Ok – so just a short one this time, I’ve been messing around with the Remote Shooting software and a long USB cable. And after several battery changes produced this rather long (although rather short) time-lapse of the stars spinning around past my windows. It’s not all that interesting – although a few times you can see some big patches of cloud, a couple of planes go by and a couple of meteorites. This is looking “Northerly” from my bedroom.

Hopefully at some point I really well be able to take a picture or something of the stars to convey how awesome they are to look at out here, but probably not.

Apologies for the tonnes of noisiness of the video. Unfortunately using the inbuilt black frame noise reduction drains battery life and doubles shooting time so I didn’t bother, and i had to have the ISO cranked up to 1600 to get the clearer pictures.

At some point I might get an external power supply for the camera and in which case it will hopefully be possible to make a super long one

Until then I leave you with this!

 

 

P.S While I was at it I came across this shot of Orion and had a play with some “post processing” of the image, to better clean up the noise and light pollution and other junk. This was the end result – I will hopefully tweak the “recipe” for this processing and use it in future astro related attempts.

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Almost every morning since it began to stay darker during the winter months I have driven along the top of Sutton Bingham reservoir on the way to work – and every time that I do I wish I had 30 minutes spare and my camera with me to pull over and take a picture.

It’s different every single time – some amazing sunrises, some brilliant mist on top, some moody cloud cover. So many shot’s that I have missed and wish I had taken.

Anyway all things aside – as it was Christmas morning and due to a horrible illness I have somehow acquired I was actually up before the sunrise, and thought if any day I should go take a photo it would be this morning. Especially without loads of cars zooming about.

So I drove down to the reservoir (3 minute drive) attached my Gorilla Pod to the camera and a nearby fence post and kept taking pictures.

Now all things aside there have been “prettier” mornings from a photographic point of view down there (but these are the ones I have missed on my drive past). Either way here are 3 of the better ones (one being a 3 exposure HDR). Unfortunately (as cool as they are) there were a lot of ducks swimming about making a blurry mess of some of the shots.

 

Taken just before I “left” to go back home.

 

Taken just as I arrived before the sun had really started to come up.

 

HDR of 3 Exposures taken midway through.

 

And yes I have cranked up the saturation on them all, which does annoy some people but I love bright colours for sunrises/sunsets so to you!

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It seems there is never any daylight anymore, so all I have is more Star Shots – I was so lazy I didn’t even bother venturing outside, this is out my bedroom window – that glow creeping up in the background is the horrible light pollution from Yeovil, the foreground tree’s are lit from the Porch light.

The weather has been so cold recently – blizzards and such everywhere but here (sucks – I want snow!) but this has thankfully resulted in some amazing clear skies – in fact everytime I look recently I feel myself thinking it seems much clearer than last time, which is ace. Downside being in the cold it’s much hard to just sit outside and stare which I really do enjoy.

Anyway I am typing this from my just rebuilt PC running MY full version of Windows 7 Ultimate – which after using the RC for so long I decided to finally buy – must say it is much snappier than the RC which is nice.

Anyway – only 3 more “sleeps” until Christmas – maybe there will be some snow yet – if not I will just cave in and upload the pictures I have from February this year when we were snowed in – which was pretty gorgeous anyway.

Feeling like I have got a lot of odd jobs out of the way in time for the end of year which has eased the constant weight of worry my brain somehow generates over small tasks and so I am ready to try and enjoy Christmas!

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I got home from Tesco earlier (yeah my life is full of excitement!) and happened to notice how fantastically, awesomely, amazingly clear the night sky was for once. Since living out here in the countryside I have generally managed to enjoy the stars so much more than ever before, its something that I find really humbling and really incredible at the same time.

Given the choice my bedroom ceiling would be crystal clear glass giving me a perfect view of the night – but alas such awesomeness isn’t really practical.

Anyway – as the sky is so very clear – I decided to try to take some photo’s with a few more than the usual 2 or 3 visible stars in.

Unfortunately the results looked much better on the low resolution camera screen than they do at full resolution. Due to the length of time I had to leave the shutter open they all blurred a small amount, and there was plenty of noise from the high ISO I used.

Nevertheless they are still some of the best pictures, at least most detailed pictures I have managed to take of the night sky. They don’t come close to how awe-inspiring it actually is stood there looking up, but they do serve as a helpful reminder to myself.

One day I do hope to get a proper astrophotography set together, a nice high powered telescope with automatic tracking and a decent mount for the DSLR, but I am afraid budget wise that will be a while away yet.

In the mean time here are 2 I took – if you look properly at the second picture you can see the whole of Orion which is one of my favourite constellations (generally because its easy to see and is so bright). Unfortunately I struggled to capture a lot of the bits I love the most (the smaller background stars/clusters and dusty bits – especially the band that shows the rest of the milky way itself).

 

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Ok, I admit, I have been more than “lax”… I have been downright ignorant of updating this Blog since I created it over a year ago – so this post is actually, officially, my first post! *FANFARE etc*

I guess I have been mainly putting it off because I am never really too sure how to write or what to write; when I am writing to everyone and anyone and more than likely at the same time, no-one.

So rather than skim through the up’s and down’s of life and things which are of little relevance – I shall instead just introduce what this blog is going to be about.

Essentially I hope to use it to showcase a variety of the photographs I take – these may often be the better ones but might end up being the worse ones. All depending on the opinions or in fact – the eye of the beholder.

Hopefully they will be the pictures I deem most fit for public consumption (although that said a lot more will be available on my Flickr page, but as I tend to upload all sorts of junk there, these will be the more refined ones). These are also likely to be the ones I am proudest of, or essentially for whatever reason think look the best – my “smug” photos if you will.

I do really love to take a good picture, and what I enjoy most is not particularly being bothered about what people think of my pictures (which does bring in to question why I am posting them publicly – something I don’t know the answer too). The composure and any silly editing I have done used on them, or any silly “fad” I have followed in taking the picture. Ultimately if I think it looks good or I am pleased with it, it’s likely to go on here.

Unfortunately for quite a while I have been very “relaxed” with the hobby (by hardly taking a single picture for a while). This is something that has annoyed me greatly and I intend on rectifying.

So without further adieu, I introduce my new(ish) VW Scirocco as my first “smug” picture – I took it earlier on today when the grotty English weather cleaned up for a tiny amount of sun – long enough for me to drive up a hill and take a photo.

Oh and just to make a note – clearly I have edited it/fiddled with levels and colours and most obviously removed the majority of my number plate – so in case you wondered I don’t own a very very expensive and absurd private plate with just “09” on it!

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About

Simon Kirk is an amateur photographer from the South West of England. He specialises in landscape and contemporary photography. He likes skies, the sun, sharp lines and vibrant colours. Contact him here.
Often the frame costs more than the photograph; but that is only because the photograph is priceless.

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