Fluid dance

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Some more work with the MIOPS Splash this evening.
By forcing the camera to see the initial trigger (equivalent to a half-press on the shutter button), the timing scatter is reduced significantly. This is something I found was necessary with my earlier DIY setup, so it's no surprise it helps here too.
I've included a composite image that I quite liked, and a behind-the-scenes shot too, both after the jump.

This might be my entry for the 52Frames High Key challenge, but I'll see if I come up with anything better during the week before I commit to submitting it!

Electromagnetic Ballet

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I was lucky enough to catch another absolutely stunning auroral display tonight.
I think this one was, in parts, brighter than the one back in May. It also seemed to be larger, almost completely filling the visible sky for much of the time.

Consider me a happy (if rather chilly) bunny tonight!

A couple more after the jump.

Boulder?

Nope!
That's the same stone on top of an AA battery for scale in the second picture (after the jump).

Late posting, as per. I have excuses, but they're boring.
Shot with the MPE-65mm at 5x magnification on the EOS M6 Mk II, on the WeMacro focus rail.
1.5GB of raw files went into this one.
Stacked with Helicon Focus. I used flash to try and keep things sharper, and it does seem to have helped.
I am tempted to get a proper macro flash setup, because the normal flashguns are a bit unwieldy with a subject this small.

At least the world contains chocolate...

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And pizza, and beer.
3x macro of the end of a Twirl.

Not one thing, but certainly another

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So, I went out to try and catch the Perseid meteor shower last night.
Through some unfortunate timing, even though there were some big, bright streaks directly overhead, almost none of them were captured by the camera, probably because they fell in the gaps between exposures.
I have lots of trails from aircraft and satellites, but only a handful of short meteor trails.
As I was about to pack up for the night, I spotted a bit of a purple glow on the camera's screen, and realised I was catching a bit of aurora. Nothing like earlier in the year, and maybe just barely visible by eye amongst the light pollution, but most definitely there on camera.

I’ll take that!

Reflected Chop

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Very late posting this one.
I've had a rather busy few days, and no sign of things letting up any time soon.
This is a backup image from last Friday.

Goodnight Moon

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A backup image today, taken last night.

I woke up this morning with a splitting headache, and feeling quite sick, so I think it was probably a migraine.
All rather unpleasant, and resulted in having to spend a large chunk of the day in bed - but things did improve in the early evening, which was quite a relief.

Outlier / All gates will be subject to inspection

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One more after the jump.

Selenia

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I have been upgrading my laptop's SSD and running backups for most of the evening, and I thought I was going to have to fall back on a backup photo tonight.
However, this little one appeared in my bathroom, and became the accidental star of the show.
It also gave me the perfect opportunity to try out the additional LED cube lights I received yesterday - They seem to work quite well.

2024-06-14

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Oi, Wot You Lookin' At?

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... Was the tone I was reading into the slightly insolent stare I got from this lamb.
Or do I anthropomorphise too much, perhaps?

"Delish"

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I'm fairly sure that this would have been Lucy's one-word description of this most excellent fresh strawberry, picked straight from my in-laws' garden this morning, and slightly warm from the sun.
Juicy, sweet and delicious.

Not Like My Day

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A very busy day today, so this is a backup image from a few days ago.

Empis Livida / Ominous Sky

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I think this is an Empis Livida, although I can't be totally sure - entomology isn't really my thing!

I rather liked the threatening sky behind these lines of stubble in a fallow field (after the jump)

(Mostly) Failing to find Ospreys

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Went on a boat trip at Rutland Water this evening to try and see ospreys.
We did catch a glimpse of a couple in the distance, but even with a 600mm lens, plus 1.4x teleconverter, mounted to a 1.6x crop sensor body for an effective 35mm equivalent focal length of over 1300mm, they were not very large in the frame.
Still a fun trip though...
One of the two frames actually containing an osprey after the jump.

Twiddling knobs

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Not the finest photo I've ever taken, but it is representative of my evening spent helping a family member's band get to grips with their new sound gear.
Not a bad little setup, and I've rather enjoyed my trip back into sound work.
Sadly, I'm not around to help at their first real gig with this new gear, but their regular sound man is doing a good job, and I hope the last couple of sessions with two heads on sound have been useful for him.

Get Your Toe Down

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Plans for this evening went a bit sideways, but I went out for a drive in search of photos after I'd had dinner. I'm reasonably happy with this one.
It was actually quite a lot darker than it appears here, this is a 30 second exposure.

I also came close to repeating my incompetence of a few weeks ago, by throwing the big camera bag in the car, full of lenses, but absent a camera body. Fortunately, I had the M6 MkII in the car too, so while the 6D MkII and a better lens would have done a technically better job, I reckon this is pretty OK, all things considered.

Bulbous Tower

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A trip to the National Space Centre today with my cousin in law and her family.

It's years since I went here last, on my third date with Lucy. So much has happened since then. If you think about it too much, it makes your head spin!

This one was incredibly close to black and white straight out of the camera, so it was an easy decision to go mono on this.

Bulrushes

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A trip out with Bailey & co today. I quite liked the look of the bulrushes filtered through the spring leaves.

Also a pic of Bailey after the jump, because the dog tax must be paid when one mentions dogs...

County Hall Reflections

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Took a late evening wander out with Mum and Dad this evening, and ended back here on the embankment, one of my regular haunts.