I came home today after some afternoon showers. Here are a couple shots I took of some water drops gracing the tall grass.

In Fairbanks, AK we caught only a portion of the eclipse. Here are a couple shots I managed. I used a homemade solar filter, comprising a 3-inch black PVC end-cap with a 1/2-inch hole drilled in it and a #11 welding glass taped over the hole.

Getting the focus turned out to be tricky. And then, of course, the clouds moved in and made us all miss the end.

Before the Eclipse


Midway, with a half-eaten sunspot


Towards the end

Early next month, there is a transit of Venus across the sun. In the hopes of getting some pictures of it, I have started assembling a solar filter for my camera. I purchased a #11 (welding) filter, and a 3" ID PVC cap. The idea is to cut a hole in the cap and fix the filter over the hole. The cap fits snuggly on the inverted hood for my Tamron 70mm-300mm lens.

So far, I've only drilled a small hole, about 5/64-inch, in the center of the cap. Before enlarging the hole, I tried it out just to see what there was to be seen. I was quite impressed. Pictures two and three are taken through the hole and 70mm and 300mm, respectively. The light is poor, as I didn't get around to trying this until about 11pm tonight (hey, it's Fairbanks. There is still *some* light out there). No cropping or other adjustments have been done on these pictures.

At this point, I'm thinking I can just fix the filter to the cap without further adjustment. Thoughts?

Supplies


'wide' angle


zoomed

Proper solar filters for cameras, telescopes and binoculars tend to a bit pricey. But disposable solar observation (eclipse) glasses are quite cheap.

What are the pros and cons of rigging up a single ocular of such glasses as a cheap solar filter? I am thinking of rigging one up over a hole cut in a cardboard hood that I could then mount on a lens. Certainly these filters are good enough quality to protect my eyes. Will they also protect my camera's sensor?

It's breakup time in Alaska. That means open water in new places. These were shot at ISO400, 1/2500, f/5.0, 168mm (70-300mm Tamron zoom), on my Canon 5D

Thanks, all. That lens is wicked hard to use (at least, when it's open all the way: I suspect it gets easier when you crank down on the aperture). I pretty much had to tripod mount it to get any decent shots.

I'd love to buy one, but at the price, it's probably a long ways off.

I remember, back in the day, having a wonderful split focusing screen for my old timey film SLR. These days, it seems, they have gone out of style. But I found a company (Katz Eye Optics) that makes split focusing screens for some DSLRs (notably, Canon 7D, which is my particular camera).

Does anyone know if this is worthwhile? Do you loose AF capability? Does it get in the way of any normal functions? What're the pros and cons?

This year I tried something new with photographing ice sculptures. The problem, always, is getting the lines to stand out. This year, I rented a Canon 50mm f/1.2 from a local shop to see if a super shallow DOF could get the job done. Some yes, some no.

Here's a couple shots at the winner from the multi block category at Ice Alaska 2012. On the first two shots, I used the f/1.2. On that last shot, I brought the f-stop up to f/7.1

prickly fellow


monster from the night


face-off

The Open North American Championships (sleddog sprint racing) were held this weekend in Fairbanks. Here are two 'wheel dogs' and their driver, coming around a bend out onto an open plain. This is most of the way through a 27 mile sprint on the final day of the races.

I took this while doing some setup preparations for (hopefully) a nice northern lights show later tonight. The goal? The longest exposure without star trails. This exposure was 15 seconds on a 28mm lens (f/3.5, ISO 500 - for completeness)

Not up here. Fairbanks is running about average for snow, I think. We're well above average for March, but we had almost none in January and February.

I haven't sent out invitations. I'm thinking next fall, maybe.

This morning while I was having breakfast, two moose came by to nibble on my trees. This is a cow-yearling pair in my area. There is another cow in the area with two yearlings. Either that, or there was another yearling that I didn't see.

Mom investigates my ax and shovel


Baby eats a tree - I braved going outside for this one


Baby eyeing me through my window - It ran away before I could get the window open for a clearer shot

iPhoto, not iPhone.

I have a Canon 7D. For this shot, I had my Canon 28mm-135mm IS USM lens mounted, set at 28mm, f/3.5, ISO 100, 1/800s. The flare is, I think, the result my UV filter bouncing light around. Or it might've been enhanced by being a *dirty* UV filter.