On the rocks between Garretstown Beach and Garylucas Beach back in 2017.
Aperture | ƒ/8 |
Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
Focal length | 17mm |
ISO | 400 |
Assaranca Waterfall is 8km from the scenic town of Ardara on the way to Maghera Beach. August 2017.
Aperture | ƒ/22 |
Camera | Canon EOS 6D |
Focal length | 17mm |
ISO | 50 |
Shutter speed | 1.3s |
The new Shaky Bridge (Shakey Bridge?), or Daly’s Bridge, is a huge improvement over the old. The lighting makes it stand out, and it still has the shakes like the old one!
I love the cobbles on the ground nearby but the ugly concrete support under the walkway up to it leaves something to be desired. 🙁
Aperture | ƒ/8 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 16mm |
ISO | 320 |
Shutter speed | 4s |
January 1st, 2020 in Lanzarote. It seems like a world away. Some knew what was ahead of us in this year but I certainly never suspected what the world would be going through now.
Aperture | ƒ/8 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 110mm |
ISO | 400 |
Shutter speed | 5s |
The Dom Luís Bridge in Porto, Portugal last November.
Aperture | ƒ/8 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 23mm |
ISO | 100 |
Shutter speed | 3.2s |
Urban light intrudes on a long exposure shot of the night sky, but it was worth it. Got three Perseid meteors and the Milky Way.
Aperture | ƒ/4 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 16mm |
ISO | 6400 |
Shutter speed | 30s |
On Thursday night I went out with my son to photograph Comet NEOWISE. This is a comet that was only discovered a few months ago on March 27 by NASA’s NEOWISE telescope.
Comet nuclei are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust that orbit the sun. They can range in size from a few miles to tens of miles wide, and the nucleus of NEOWISE measures about 3 miles across. When these comets approach the sun, their frozen bodies start to sublimate, and they spew dust and gasses in a tail that can span millions of miles.
Comet NEOWISE made its harrowing close approach to the sun, known as its perihelion, on July 3, and it is now zooming past the Earth on its way back out of the solar system. NEOWISE will make its closest approach (64 million miles) to Earth on July 22, but the best viewing window is happening right now until July 19.
There were a few clouds in the sky, but with the sun setting very late we went out around eleven thirty.
We didn’t have far to go, heading to a local field looking north where I knew the comet would be. The Stellarium mobile app helped me figure out where to look as it’s more north-west than simply north. Look towards where the sun is setting, or has set, and you’ll find it.
At first I took a wide angle photo of the sky as I couldn’t see the comet at all. Once my eyes grew accustomed to the dark I could just about see the comet if I didn’t look directly at it. I can imagine in darker skies it probably would have looked even brighter!
I took a few more photos of this scene but as the night sky got darker I realised I needed a point of interest to draw the eye in. The electricity pole in the field served that purpose well.
As the minutes ticked by I was reminded that focusing in the dark is extremely hard. I recalled that someone mentioned pre-focusing at infinity in daylight hours and marking the place on the lens. I remembered outings with my photography club where someone would shine a light on themselves to help focus. If I had a flashlight I would have gladly used it to focus on that pole. I have so many out of focus photos of that pole and the comet!
It was midnight and I promised my son I’d take “just a few more photos” before we headed off. I had no idea now if the pole was in focus. Zooming the lens adjusted the focus so I had to refocus. We tried shining the lights from our phones on the pole but it barely made a difference. The grass was long and wet with dew so I didn’t want either of us to go trudging through it to shine a light on it. I think I got reasonably lucky with the last shot!
The comet will be back in 6,800 years. I wonder if any of these photos will survive until then?
I’m glad you got to the end of the post. Here’s my top tips for capturing the meteor or just for taking photos of the sky at night:
Aperture | ƒ/6.3 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 42mm |
ISO | 2000 |
Shutter speed | 15s |
A few photos taken around Cork City in December with Blarney Photography Club.
Aperture | ƒ/10 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 16mm |
ISO | 50 |
Shutter speed | 6s |
At the bar of a hotel in Lanzarote, Canary Islands.
Aperture | ƒ/8 |
Camera | ILCE-7M3 |
Focal length | 34mm |
ISO | 100 |
Shutter speed | 10s |