First attempt. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I am used to manually focusing and adjusting exposure on Live View, but with a T-ring on the camera, I was stuck with an absolutely manual process. Since the telescope was not reporting aperture to the camera, I had to adjust the shutter speed after each photo. No exposure feedback through Live View.

Also, the photo was not as sharp as I expected. Maybe I need to focus on multiple points and do some focus stacking.

Clear Dark Sky is tremendously helpful. Yesterday night was clear, and I saw Saturn for the first time. Tonight is cloudy, but I can look forward to Friday night when it will be clear again.

Nikon D800, Orion StarSeeker III 127mm GoTo Mak-Cass Telescope, ISO 100, 1/20s

The Stanford Quad and Hoover Tower at dusk.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, 0 EV, f/16, 30.0s

I had arrived quite a bit earlier in the evening to see if I could catch Memorial Church at sunset. The skies had a few wispy clouds, and I was hoping that the sun would light them up. Unfortunately, Memorial Church faces north, and the sun sets to the east. So I ended up with this sunset photo instead.

Still a touch of blue in the sky.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, -2 EV, f/8, 6.0s

10 minutes later, pitch black.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, 0 EV, f/16, 20.0s

It was raining and overcast the entire day. Not the right conditions for a blazing evening sunset, but one of these days, I’ll get it.

I took the Nikon 300mm lens and TC-20E III 2x teleconverter to photograph some birds yesterday. At sunrise, I could hear the birds chirping their morning melody.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 450, 600mm, 0 EV, f/8, 1/1,600s

I saw a lot of hummingbirds.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 450, 600mm, 0 EV, f/8, 1/1,600s

Although it was low tide, I did see a handful of birds still around, including this American Avocet with two chicks in the background.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 1250, 600mm, 0 EV, f/8, 1/1,600s

I like how the colors of the hummingbird’s head really came out. I didn’t notice the distracting branches until I was viewing the photo on the computer. 🙁

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 300mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 800, 600mm, 0 EV, f/8, 1/2,000s

I returned to Stanford University to view the blood moon and recreate this photo at night. Fortunately, the Quad was pretty much empty when I arrived.

With a 24mm lens, I knew that I had to move further back to capture the roof lines from the front arch. However, I also had to crouch low to keep the entire front face of Memorial Church visible. I think I only had one section of each tripod leg extended. I do wish I had some more separation between the cross and the arch. I guess that will have to happen during a return visit.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, -2 EV, f/3.5, 1.0s

When I stepped outside earlier this evening, I thought the night would be one filled with disappointment. I looked around the sky and easily located the moon. But, it was obscured by clouds. Still, I headed out to Stanford University. Just in case the sky did not clear up, I could still practice some night photography.

I wandered around the campus and returned to Memorial Church as the eclipse began. Fortunately, the sky cleared up in time. I experimented with focus stacking for the first time (i.e., focus on the church, focus on the moon, and blend in Photoshop).

The bright dot by the cross is Mars.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 100, 75mm, f/2.8

Here’s a close-up of the blood moon.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 100, 200mm, f/2.8, 3.0s

I had posted the above image at first because it was brighter. But, this earlier photo is a lot sharper, although I had to adjust the shadows in Photoshop. Maybe there was some motion blur since it was a 3 second exposure.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, ISO 100, 200mm, f/2.8, 1.0s

I borrowed a Nikon 24mm PC-E lens and headed to the Stanford University campus. During a previous trip, I had used a Nikon 16-35mm f/4 lens to photograph Memorial Church framed by an arch in Memorial Court.

However, the photo has some barrel distortion that is really noticeable if you look at the right and left columns. Maybe I should try to correct this in Lightroom or Photoshop.

With the Nikon 24mm PC-E lens, I tried to replicate this shot. While the camera was level, it wasn’t complete perpendicular to the image, so I did have to perform some minor perspective correction in Photoshop. It’s also not the same exact shot because the field of view is different at 16mm and 24mm. With the 24mm, the further back I moved, the lower I would have to be to the ground in order to still see the entire church under the arch. I couldn’t move too far back because while the quad looks empty, there was a crowd right behind me. I’ll have to return when it’s a bit quieter.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, -0.3 EV, f/8

The -0.3 EV was a setting leftover from a previous photo. I had taken three photos at 1s, 1/2s and 1/3s. Still not enough to recover the details in the sky.

A few months ago, I visited Memorial Church at night during a full moon. I wanted to return during the day to test a Nikon PC-E lens that I had borrowed.

The morning started off a bit overcast. As I was about to leave the Quad, some sunlight broke through the clouds and left Memorial Church in a wash of warm light. This is a three shot HDR photo at 1/3s, 1/13s, 1/5s. I has left on an ND filter on from an earlier series of photos because a tour group had just arrived and I was seeing if I could remove some of these people from the photo.

Nikon D800, PC-E Nikkor 24mm f/3.5D ED, ISO 100, 24mm, -0.3 EV, f/8

The 28-300mm is a convenient lens. At Safari West, I was at the 300mm end a lot, especially while in the aviary. Good for getting that close-up shot of a bird (or other animal) without having to spook them by getting too close.

I wanted a fast enough shutter speed because these birds were moving around. f/5.6 was the fastest aperture at 300mm. Auto ISO yielded ISO 6400. There’s a bit of grain in the background, but it’s all about compromises and trade-offs.

Nikon D800, AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, ISO 6400, 300mm, 0 EV, f/5.6, 1/1,000s