A Look Beyond - Discover Those Reserved Moments

There is dwelling through the night a canopy arching overhead filled with the wonders of creation. As beautiful as what we can observe using just our marvelous eyes, it is but a fraction of what harbors there, just out of sight. Those few thousand stars visible to us each night are but a tantalizing hint of what awaits those who chose to look beyond.

For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with the night sky. As a photographer I am constantly seeking new and exciting ways of expression. Capturing the night sky is but one of those ways, but it serves to fill the void of wanting to know more about what is there. Every photograph reveals a new moment in time and becomes a reward unto itself.

Genesis explains in simple form how God created the Heavens and the Earth in six days. For some reason he chose to obscure much of what lies just outside our field of view only giving us just enough to rekindle within us a desire to find out more. It was a brilliant way to motivate and stimulate our minds so we would grow and seek out more about his creation. Sort of a teaching tool I suppose, and an effective one. 

When I step outside and observe the heavens I am doing more than simply looking or taking pictures. I am exercising the inquisitive instinct he placed within all of us. I know more lies just beyond what I can see and capturing those images becomes a means to discovery and revelation. God gave all of us different gifts. There are the biblical gifts like mercy or teaching or even prophesy, but he also gave us earthly talents and he expects us to develop and explore both the biblical gifts and our earthly talents. I suppose too that is why he chose to only reveal a small portion of his creation to allow us to discover for ourselves the wonder of what he made, for in his creation he reveals himself to us. It just seems so obvious really when you think about it. The complexity of creation simply could not have just happened from a random event out of nothing.

When I look beyond what is visible, I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to observe and experience a part of creation that was reserved just for me for that moment of discovery. When I think about it, every photograph of creation is exactly that; a reserved moment of creation. I only wish I could do justice to what is there.

Blending Science with Photography

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I love science. Even during my youngest years, science captured my imagination. I suppose growing up watching those Walt Disney Man in Space program specials first broadcast in the late 1950's influenced my interest levels to such a high degree, I've never lost the fascination with all things scientific. Throw in Sputnik and the early years of the Manned Space program, and I was hooked for life.

Never really had the smarts to become a real, fully educated, scientist myself, but down deep lies a pseudo scientist who explores all kinds of amazing things...but, even today I enjoy watching programs with a scientific angle to it.

So how does one blend science with photography. Well, it is a matter of experimentation combined with observation of the results. Science and photography are a great blend of opportunity. There are so many ways to combine the two, it is difficult to truly define in detail all of them.

Photographing the moon is about the easiest way to break into combining science and photography. It is a big and bright subject and exhibits a different look every night.

Combine your observations and photography with Solar and Lunar eclipses and you will discover the thrills of our local celestial neighborhood.

Another exciting way is to photograph the night sky. The technical aspects of how to go about doing this falls outside the scope of this post, but there are numerous videos and articles about the subject available. The science part of the combination requires you to learn some basics about the night sky. Simple observations of the constellations is a great place to start. You can download any number of apps to help you navigate the night sky on your smart phone, or you can do it the old fashion way by using a star chart.

The next logical step is to find the Milky Way and photograph this amazing spectacle that lies just out of view from our visual abilities, but becomes a wondrous revelation a modern digital camera can capture with ease. Combine the digital camera with a tracking devise and you can accumulate the light of the night sky in such a way as to make it appear like a magical apparition.

Graduating to using a telescope/camera combination opens up a tremendous arena of deep sky objects to photograph. This area is a bit more advanced, but well within the capabilities of most photographers.

Science and photography can also be applied to the natural world. Macro photography, nature photography, weather photography, and underwater photography takes your photography into the fascinating realm of natures wonders. The idea here is to not just photograph things, but to dwell more deeply into the makeup of the world. Explore the complexity of the smallest of things, capture the majesty of a lightning storm, and explore the delicate beauty of a flower or the amazing agility of a hawk.

Learn about those smallest of things and what causes lightning to flash. Seek out the scientific nature of the different species of wildflowers and ecosystems they grow in, and the life history of migrating birds.

 Discover different ways to capture them to reveal the subtle flavor of how they are designed. You will improve as a photographer, an artist, and as a naturalist.

To me, taking the photograph is just half of the equation. The other half is understanding what I am photographing. I want to know why the Orion Nebula glows red. I want to identify the various structures of light, and gas, and nebulae seen within the Milky Way. I seek to discover the natural history of a nesting bird, or why a storm brews into a super cell. I look for new ways to use the equipment I have more effectively and to create techniques or DIY equipment to get the job done.

Combining science and photography is not just for scientist. All of us can learn more about the natural world through photography. All it takes is an inquisitive mind and a willingness to try.

Shooting the 2019 Super Blood Wolf Moon and Eclipse

The past two years Kentucky has been fortunate to witness two amazing celestial events. The full total eclipse of the sun last year (2017), and more recently the total lunar eclipse of the moon. Throw in the M46 comet and several meteor showers and you have full year of wonderful celestial magic.

Shooting the lunar eclipse known as the Super Blood Wolf Moon turned out to be filled with drama and exciting opportunity. For over a week leading up to the event the skies in Kentucky were overcast, cold, rainy, and generally miserable. The day leading up to the eclipse we received a couple inches of snow and the day of the eclipse started promisingly, but deteriorated into a gray white sky filled with a cold wind. By that evening, the sky was still cloudy, but about an hour or so before the eclipse was supposed to start, the skies began to clear, slowly at first with scattered remnants obscuring the moon. Just before the eclipse started, the clouds parted and the sky shined crystal clear with the Orion constellation hanging majestically in the southern sky and the full moon brilliantly riding almost overhead.

Over the next couple of hours I stepped outside to take few photographs, then came back inside to warm up, repeating the process until the last 20 minutes or so before totality occurred. That last 20 minutes I bundled up and braved the cold night air to watch in awe as the moon grew blood red across its entire face snapping images every minute or so.

Capturing images required some trial and error. I started off shooting in aperture priority at f/8 with an ISO of 100 allowing my shutter speed to drag along depending on the brightness of the moon. I ended up having to over compensate the exposure to allow for a short enough exposure to keep the image sharp. Before long, I had to change my tactics and shifted my exposure to a manual mode. This allowed me to shoot at f/6.3 and adjust my shutter accordingly to obtain the results I wanted. I shifted the ISO upwards to 1600 and began shooting around 1/4th of second alternating up or down to get different results. I also adjusted my camera into the Vivid mode which would enhance the blood red color effect.

As the moon approached totality, I was beginning to grow numb from the cold and decided to call it  a night. Certainly, the night was filled with magical celestial moments few take time to observe. The night sky is filled with wondrous visions and with the technology found within today's digital camera's almost anyone can capture those wonders. The Blood Wolf Moon Eclipse proved a highlight of the new season of observation.

Looking For Quality Light - Shoot The Edges

Most of us already understand how light is the driving force behind all great photographs. It is the quality of light that separates good light from bad lighting situations. Without it, photographs tend to become xerox copies of the things we see. Improve the light and your images will be transformed into moody and powerful images of the world around us.

Quality and quantity are not always a good mix. In fact Quantity of light has little to do with its quality and in many cases only serves to hinder the creative process. Certain kinds of photography often do require a good quantity of light.

Photos of subjects like wildlife or fall colors often do better when the quantity of light increases enough to generate bold, dynamic colors and detail. However, to create moody light, or light that possesses a softer more reflective quality, lower light often is what is required. But Low light is not always conducive to quality and will sometimes create a muted and often unresponsive effect. To find elusive quality light a great place to look is along the edges of light.

Shooting the edges of light will in most cases solve a great deal of lighting problems anywhere from high contrast, to dim and unresponsive muted colors. But finding it requires we know where to look. So lets take a look at where to find quality edge light.

Actually edge light can be found almost anywhere at anytime of day, but in most cases it is best and most easily found in specific situations. The most obvious is during transitional moments of the day like from predawn to sunup or the twilight regions between light and dark transitions. Edge light during these moments can be some of the finest kinds of light you can shoot. I'm not specifically only referring to sunrise or sunset situation, which can be great times of course, but those moments where light changes from one style or type into another. An example would be just after a storm when the sun breaks through thick cloud cover. Or in drier regions, during times when a great deal of dust is in the air and the sun is filtering through it.



Edge light can be reflected light which takes on the color hue of whatever it is reflecting off of. This can generate interesting effects, but can also generate some unwanted conditions as well. Edge light can also be diffused light created as it passes through a translucent material or object like glass, or clouds, or water vapor like fog.

Edge light is some of my favorite light in which to shoot. It almost always improves the situation and creates a great deal of mood. Using it to its fullest extent can be tricky and requires a great deal of trial and error to get it right, but when you are struggling to find quality light, by adjusting your eye to look beyond the ordinary and look for those interesting lighting conditions created by edge light, you can start to overcome photographic setbacks and move forward into the realm of amazing light.

The Planning of a Photographic Adventure - What Goes Into It

Even though I have slowed down considerably as I plunge feet first into my late 60's, the adventurous boy who ran rough and tumble in his youth still stirs inside. He is lying somewhat dormant and restless, but waiting for an opportunity to rise up again. Luckily for me, I've learned to temper those youthful desires to stay reasonably within the physical capabilities of my more advanced age. Ever so often, those youthful desires surface rather abruptly and threaten to overwhelm my more practical and educated physical capabilities with adventurous ideas. When they do, well...I actually enjoy the thought of once again torturing...or rather challenging myself to jump headlong into a grand adventure.

In my youth I did a lot of headlong plunging without very much planning or thinking. The results were adventurous to say the least, but more often disastrous. But, I learned a great deal of how not to do certain kinds of things and I learned that a little bit of planning goes a very long way to if not prevent disastrous results, to at least temper the results toward a more successful undertaking.

Heading out to undertake a Photographic Adventure can seem like an exciting idea, but experience has taught me to real in expectations to at least take a pre-look at what I want to accomplish and then weed out the chaff to the point the actual adventure becomes practical. So, this is where I am currently, planning a photographic adventure more extensive than any I have ever attempted; a five day onsite solo adventure to photograph and video my favorite place; Oklahoma's Tallgrass Prairie. The idea is to create a video production about photographing and exploring this amazing landscape and will require attempting to capture the images in ways I've never tried before.

I would not ordinarily attempt such a thing except I am rather familiar with the location and because of that I feel confident I can plan around it accordingly. I'll be heading over that way the first week of May. A good time for it will be warm but the oppressive Oklahoma summer heat will not have arrived yet, plus the prairie will be green but not yet grown up to its full summer heights, and the Bison calves will have been born in March or April and will start to become lively and playful by that time.

Not only will I be shooting photographs, I will be shooting video footage. This requires some careful thought about what I really need for I will be carrying most of this gear with me so it needs to be practical, useful, and as easily carried as I can make it. I do have a rather large camera bag, but it is too small for all of my gear, so I have to pack only what I will use for that particular photo shoot. Sometimes I will be shooting relatively close to the road, other times I will have to hike in possibly up to a mile or so.

The video footage will be the most challenging. What I must avoid are static videos where there is no or very little movement involved. Might as well take pictures. So between now and then I will be practicing shooting video and adding movement to the action. To do this I will use a DIY Jib, a devise that allows you to swing and rise the camera from ground level to about seven feet high and keep the camera on an even plane. It also serves to smooth out the panning of wide area shots.

To capture enough video footage to make a video production requires a series of planned shots. To do this I will use a shot-list outlining the kinds of video footage I want to capture. Most of the footage will be relatively short clips 10 to 20 seconds in length that will be stitched together along with still photographs and audio to create the finished production. Many of the clips will simply be transitional footage that takes the viewer from one situation into another.

In addition to this I will be story boarding the program just so I will have a good idea of the kinds and number of video clips and still images I want to capture. (Several Dozens will be required). This story board is simply a guide and not so much a locked down this is what I must do script. Too many things can interfere with planned shooting, so I'll remain flexible and adjust as the conditions dictate. The story board will give me a good place to start and a basic photographic footage direction to take.

I know the kinds of photographs I want to capture, the problem will be the weather. Will it cooperate or cause havoc? From my experience, the weather rarely does exactly what you want it to do, you just have hope for the best and adapt to what nature gives you. I figure over the course of five days, I will at least have one or possibly two days of the kind of weather I want. The rest I'll just have to work in as best as I can.

As with all landscape photography the best light generally occurs early or late, but I will be able to shoot all day long because many of the video clips will be close ups of the various fauna and plants found on the preserve. This will prevent me from becoming bored and complacent during the middle of the day waiting for those elusive great lighting moments that may or may not occur. I figure I will have plenty of shooting to keep me busy all day long and still have some grand opportunities to capture those amazing moments of light early and late in the day.

Time lapse photography can create amazing video moments provided you have the correct situation to shoot and that requires the movement of clouds. I plan on capturing ample time lapse footage both during the day and of the night sky if the conditions allow for it.

Some of the anticipated problems hopefully will not become show stoppers. The weather of course will be the biggest factor.  In fact it may be the main problem factor or it could be the main reason the results turn out fantastic. Only time will tell.

Planning a Photographic Adventure is a daunting challenge. What do I need, where do I stay, what if this or that happens, how do I do certain things, and can I do certain things all become valid questions that must be answered or dealt with when on location. Heading out on such an adventure without some kind of a plan can cause you to miss opportunities. Knowing the basics of what you want to accomplish provides you with a script of how to proceed, but being flexible and adapting to changing conditions is also important. Most importantly, having a personal vision of what you want to accomplish becomes the driving force behind the success or failure of the project. Preparation, Planning, Adaptation, and Execution are all important elements to employ when wanting to create a high quality production. The planning and preparation process can become part of the most enjoyable portion of the adventure, but a photographic adventure is exactly what it means...an adventure fraught with challenges and frustrations tempered by exciting revelations and success.