The very large to the very small

Posted by Photonstopper on August 13, 2019
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Photo: Wing detail of a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. Photo by James Guilford.

Tiger’s Wing

Saturday night I spent imaging very large objects: Earth’s Moon and craters measuring nearly 60 miles in diameter. Sunday I photographed a lovely Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) as it sampled nectar from a flowering plant; then, during editing, I cropped in close creating an image depicting an area of only an inch or so square on that insect’s wing. I do love exploring things from the very large to the very small.

Even smaller details, an unexpected bonus emerged in the cropped image. The swallowtail’s wing was at a severe angle to the morning’s sunlight enhancing the view of the individual scales that cover butterfly wings.

And yes, the butterfly was photographed alive and well, and left in that condition!

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Tyco reprocessed

Posted by Photonstopper on August 13, 2019
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Photo: Tyco Crater. Photo by James Guilford.

Tyco Reprocessed

I was messing around with my recent soft-focused “antique” image of Moon’s Crater Tyco when I discovered a Photoshop sharpening feature I’d never used. I reprocessed the image using that setting and got a “better” result: sharper appearance of the crater itself but with more grain. I think I like this new one better than the one I originally posted. Here they both are: Reprocessed Above / Original Below.

Photo: Crater Tyco, Sea of Clouds to the north. Photo by James Guilford.

Crater Tyco, Sea of Clouds to the north.

We have some lovely lunar art

Posted by Photonstopper on August 11, 2019
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Photo: Crater Copernicus in the Sea of Islands. Ocean of Storms to the north. Photo by James Guilford.

Crater Copernicus in the Sea of Islands. Ocean of Storms to the north.

I’ve tried in the past to directly connect a modern DSLR camera to the ca. 1901 Warner and Swasey 9-inch telescope I operate for a small college. Because some original fittings have been lost over the decades and I use an eyepiece adapter a predecessor built, the telescope’s couldn’t be used for focal plane camera operation. Focal plane would have been like using the telescope as a 3,200mm telephoto lens. So I was limited to afocal use — holding the camera with one of its own lenses over the telescope eyepiece and trying to record that image. When it worked afocal photography produced very good, even excellent results for the Moon; dim objects could not be handled that way.

Recently it occurred to me that I hadn’t tried eyepiece projection: using a special adapter to hold an eyepiece, connect to the telescope and camera, and project the eyepiece image on to the camera’s image sensor. I scrounged around and found and eyepiece projection adapter in pieces, put it back together and, trying it last night, got interesting results. On this first try with the vintage scope the images all came out in soft focus with details at the center of the image somewhat better than those surrounding it. The overall effect is, I think, quite artistic.

I’ll keep trying with that old scope, with my own new telescope as well, to try and get sharp images but, for now, we have some lovely lunar art!

Photo: Crater Tyco, Sea of Clouds to the north. Photo by James Guilford.

Crater Tyco, Sea of Clouds to the north.

July 16 Storm Encounter

Posted by Photonstopper on July 17, 2019
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A Most Impressive Shelf Cloud

It surprised me. We were expecting rain and thunderstorms but the approaching weather looked disorganized and “wet” — that is, plenty of rain leading the way and blocking views of the storm clouds. Suddenly I got indications from observers to my west that something was cooking, so I fired up my radar access and saw a well-defined monster of a storm approaching. I grabbed a camera and headed out, knowing I couldn’t get far before meeting the storm.

Under the Shelf Cloud

Finally getting through town and out into the countryside, I saw on the horizon hints of the approaching line. I quickly located a farmer’s field access path and pulled off. I got there just in time to watch the shelf cloud develop, roll toward me, and pass overhead.

Deluge: The Rain Arrives

As the ominous clouds passed overhead, I knew to what to watch for: torrential rain! I strolled to my car as the wind began to rise, got in, and enjoyed the arrival of the downpour from dry, air conditioned comfort!

This was possibly the most impressive shelf cloud I’ve seen; bear in mind I don’t chase in the Great Plains. I nearly missed this one and, as it turns out, I grabbed the wrong camera —  could have done with the wide-angle lens left behind!

Thanks to the unnamed property owner who drove over to see what I was doing and generously allowed me to stay put on her drive!

I love “shelfies” but…

Posted by Photonstopper on July 2, 2019
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Photo: Shelf Cloud by James Guilford, July 2, 2019

Shelf cloud photographed July 2, 2019 in central Medina County, Ohio. Note the area of heavy rain to the left, the “clear” area bearing strong winds to the right.

I love shooting shelf clouds — clouds that form a line or arc along the leading edge of a gust front in a thunderstorm. They are awe-inspiring, scary, to me they’re just beautiful in their power rugged symmetry. I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now (apologies to Joni Mitchell) and discovered something at least as impressive; clouds of chaotic shards and pieces, tumultuously flowing together as a mass. I saw this configuration with a severe thunderstorm that dropped a tornado a few weeks ago, and I saw it again today in another severe thunderstorm — after the shelf cloud passed. I still love photographing shelf clouds (called “shelfies”, a twist on self-portrait “selfies”) but…

Photo: Chaotic storm cloud. Photo by James Guilford.

Tumult. A chaotic storm cloud behind a shelf cloud.

Stormy weather

Posted by Photonstopper on June 2, 2019
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StormLight — Storm clouds close in giving last light to a farmer’s field before rain began. Canon 6D MK-2 Image.

May and June bring stormy weather and stormy weather often means dramatic skies. The evening of June 1 saw strong storms moving across Northeastern Ohio and when I saw an outflow boundary showing up strong and clear on radar, I headed out to see what was happening. I had not driven very far when I reconsidered my original observing destination and headed for the nearest open area I could find. Sweeping toward me over the treeline was a very impressive line of cloud; the line was so long I quickly shot several images using my trusty iPhone SE with the idea in mind of creating a multi-panel panorama later.

Once the outflow boundary rolled over me, I continued my trip seeking the cleanest storm edge I could find; several appeared to be headed my way but the line of storms seemed to be changing direction. After a good bit of moving around, I decided to head to the Wellington area in Lorain County as my best chance at a storm intercept. I discovered a farmer’s field access drive off a rural road and waited, surrounded by open fields, for the weather to come my way. And I waited. And waited. While I waited I photographed the changing cloudscape and wound up with my favorite view of the day — the last light illuminating a field as stormy clouds closed in. A complex and brilliant bolt of persistent Cloud to ground lightning convinced me my time in the open was done. Not set up for lightning photography, I watched from inside the car for a bit and headed into rain and home.

Outflow from thunderstorms to the north pushed out this arc of clouds. Panorama assembled from multiple iPhone SE images.