail

I've always loved star trails, and that was definitely one thing I had on my list to do
once I got my DSLR. :)



You can read more about my experience in the previous post.

On a personal note: I honestly don't know how I am going to survive the next month
and 23 days. My camera is so distracting... it's all I think about all day long. So I bring
my little notebook to school with me and write down my ideas of what to capture and
blog about once I get home from school. I can definitely say this is a transitional time
in my life, and I know it is for the better. :) But the restlessness of this transition is rough.

Enjoy life by enjoying today -- I am! :)
-MarLeahJoy

New Adventures

Well,  this is something I've never done before. It's 5am; I am warming up
from my 2 hour station in the 24 degree weather.

No, my parents did not kick me out, and they knew I was doing this. :)

I was taking a star trail. :) I took 192 pictures at 30 sec exposure, 100
ISO, and f/4.0. 

This is one of the pictures that will be combined with the rest later to show
the movement of the stars.

Here is a little more of my experience for those who care to know:

I sat up my camera on a tripod with the 18-55mm lens set on 18mm. I
auto focused on a star by zooming in (I heard that it messes up the focus
to zoom in, set the focus, and zoom out; but I didn't notice anything
wrong). Then I switched it to manual focus so it wouldn't refocus (I really
need to learn how to use my back-button focus so I don't have to use the
switch).
I used the button-taped-over-the-shutter-release method again, haha. :) Which
is one of the reasons I had to stay out there the whole time: to make sure the
tape never loosened (it did at first, but I got it fixed). Also, I had my camera
set up right by the road, and I wouldn't think of leaving it out by itself.

Then, I sat there for an hour.... until I got the bright idea to get the laptop. Time
always passes so much faster with the internet and music, so that was a wise move.
Whenever a car passed by, I would hunker down and mummer to myself,
"you don't see me, you don't see me, you don't see me."   And then I wondered:
"What would they do if they did see me?" Well apparently nothing, because I'm
sure they saw me! How can you not see a person who is sitting 7 yards
from the road when your headlights are shinning on them? :)


Oh my, I'm sooo cold!
-MarLeahJoy

Sparks

Okay, we'll see if we have better luck tomorrow at finishing the post I 
promised here.





Eh... I think these pictures show less of their glorious grain when you view them on Flickr.  :P    Or just slouch down and look at the pictures from a lower angle :DI hate having to lower the quality of the picture I post online.
-MarLeahJoy