LOCKDOWN! More garden astro

After 2 weeks of moonlit skies, the moon has finally set for a couple of weeks and I'm into a run (hopefully) of clear skies around the Lyrid meteor shower.
These are from the early morning of 20th Aptil, with the peak due in a couple of days time.
Managed to capture 2 Lyrids between 1am and 3am and got a nice star trail from the back garden

A couple of cheeky Lyrid meteors from the back garden

Star trail from the garden (1am - 4am, 360 shots, F4.0 @30s ISO1600)

LOCKDOWN! And an increase in local night photography

Since early March 2020, we've been locked down in the UK, unable travel unless absolutely necessary. That's meant it's been impossible to escape the light polluted skies of Surrey.
And, as Sod's Law dictates, there has been night after night of clear skies through March and April.
I tried to capture the Milky Way over Surrey, but the light pollution is a killer.
Got a nice ISS shot, with it slicing past Venus and the Moon.
Also got a nice shot of the Pink Supermoon rising over Woking.
Opportunities are few and far between, but it's nice to be out on a warm(ish) clear night.

ISS arching over Lightwater, past the Moon and Venus

Just a hint of Milky Way over Woking's light pollution

Pink Supermoon rising over Woking's own rising towers

First Tracked Milky Way shots

A sudden, short break in the weather so I headed down to Selsey to grab some early season MW.
Alarm @ 0230, out the door by 0245. Arrived at 0350 (nice fast drive down!)
Got an hour of shooting, then left at 0515. Home for 0625 for the school run.
Sleep is for the weak!
Pretty clean view of the MW, but quite hazy along the horizon, so not massive detail in the MW. Very pleased with getting easy 3minutes exposures on the tracker. Seems so easy to setup.
Ran out of time to get proper foreground shots, so they are a bit noisy.
Looking forward to the rest of the MW season!

First attempt at Orion Nebula

Testing my new Sky Watcher Star Adventurer tracker in the garden last night as it was the only clear night duefor a week or so.
Pleased with this result, even though it was a bit rushed.
Really looking forward to getting some nice long tracked Milky Way shots in the coming weeks/months.

Astro kit goals....

Having decided I can't justify the outlay for a Sony A7iii (with all the required new lenses), I've been practicing some astro with my homemade barn-door tracker.
Not getting great results, mainly due to all the moving/wobbly parts. Seriously looking at the Star Adventurer Skywatcher Star Adventurer Tracker as a quick, cheap (under £300) upgrade.

[EDIT] 27th Feb.... Got the Star Adventurer and looking forward to using it.....

Bleak February

February in the UK has just been a succession of storms and wet, mild weather.
Very few sunrises, hardly any clear nights, no mist or fog. Just rain, rain, rain and wind.
Nearly made it down to the South Coast to capture some of the Storm Ciara or Storm Dennis action, but common sense prevented me from driving.

The only real shot from this month is a Pixel2 shot from a flight into Frankfurt.
Nice shot, but I'm missing the "proper" photography. Roll on Spring!

Thursley Common Recce

The Sunday morning forecast was for a bright, crisp, cold morning, so headed out with the family for an exploratory walk around the boardwalks on Thursley Common.
I've been wanting to explore here for a while and hope to return for some mist and possibly some astro.
We didn't quite get there in time for sunrise, but got some nice shots anyway. Hard work to balance the bright sun/sky, so most of these shots are HDR stacks.

Single shot of another photographer in the mist

HDR stack of 3x images

HDR stack of 3x images

HDR stack of 4x images

New Year, New Astro (fingers crossed!)

New Year and I'm setting my photography goals for the year. Looking forward to some clear Winter/Spring nights to get some astro shots.
Milky Way due back in March too... Calendar is updated.... Just need to be patient now.

Now if I can just get a few thousand ££££ together,  I can get that Sony A7iii before then  ;o)

Alpine shots

Had a couple of down days while snowboarding, so had a wander about to see what might photograph nicely just using the Pixel2.
When the light is good, it's hard to take a bad shot. Would love to have had the DSLR with me for the shot down the valley to Val D'Isere though. Such a lovely view!

The view from La Rosiere down the Valley towards Val D'Isere

2 week old snow down in the valley

Alpine Astro

A few days snowboarding in the Alps... Clear nights, high altitude and a friend's GoPro Hero7. I couldn't resist giving the Night Lapse function a go, so left the camera (carefully hidden) out all night attached to a USB battery pack. Really pleased with the results. Although the moon blew out a lot of stars, it did a great job of lighting up the mountains.
Orion looking good too!

I'm officially a published photographer!

Really pleased to get a runner-up place in the 2019 Surrey Life Photography competition.
I get to go to a Champagne evening to see the picture at Denbies in Jan too.
WooHoo! I'm officially a published photographer!

Quick pre-storm visit to Wittering

With a nasty storm incoming, I headed to West Wittering Beach to try to get some exciting sea before the main rain arrived. It was here or Dorset... I think I made the right choice, as the rain arrived pretty much 10 minutes after I did and got worse very quickly.

The sky was bleak and there was no real light to speak of, so the scene naturally lends itself to monochrome... Pleased with the outcome.

My favourite sticks again!
Canon 77d, Sigma 10mm, f11, 1 sec

Breakwater doing it's job admirably
Canon 77d, Sigma 10mm, f11, 1 sec

Beach window
Canon 77d, Sigma 10mm, f11, 1 sec

Classic Dorset

The forescast was pointing to a definite fog/mist across the South East and I had a day off work, so got up early (0430) and headed for Corfe Castle to catch the elusive Castle in the mist shot.
Was foggy/misty all the way down, but at the castle, there was nothing.
All around was misty, but it never really hit the castle, so I took a few shots of the nice light, then headed for Kimmeridge to see if the sunrise would light up the ledges.

Kimmeridge was high tide, so not much exposed rock and the sunrise was behind the clouds.
Still a nice place to be at 0730 on a Wednesday!

I then had a wander up to Swyre Head, to see what the fuss was about. Lovely walk, but the view was past it's best (might re-visit for another clear sunrise).
Got a lovely view across the valley of Corfe Castle though, still with that mist tantalisingly closed behind...