Silent Sunday
Africa, Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Harambe Aglow
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S, 0.5s, 30mm, f/8, ISO 3200
Harambe Aglow
Silent Sunday
Tag Archives: night
Market or Sweets
Silent Sunday
Asia, Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Market or Sweets
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S, 0.5s, 24mm, f/8, ISO 6400
Flight Night
Asia, Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Back in January, as my Disney trip was approaching, I received an email about park hours changing at the Animal Kingdom. I got very excited as this change was an extension of the park closing. Rather than close before sunset, the park was staying open well past. I quickly re-arrange my plans in order to visit the park on one of those nights. The park is magical when it is lit up at night and I didn’t want this opportunity to escape me.
As I was running around trying to capture all the views I had in my head I was stopped by this scene…
Flight Night
Nikon Z6 II, Nikkor Z 24-70mm f/4 S, 1/20s, 24mm, f/5.6, ISO 8000
It wasn’t on my list but damn… luckily, there were few people in this area of the park and I was able to get an unobstructed view. I have more night scenes to process from the Animal Kingdom so I’ll warn everyone now. 🙂
When a camera falls
Morocco, Epcot, Walt Disney World
I’m getting ready for a trip to Florida and decided to look through my images from my last trip to Walt Disney World. Plenty of images to process. My favorites have already been posted (considering last trip was two years ago), but I did find this one.
It was late at Epcot and I was on my way back to the resort. I stopped for a look at the Morocco Pavilion from the International Gateway. I can’t resist a good reflection and the pavilion is a favorite of mine. I didn’t get one of the tripod legs completely locked. During the 4 second exposure the camera started to fall over. I caught it but not before this image was captured.
I like it! 🙂
Olympus E-M1 MK III, M. Zuiko 12-100mm f/4, 4s, 28mm, f/8, ISO 400
Fantasy Ending
Fantasyland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-100mm f/4, 8s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 400
Harvest Moon
Bellamy Harbor Park
Yep, the moon is a difficult object to photograph. Especially when the sky is dark and the moon is full. I generally have better results when the moonrise is slightly before the sunset. This allows the sky to retain some lighter colors and the exposure can encompass the moon’s brightness. Most of my compositions with the bridge did not pan out like I had hoped. It was a cool idea which I will explore at my next opportunity.
I switched out the lens on the camera to one with a longer reach and started exploring different views of the moon by itself. I was not happy with any of the images of the moon against a black sky. When I walked back to the car I noticed the water tower was set to a constant color. Hhhmm? Is there any view I can use with the water tower?
I walked down the sidewalk until I isolated the water tower and the moon. There it is. I was getting a little excited as I thought my moonrise goal was a bust. Dang! The moon is still overpowering the lights of the water tower. Oh well, one exposure for the moon, another for the water tower and pray I can do something with these two in post.
It was not as easy as I had thought (it never is!). Plus, this is the Harvest Moon! I should have a view of the moon over a barn or field full of pumpkins. Next year I’ll plan better.
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 300mm f/4.8-6.7 II, 1/60s, 132mm, f/8, ISO 400
My Story of Perseid
Astrophotography
Tuesday night was the night! If you wanted to see the Perseid meteors, every source I found insisted it should be Tuesday night about an hour before the moonrise. I headed out around 9:30pm after sitting through the rains that rolled through my area. The sky was clear and I was determined. Too bad Mother Nature loves a good joke…
When I arrived at my first stop I immediately saw two meteors as I was getting the camera out of the car. Awesome! This is going to be great! While I was able to capture a few images, I didn’t see another meteor. And then the fog started to roll in. At first I thought I was tired and my vision was a little blurry and then I realized the sky was being obscured from the horizon upwards. The first image is my best from Tuesday.
No Show
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
I was determined not to give up on Tuesday. I drove higher into the hills around Holland Patent hoping to get above the fog. I found a location, setup the camera, focused on the stars and grabbed a few captures before I was foiled by the fog again. This time is was close to 11:30pm, so I headed home. Hopefully, Wednesday will be better.
Wednesday came and the sky was clear again. I ventured out around 9:30pm with a single destination in mind. I returned to the hills above Holland Patent and setup along a pasture fence. The first image below is my first exposure after adjusting the focus. I felt lady luck was with me tonight. There is really no good way to capture an image as soon as you see the meteor, at least for me. My best option was to trigger the exposure every minute and wish for a little luck. I didn’t always see every object crossing the sky but the camera caught quite a lot. Some of the streaks I assume are satellites.
After capturing a few good meteors I adjusted the camera composition to include both Ursa Major and Minor. The image below with only stars was my first attempt at a composition and I happened to get lucky. The second image has a couple of small meteors near the fence in the lower right corner. By 11pm I decided to call it a night and head back home. If the weather permits I might head out again…
Lucky
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
Persistence
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
Not Yet
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
Ursa Minor & Major
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 25s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
NEOWISE and Ursa Major
Astrophotography
I had to get in on all the fun. Or at least give it a try. I have not achieved very good results in the past with astrophotography. I attempted a few different meteor showers but my results have not driven me to pursue it further. Until last night…
Comet NEOWISE is currently putting on a very good show in the Northwestern sky. If you can find the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper), you should be able to spot the comet below it. Last night the comet was visible with the naked eye although using the camera definitely increased its visibility.
This version of my E-M1 camera has a Starry Night auto-focus mode which I will be reading up on today and heading back out tonight to see if I can improve this photo. I’m also going to be taking a drive around the back roads looking for some interesting compositions to include with the comet. Hopefully, I’ll have more images to share tomorrow…
NEOWISE and Ursa Major
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 20s, 12mm, f/2.8, ISO 3200
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