Breaking Into Astrophotography Part 3 - Tracking the Stars

In our previous post we looked at how to photograph the Milky Way with ordinary DSLR equipment using a 30 second exposure and a wide angle lens. For most night sky photography this process works well and can offer a tremendous amount of satisfaction in capturing the wonders of the night sky. Sometimes though, we may want to increase our exposure times to accumulate more light, or we may want to use a longer, more powerful lens to look at deep sky objects, or to simply gather more digital information from the Milky Way in order to bring out more details. To do so requires that you be able to track your camera at the same rate as the apparent motion of the stars across the sky. We do this by employing a Star Tracker. As the final of our 3 part series of Breaking into Astrophotography, let's take a look at how we do this.

Dark Horse Detail - 103 Sec @ f/3.5 35mm ISO 800

What You Need To Know: Standing outside in a field looking up at a star filled night sky, the stars may appear to be motionless. To our unaided eyes, they do indeed appear that way, but the earth is spinning like a top and because of that, the stars do move across our field of view. When photographing them with a wide angle, you can take relatively long exposures and still have the stars appear as pin points of light. That is because they are so small relative to the field of view. However if you allow the exposure to continue past 30 seconds or so, those stars will begin to show a trailing tail or an elongated streak.

Untracked stars scene - 40 Sec f/4.5 ISO 800 using a 105mm lens
Notice the star trails

The longer you go, the more pronounced the streaks. In order to capture longer duration exposures, a star tracking devise is necessary. Star Trackers are relatively simple devises that compensate for the rotation of the earth and keep the camera pointing at the same spot in the sky regardless of earth's rotation. There are a variety of types both commercial and homemade.

Tracked 60 sec  f/4.5  ISO 800  105mm
No star trails

Facing north, about 40 degrees or so above the horizon in the northern hemisphere sits Polaris, the Pole Star. Polaris appears to be stationary while all the other stars rotate around it. That is because the earths north pole is almost aligned exactly with Polaris...it's actually a little bit off, but more on that later. Polaris is actually the last star in the handle of the constellation known as the Little Dipper, or by some as the Little Bear, or Ursa Minor. It is not a particularly bright star, but easily sighted with a little help.

Not far from the Little Dipper lies it's larger cousin called The Big Dipper (Big Bear or Ursa Major), perhaps the easiest to locate and best known constellation in the sky. The outer two stars of the Big Dipper's cup roughly point toward Polaris making it relatively easy to locate.

Polaris is very important when trying to photograph the night sky by using a tracking devise and we will explain that in a moment.

Star Trackers:  As already stated, there are numerous commercially produced Star Trackers. Some are designed to track the sky using a telescope that allows you to attach a camera to it piggy-back style. Others are stand alone units that mount onto a sturdy tripod, and still others are simple devises call Barn Door Star Trackers that you can make yourself. All of them, however different in design, accomplish the same thing. They simply track the sky at the same rate of motion of the earths spin.  We will limit our discussion to using a DIY Star Tracker known as a Barn Door Tracker.

The Barn Door Tracker:  As mentioned, you can opt to purchase a commercially available tracker or you can build one yourself. The most common DIY tracker is the Barn Door variety. Let's take a look at how they are built and operate. There are as many varieties of Barn Door trackers as there are people who build them, but they all operate basically the same way. Two pieces, usually wooden boards, are hinged at one end with a single screw type drive shaft, that can be hand operated or motor driven, at the other end. The basic idea of their operation is to attach the camera to a small ball head on the upper board near the hinge, and for the drive shaft to turn one full revolution per minute which, because of the screw action of the shaft, moves the upper board in a shallow arch. The arch movement mimics the movement of the sky.

Internet Photos

There are some relatively precise measurements that must be applied to it's construction, but all of that depends on the design of the unit, and there are numerous designs available online. A basic unit will cost less than $20.00 to build. Even with some enhancements, I have less than $40.00 invested in mine.

Using The Barn Door Tracker:  To use the Barn Door Tracker, it must first be attached to a sturdy Tripod of some type. I use an old equitorial telescope tripod mount from an inexpensive telescope I used to have which works great, but just about any sturdy tripod will work when the tracker is properly secured in place.

It also needs to be aligned with Polaris with some degree of accuracy. The alignment point falls approximately midway between Polaris and the Star just in front of it, known as Yildan, on the Little Dipper's handle and must be on a line that intersects Polaris and the last inside star, of the Big Dippers handle. (See Photo) This offset alignment is known as the North Celestial Pole or NCP. It represents the actual point the north pole points to. Polaris actually rotates around this point as the earth spins. There are other stars near Polaris that can be used to refine the alignment, but for wide angle photographs of limited time say up to 2 minutes or so, this alignment configuration will work very well. Certain times of the year the Big Dippers handle is not easily seen as it sits quite low in the sky, so you can use the last star in the Little Dippers cup as a reference alignment point...just make the connecting line run slightly outside of where it sits.

To make the alignment, you must adjust the Tripod in such a way so the Hinge is on the left and is pointing at the indicated alignment point. Some builders use a simple soda straw that is attached to the hinge to aide in the alignment, some use a green laser pointer. On my tracker I attached an old 4X rifle scope to the hinge mounting with a simple bracket. The small scope helps with finding Polaris and the cross hair X helps with precisely pointing it to the correct alignment point. Please note, the relative Alignment point will change through the season as the Big and Little Dipper's rotate across the sky. Sometimes it will be located below Polaris, later in the year it will be above it. It just depends on the seasonal orientation of the Little Dipper.

To operate a basic tracker design, you can simply attach an arm on the drive shaft and rotate it by gently turning it with your finger...Every 15 seconds you simply rotate it 1/4 turn. Over the course of one minute, you will have turned the shaft 1/4 turn 4 times and it will make the required full 360 degree turn. You can make accurate exposures up to several minutes long with this method if you are careful. This works well if you are simply shooting the stars with a relatively wide angle lens. However, should you use a longer focal length lens, a small 1 rpm battery driven electric motor will operate the tracking rotation much more smoothly allowing for more accurate tracking. The motor in effect replaces your turning finger and helps to eliminate possible vibrations caused by that kind of manual rotation. The motor provides a continuous motion, while the manually turned method is stop and go.

Over the course of a couple of years I modified my tracker to use such a motor and also attached a digital voltage regulator that allowed me to precisely control the voltage going to the motor. This helps to insure the tracker is rotating at exactly 1 rpm.

Why Should I Bother With a Tracker:  A tracker allows you to make longer exposures which gathers in more light thus creating a more detailed image. It is also necessary if you want to capture deep sky objects like the Orion Nebula or Andromeda. Without a tracker, doing so becomes much more problematic. I have used upwards to a 500 mm lens. It is about the maximum it can support simply because of the weight, but it does work well. Remember too, you do not always need a lot of magnifying power, bu you do need resolving power and that is where a good quality lens comes in. Also, remember, the larger the lens, the more  critical the alignment becomes and the more critical vibrations become. A 500 mm lens will magnify even the slightest movement of the tripod or tracking devise. The key points are to have the devise properly and accurately aligned and for it to be sturdy.

Orion Nebula - 20 Sec Exp - 500mm cropped - f/6.3 ISO 3200

The red color is caused by glowing excited hydrogen atoms and is captured by the digital camera. Even when viewed through a good home telescope not much color will be revealed because our eyes are simply not sensitive enough to discern the subtle nature of the nebula gases. Only in a photograph will the color be seen.

The Results Speak for Themselves:  Using a tracker takes some practice. There is a learning curve and some trial and error involved. But, once you get the hang of it and see that first successful capture using one, the results will astound you. There is a great amount of satisfaction from using a DIY devise that actually works.

There are other ways to capture deep sky objects most of them require you to take a series, at least 100 to 300 shots, of short duration exposures and use a specialize software to 'Stack' them into a finished image. These stacked images include images used to cancel out noise, but the results can be spectacular. However, using Stacking software requires a lot of computer power and they are not always user friendly.

Andromeda Galaxy Tracked exposure

Summing Up: Every season I look forward to once again hearing the buzz of the tracking motor and to watch the tracker doing its thing. Most of all, I look forward to seeing and sharing the results.

Photographing the night sky is a learned skill that virtually any photographer can do with a little practice. I hope this short 3 part series has peaked your interest in this fascinating form of photography. I promise you, once you have tried it, your interest in Astronomy and 'What's Out There' will surely increase.

Breaking Into Astrophotography: Part 2 - Capturing the Milky Way

The wonders of the night sky fill the imagination as far as the expansion of the universe itself. Hidden deceptively out of sight with just a hint of haze indicating anything at all is there, the center of our own galaxy beacons to us to search for it. On a clear dark night, it calls to us to gaze upon its story, and as photographers, we can use simple, everyday photographic equipment to accumulate the light in such a way as to reveal the magical nature of our part of the universe, The Milky Way Galaxy. In Part 2 of Breaking Into Astrophotography, we will take a look at how to capture this wonderful example of the night sky.

There are many misconceptions about photographing the night sky. Many good photographers I have spoken too about the subject often seem to think you need to have a powerful telescope with special built in computerized tracking equipment. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only equipment you need is a digital camera equipped with a wide angle lens and a sturdy tripod. With this simple setup, you can capture the night sky in all of her glory. However, there are a few preliminary things you need to know first before taking full advantage of the opportunity.

What You Need To Know:  The light you are attempting to capture has traveled to us from, in some cases, tens of thousands of light years away, and in other cases over hundreds of thousands and even millions of light years away. A light year of course is the distance light will travel at 186,000 miles per second in one year. That's a long, long ways and multiply that by thousands of years...well you get the idea at just how far away these things are and how faint the light truly is once it arrives.

The Milky Way Galaxy is what is known as a Barred Spiral Galaxy. This means the center of the galaxy resembles a stretched out bar-like area of stars with multiple pinwheel like spirals whirling out and away creating a tumbling wheel like appearance almost like a flat tumble weed spinning in space.

Our solar system which includes our sun and all of the planets resides way out in the suburbs along one of the minor spiral arms...roughly a little over halfway out from the center. We, along with all the planets, orbit around the sun at an incline to the overall plane of the Milky Way. From our vantage point we see the Milky Way edge on, however, because of our orbit around the sun and the seasons, the center of the Milky Way is only visible to us during the summer months in the northern hemisphere. That is because our night sky faces toward the center during those months and away from the center toward the outer edges during the winter months. This is important to know when it comes to photographing the Milky Way for it is during the summer when it is most visible.

Where and When to Find it:  Although the Milky Way is visible beginning in the spring, it is only visible during the very early hours of the morning like 2:00 - 3:00 AMish, and then it will be low over the horizon. The best time to see it at a reasonable hour begins in late June through August with the optimum time being during the month of July. It can be found hovering reasonable early in the evening high in the sky as you look toward the south. It splits between the Constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius.

Goldpaint Images Photo

Camera Equipment:  To be able to capture the Milky you will need a sturdy tripod, any DSLR digital camera along with a wide angle lens, something like 14mm to 18mm. Your kit lens that came with the camera will work just fine. Also, you will most likely want to use a remote cable release because you will be taking long exposures and any movement of the camera will blur your images.

The Setup:  You will want to set your camera exposure on Manual and then set you shutter speed all the way down to the Bulb setting. Technically you can set the shutter to a 30 second exposure as well to accomplish what we are wanting to do. You will want to use the widest angle lens you have and set the aperture setting to it's widest opening...like f/2.8 or f/3.5...depending on the kind of lens you have. You will also want to set your White Balance to Auto and your ISO to something like 800 or 1600 to start with. When it comes focusing, you will put you lens/camera into manual focus mode, and rotate the focus ring all the way out to the infinity setting. When dong this, remember the actual infinity focus point is actually located slighting behind or before you reach the full rotation of the focus ring. So, turn it all the way out, the back it up a just a little to find you lens' best infinity focus.

Point your camera toward the Sagittarius / Scorpius constellations located low in the southern sky and using your cable release, fire off a 30 second exposure. You may want to download a sky tracker APP onto your phone which will help you find your way around the night sky.

You Need A Dark Sky:  In today's world especially if you live east of the Mississippi River you will encounter what is known as light pollution. This is that bubble of light emanating from towns and cities that pollutes the lower regions of the sky, especially near the horizons. Light Pollution can obscure the view of the stars and the Milky Way. To be able to effectively capture the Milky Way, you will need to move away from the city into a dark area several miles away. If you can place the city lights behind you and see the southern horizon without any lights, you will be able to capture better quality images. If  you are fortunate enough to live west of the Mississippi River, you will be able to find adequate dark spaces from which to operate not too far from the city. It might take a bit of creative research on your part to find a suitable location, but it is necessary in order to capture effective photographs of the Night Sky.

Also, you will need a clear, dark, moonless night. The moon is very bright and will fill the night sky with a bright light that will flood your camera and cause a white-out situation when making a long 30 second exposure. Hazy skies will reflect a lot of light pollution as well and will obscure the night sky much the same way a bright moon will.

Composing Your Shots:  Composition is just as important in photographing the night sky as it is in any other type of photography. You will want to line up the Milky Way so it presents a pleasing and interesting night sky story. There are features being captured like what is known as The Dark Horse region which is near the center of the Milky Way that provide a great structural anchor to your photos. Also, by including objects on the ground in your composition, you bring a sense of place and timeliness to the image. Barns, trees, skylines, rock formations, water reflections all make great backdrops. Just remember, there is more to capturing the night sky than simply pointing your camera skyward.

Why a 30 Second Exposure:  A 30 second exposure will be about the maximum amount of time you will be able to use because stars will begin to create long trails after much more time than that. It kind of depends on the type of lens you are using. An 18mm lens will let you easily shoot up to 30 seconds. With a 14mm lens, you might be able to increase it upwards to 40 seconds. But, use 28 or 35mm lens and you will be able to only use about 20 seconds. The longer the focal length of the lens, the more compressed the exposure times become. You can use a star tracking devise which offsets the movement of the stars across your field of view to increase your exposure times. The are several commercial ones available or you can construct an easy to build Barn Door Tracker that works quite well. This will be discussed in Part 3 of this series. However, they are not necessary to capture wonderful images of the night sky.

Post Processing:  Almost every digital photograph can benefit from a post processing tweak or two. Photographs of the night sky are no exceptions and in fact it is probably necessary to apply some post processing to obtain the best results. Post Processing needs to be limited to tweaks to contrast, brightness, and maybe saturation. I would recommend you shoot in the RAW format and/or open your JPG images as a RAW file using Photoshop. From here you can tweak the Exposure value, Blacks, Brightness, Contrast, Clarity, and Saturation, among other things to elevate the image from a nice basic capture into a real eye catcher.

There is a rising trend in the photographic world focused on capturing the wonders of the night sky. By employing simple methods, anyone can join this exciting form of photography. Capturing the night sky and especially the Milky Way is a wonderful extension of your photographic talents. With minimal effort, you can find a dark location and then with a little knowledge of the night sky, you can capture wonderful, eye opening photos. Give it a try sometime. You might discover a new and exciting way to express your photographic desires.

Breaking Into Astrophotography - How To Photograph The Moon

Astrophotography has become a real trend in the world of photography in recent years. As more and more people learn just how relatively easy it is, we are seeing some tremendous and fascinating photographs of the night sky being created. Even though the process is relatively easy, many photographers out there are still a bit hesitant to give it a try simply because they do not understand how to get started. We are going to take a look at how to break into this fascinating form of photography in a multi-part series called Breaking into Astrophotography. First up we will look at how to photograph the moon.

Forty Nine years ago this month (July, 1969) man first set foot upon the moon. What an adventure it was and I was fortunate enough to have been part of the generation who witnessed the birth, development, and ultimate success of America's manned space program. Every time I see the moon hovering high in the night sky, every time I watch a full moon rise slowly above the horizon, and on those summer evenings when I sit on my front porch in a rocking chair and stare at the brightness that is our moon, I am reminded of those events. Although dormant and secured away as memories, the excitement of those events still resides within me. Photographing our nearest celestial neighbor is always a fun adventure in itself. Doing so is actually quite easy, but there are some things you need to be aware of before you start.

Equipment you need:  First of all you will need two pieces of equipment; A study tripod and your camera/lens combination. The type of camera really does not matter so much, but your lens selection does. You will need to use some kind of telephoto lens. The longer the focal length the better something in the neighborhood of 400mm to 600mm will work best, however, you can use a 300mm and even a 200mm in a pinch. A basic 70 - 300 standard zoom lens works quite well. Another useful piece of equipment is a remote cable release.

Setup:  Actually there is no single way to photograph the moon, but there are some things to consider to make the process more rewarding. I usually will photograph the moon using Aperture Priority mode. The settings I select will vary, but basically I begin with ISO 100 and an f/stop of f/8. The light coming off the moon is actually reflected daylight so my White Balance is set to either Daylight or Auto, both seem to work equally well. I also will set the camera on Spot Focus using the center point within the viewfinder as the focus point. I will also set the camera metering mode to Spot Metering, again using the center point to meter from. This is important because if you use Matrix mode, the Moon being surrounded by a black sky will be over exposed because the black sky will skew the camera's meter reading into thinking it needs to alter the exposure to compensate for the dark area.

Taking the Shot:  Once you have your camera setting adjusted, it is simply a matter of pointing your camera at the moon making sure you place the center Spot Focus point and Spot Metering point squarely on the moon. Using a cable release, you depress the button halfway and hold to allow the camera to focus and set the exposure, then pause for a couple of seconds to allow any vibrations that might have been generated by the movement of the focus mechanism to dampen. Then press and release the shutter.

Post Processing:  Even with a 500 or 600 mm lens, the moon will still be rather small on the photo. During post processing, you can apply some creative cropping to enlarge its relative size and make it easier to see the various features you have captured. A 24 megapixel camera will have more than enough captured data to allow for some substantial cropping/enlarging. Simple adjustments to contrast, brightness, color and sharpness are that are required after that.

Best Time to Photograph the Moon:  Contrary to popular belief the best time to photograph the moon is not necessarily during a full moon. The best times are during one of the pre-full moon phases when there are more shadows which will make the craters and mountain ranges stand out more readily in relief. A 1/4 moon, or 1/2 thru 3/4 moon phase will offer a great deal more detail to see than a full moon. Now, photographing a full moon is still a great opportunity, but the best time to capture one is right after it rises above the eastern horizon, which is just after sundown. Doing so will allow you capture the moon in a more reddish or orange light. This is because the light reflecting off the moon must travel through a thicker part of the atmosphere and by doing so the light is shifted toward a red tint.

What to Look For:  Just photographing the moon although a fun activity, actually looking for and identifying specific features and areas on its surface adds a great deal to the enjoyment of the capture. Take notice of how many of the craters have a central peak and around their perimeters you will see high mountain ranges. Also take notice of the Maria, the dark areas of the moon and how they interact with the ridges and ranges. some craters will have bright rays spreading out in some cases for thousands of miles. With some creative cropping, you might even be able to see a single tall stand alone mountain casting a long shadow. If you are a math whiz, you might even be able to calculate the heights of those mountains.

Taking it to the Next Level:  The basic techniques of capturing photo's of the moon can be used by any photographer at almost any level. Once you grasp the basics, think about adding something in your foreground, or making double exposures.

There is little that stands in your way when it comes to creating exciting and interesting compositions involving the moon...just use your imagination and creative instincts.

Photographing the moon is an easy and rewarding way to break into Astro Photography. It is an activity requiring basic photographic equipment and you can start right in your own backyard. Give it a try sometime.

Where Are the Men of Vision?

I am one of a generation who was privileged to have witnessed possibly the most fantastic journey ever attempted by mankind, for I grew up during the golden age of man's conquest of space. It was an adventure filled with drama and danger, yet a journey also filled with wonder and awe. It was an effort initiated by men of vision, built by men of vision, and accomplished by men of vision, a vision where an element of significant history was created through the courage of those responsible.

From The Earth to the Moon is an HBO miniseries produced by Tom Hanks some twenty years ago now. The past two days I revisited those twelve episodes and was at once transported back to the days of my youth and was reminded again of just how amazing an adventure it truly was. Had it not been for that grand adventure, the days of my youth would have been mundane and insignificant. Because of it, they were consumed with the excited dreams and revelations of wonders fulfilled.

As the 49th anniversary of man's first landing on the moon comes and goes, most of us have probably forgotten the excitement of the first landing and the possibilities it represented. I sometimes wonder what adventures the youth of today have to cling to. Seems to me, there are few if any and the ones that are fall short of the grand nature of the Apollo Space Program.

America needs another such grand adventure to stir the imagination of the country. Such a thing would once again demand men of vision. We need to once again come together as one and work toward something that will benefit all of mankind, rekindled that sense of wonder, and open up new possibilities. Unfortunately, men of vision in this country are in short supply and often drowned under the weight of forced ideology of which there is an over abundance.

Politicians destroyed the heart of the space program way back when and it has never been the same. They did not destroy it so much thru a lack of funding, what was worse, they destroyed the very dream that elevated the concept of what it stood for through a lack of vision. They did this thru an agenda of ideological perception - where the misguided "my ideology is better than yours syndrome" prevails and serves only to stifle and if possible to destroy the other side of the political isle. Under such leadership, or lack of it more accurately, we as a nation have floundered toward mediocrity. No single leader, no single president, is the cause, but many in public office have contributed to this symptom, and we as citizens have allowed it to fester.

We as a nation need men of vision again, not more ideology. We need men ready to stand firm on truth in the face of negative opposition. We need men who want to elevate, not constantly oppose and deflate. We need our nation to quit pointing fingers to find fault, and ask again what can I do to be part of a solution and to no longer be part of the problem. We need men of courage who are not afraid to look inward to recognize and accept their own failures, then step forward ready to contribute to a grand cause. And most of all, we need a Grand Cause, something to once again employ the best this country has to offer. We need a Grand Adventure driven by men of vision.

A Telescope, A Young Boy's Imagination, Lasting Impressions

My fascination with the night sky began many years ago when I was a young lad growing up in Southeastern Oklahoma. The night skies in that area back then, and even still today, were dark and clear with low levels of light pollution interfering with your ability to clearly see the thousands of stars. I often would spend hours after dark standing out in the small field next to my grandparents home and gaze towards the sky. A highlight would be if a meteor streaked by or on occasion I could  catch a glimpse of a satellite speeding high over head appearing to be a very dim and small point of light. I knew a few of the constellations, but not many and understood that some of the points of light I saw were planets. About the only ones I could identify for sure was Venus which most often hovered low in the western sky and was very bright along with Jupiter. I must have been somewhere around 14 years old when my parents bought for me a simple and inexpensive telescope. That simple devise opened up a whole new universe and offered me a chance to capture a first glance at the wonders of the moon and a few of the planets.

A Similar Version of my telescope (Internet Photo)

The telescope was a simple reflecting model, also known as a Newtonian, the kind with a concave mirror in the bottom where light entering the top would bounce back towards another smaller mirror near the front that angled the light thru an eyepiece attached to the side. It was a low power beginners model with a small 3 inch mirror which did not have much light gathering or resolving power. Even so, it offered great views of the moon and as I was to discover interesting views of some of the planets.

At my first views of the moon, I was astonished at what I saw. Even though I had many times before seen photos of the moon in science books, for the first time I was able to see it live for myself. And those views were incredible. Craters and mountain ranges and dark Maria (seas) became at once real and immediate. Each night its appearance changed as the moon's orbit caused its terminator shadow to wax and wane. I could not get enough of it, but one evening I turned my small little telescope toward a glowing spot in the sky. Its appearance was different than the stars, a softer tone with a slight yellow color. It hovered rather high in the sky almost calling out to me to have a look.

Keith Bridgman Photo 

It took some time to eventually locate the small glowing speck and when I finally brought the light into focus I realized I was for the first time seeing the ringed planet Saturn. It floated inside my view against a solid black background like it was magically suspended on an invisible string, a small image but unmistakably a real live planet...with a tilted golden ring circling it.

Internet Photo - A slightly larger view of what I saw

 I sat outside long past when I should have retired inside, watching it quiver thru the unstable atmosphere. From that moment on, Saturn became my favorite planet and that little telescope became my favorite possession.

Eventually, I also pointed it toward what I knew to be Jupiter, the largest planet, and in spite of the poor optics I was able to see several of Jupiter's moons as pin points of light extending to either side. Most exciting though was when I first noticed the faint band of clouds that circled the planet. There was no color to any of it, just gray and white and most of the gray was barely discernible.

Internet Photo

Over time I found Mars, the red planet. and on a clear night I could just make out one of its polar ice caps as a white smudge on one end of the small reddish orb. Of course back then I didn't even think about taking photographs of what I saw, but I did at times make crude drawings. It was quite an exciting adventure for it was during that time America's manned space program was just getting off the ground and that little telescope made a young lad feel, however small it might have been, as though he were part of that grand adventure.

Mars similar to what I viewed - Internet Photo

Today, I will from time to time spend a couple hours out on a dark clear evening and point my camera skyward to capture the wonders of the Milky Way.

Keith Bridgman photo

When I do, I am often taken back to those early years and that simple little telescope that helped to open up the imagination of a young boy. There were few things my parents ever purchased for me that generated a lasting impact; one was that simple astronomical devise. A lifetime of memories were generated as I viewed the heavens, the kind of memories that only can be imprinted into a young boy's imagination and dreams.

It's Not What You Look At - It's What You See That is Important

Great photographers are the ones who know how to see photographically. They have an uncanny ability to observe well past the ordinary outward appearance of a subject to visualize the potential of what is there. They do not look at just the physical elements, they see what others fail to notice and then they apply their technical skill to capture that vision.

Many beginning and novice picture takers rely primarily on the ability of their camera to create a technically good photograph. They often will mistakenly equate creating a technically good photograph with being a good photographer. Sometimes they get it right, but most times they do not always understand what it takes to separate themselves from being an ordinary picture taker of things.

You see an ordinary picture taker takes pictures of what they are looking at, and that is where it usually ends. A photographer who has mastered the art of seeing, will look beyond the physical nature of a subject and visualize how that subject can be captured in an artistic way. In short, they understand how to use light to bring out the hidden qualities of what is presented to them. They rarely take photos, they make and create expressions of art.

They will look into the future to grasp the potential of what can be captured. They sense how a change of seasons, time of day, weather, angles of light, lens selection, exposure values, perspective all come into play when taking a photograph that stands apart from the ordinary. A picture taker will look at something, think it looks good, take a quick snap shot, then walk away probably never to return to that moment or location again. The Cell phone phenomena cameras contribute to this photo ideology as much as anything else. I see it all the time; a quick raise of the hand, flip of the thumb, another selfie, another snap shot of whatever with no or little consideration of composition, light, or quality of moment. It's just a fun picture that will most likely be deleted before too long. Cell phone technology has progressed a great deal in recent years and the potential to create amazing images does exist, but it takes more than technology, it requires a visual commitment.

Someone who places a greater importance on how to see photographically, will observe and remember. They recognize what is possible and return sometimes multiple times until they capture what they have visualized in the best possible light using quality equipment to it's fullest.

This approach is as much a feeling as it is a visual sense. What they photograph becomes a part of who they are. Their images tell the story of how they see the world, of how the world impacts them. They are constantly seeking new opportunities and they lock onto moments like radar locks onto and tracks a moving object.

Looking at the world simply identifies interesting subjects. Being able to see beyond what you are looking at requires the use of emotion to identify what is truly important to us as photographers.

Vanishing Point - Add Depth and Perspective to Your Images

A good number of years ago I had an art teacher who taught the class about an artistic technique called Vanishing Point. Simply stated Vanishing Point (VP) is a way to create a 3-dimensional look on a flat plane. It is accomplished by having all of the 'Lines' pointing to a distant point in such a way to make them appear to converge at that point.

In photography applying this technique is an effective way to provide added depth and perspective to your images. The nature of a photograph already uses VP to a degree simply because you already capture a 3-D scene onto a flat plane. What I am referring to is to purposefully use light and angles to generate a greater sense of perspective and depth to our images. There are a great number of ways to do this, but we are going to look at a few specific examples to illustrate the concept.

Take the image of the canola field above. As a panoramic it offers a good example of how to use VP to good effect. The image was created using 4 or 5 images stitched together. The clouds are streaming inline and appear to be converging to a single point in the distance. The road on the left provides a classic example of a converging point. The overall look of the image provides a tremendous sense of perspective. It would be difficult to obtain this look with a single image except possibly by using a very wide angle lens.

On the right we have another image of a Kentucky back road. It offers a classic look of converging lines and VP along with a sense of mystery and nostalgia. Sometimes by changing the angle of the camera you can enhance the appearance of converging lines like this one did. As a portrait frame is works quite well, however if shot as a landscape, the VP effect would have been reduced in this situation. It is the long straight line of the road that provides the VP and when coupled with the rows of trees on either side, it provides a nice sense of depth.

Vanishing Point does not always need to be demonstrated using straight lines. Sometimes, curved lines are effective. The image of the back road provides a small sense of how that works, but the next image is a better example.

Here is another Kentucky back road that effectively uses the curve of the road and fence row to provided a great deal of depth. The VP is easily detected as your eye is drawn deep into the image by the use of those curved lines. Fences are especially good at providing a depth perspective. The key is have it anchored near the front of the image and then allow it to extend across and into the scene without actually exiting the landscape.

A great way create VP is to use artificial lights like speedlights. Two things make the next image of an F-4 Phantom effective: use of color, and use of Vanishing Point. The placement of the lights generated a forward movement of the shadows. The placement of the camera positioned the aircraft in such a way as to point the hardware attached to the wings toward a vanishing point behind the aircraft. Also by centering the nose of the aircraft near the central point of the image, everything else by default moves behind it and follows the VP lines. The Vanishing Point of the lines generated by the wing hardware converges almost exactly where the nose point is if you extend the lines backward. In this case, the alignment was a happy accident, but one that helped make the image as powerful as it turned out. The aircraft provides a powerful appearance of moving toward you.

Using Vanishing Point to provide a sense of depth and perspective to your images is an effective way to generate unique and exciting photographs. It also connects you as an artists to the master artists of old who discovered how to use Vanishing Point to create realistic looking works of art.