Returning Borrowed Equipment

I've been borrowing my mother-in-law's DSLR lenses and camera bag (and camera body until I got my T5i) for a GROSS amount of time. No, literally, it's been 144 weeks - get it? Today I'm returning the camera bag, charger, and lenses so she can bring them on vacation.

It's getting me thinking again about what kind of lens I would/need to buy for myself. And eventually I'll need my own bag - maybe I've been putting it off long enough. We'll see, there's lots to spend money on around the house and yard, so it might have to be a birthday/Xmas ask. I might even try BorrowLenses.com, I keep thinking about it.

Interesting how returning borrowed equipment can be an impetus that gets your mind racing.

Venus and Pleiades with T5i at 300mm

Venus did a pretty close fly by of the Pleiades over the past few days. I got this photo before the objects set behind my neighbor's roof. In hindsight I wish I did a stack of light frames with a high f-number so I could get that nice radiant lens flare around bright Venus while still seeing more of the Pleiades cluster. Oh well, I'll take these single frames at least - you can compare the look of Venus at f/9 and f/5.6 below...

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/9, 1.3 sec, ISO 1600, 300mm

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/5.6, 1.3 sec, ISO 3200, 300mm

April 4, 2015 Lunar Eclipse Photos from Indiana

It's been a long morning and my fingers are still thawing out from the 30º air, but I wanted to share my best photos from the day so far. I'm going to put together a timelapse of the total progression, but these are some decent stand-alone shots from my Canon T5i and 300mm zoom lens.

Single frame, Canon T5i, ISO 200, 300mm, f/6.3, 1.3 sec
April 4, 2015, Noblesville, Indiana @ 6:54am ET

Single frame, Canon T5i, ISO 100, 300mm, f/6.3, 1.3 sec
April 4, 2015, Noblesville, Indiana @ 7:01am ET

Single frame, Canon T5i, ISO 100, 300mm, f/6.3, 1/40 sec
April 4, 2015, Noblesville, Indiana @ 7:03am ET

Single frame, Canon T5i, ISO 200, 300mm, f/6.3, 1/200 sec
April 4, 2015, Noblesville, Indiana @ 6:36am ET

And here's my animated gif timelapse of the eclipse visible from Indiana. As the moon got darker, I changed my camera settings, that's why it appears to jump around between darker and lighter - but in general the progression and direction of the Earth's shadow across the moon is evident.

Progression from 4:54am ET to 7:10am ET Noblesville, IN

Crescent Moon and Venus as Celestial Chimney Sweeps

Chris and I saw the setting crescent moon with Venus as we came out of the Target parking lot on Sunday night. I figured by the time I got home the twilight would be gone completely and I'd just get another typical moon with Venus conjunction photo.

I waited a while longer until the pair was closer to the horizon, and I got rewarded with this scene! The waxing crescent moon with Venus on opposite sides of my neighbor's chimney. It was very whimsical. Whimsy is a word I'm learning to detest because in gardening it means throwing crap like ceramic frogs wearing overalls in your garden - but in skywatching, it means feeling transported to a sci-fi fantasy land where celestial chimney sweeps are commonplace.

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/7.1, 1.6 sec, ISO 1600, 125mm

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/7.1, 2 sec, ISO 1600, 160mm

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/7.1, 2 sec, ISO 1600, 75mm

What a happy accident! The above photo turned out to be one of my favorite from the year, and I didn't even plan on photographing the conjunction ahead of time. These suburban rooflines are becoming very handy foreground objects for moon photo.

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/7.1, 1.3 sec, ISO 1600, 300mm

Waning Crescent Moon with Instagram Perpetua Filter

I spotted the waning crescent moon out my kitchen window (have I mentioned how thankful I am that my neighbor's house doesn't completely obscure my view of the eastern sky?) and took my camera outside for a quick shot before work.

Single frame, Canon T5i, f/6.3, 1.6 sec, ISO 100, 55mm

I used the new Perpetua filter on Instagram, which made the sky look like it went from aqua to gold. Not that the rising crescent moon with earthshine needed any help to look gorgeous, but it is fun to play around with the colors from time to time.

It also goes to show you that you can never believe what you see online these days because it's insanely easy to manipulate images.