Troy Piggins' Photoblog

Rosette Nebula

2012-01-27T21:31:00.001+10:00

This is the Rosette Nebula NGC2237 in the constellation Monoceros. Only managed to collect Ha data before clouds rolled in, so no colour at this stage.

Ten Chain Hill Observatory 21/1/12

2012-01-23T12:21:00.001+10:00

Went up to Ten Chain Hill Observatory, part way between Somerset and Wivenhoe Dams, to (fingers crossed) do some astro-imaging. Unfortunately the clouds had other ideas. But fortunately, I did get to play with some timelapse photography that I've been wanting to try for years.Here is a short 15 second video of me setting up my equipment.

Currumbin Rocks

2012-01-13T13:03:00.002+10:00

Had to do a site inspection at Coolangatta Airport this morning at 7am, so decided to go a bit earlier and shoot sunrise at Currumbin Rocks.

Got down there in the dark, before dawn. Hadn't scouted the area and only noticed this cool little depression after I had packed up and on the way back to the car. Wish I had spent more time there. Next time...

Mt Coot-tha lookout

2012-01-11T12:30:00.002+10:00

I live over there...

... don't I?

Halcyon days

2012-01-02T20:04:00.001+10:00

Went down to Mum and Dad's place at Halcyon Waters on New Year's Day and stayed overnight.

Orion's Lightsabre?

2012-01-02T19:33:00.003+10:00

Fortuitous capture of a plane passing very close to the asterism of Orion's Sword in the constellation of Orion, The Hunter. Must be the Star Wars geek in me imagining it as a lightsabre. :)

Shorncliffe Pier sunrise

2011-12-31T22:51:00.001+10:00

Headed out pre-dawn again with Andrew this morning to shoot sunrise. This time at Shorncliffe Pier. Unfortunately we didn't get the pretty pink fluffy clouds we were after. Still, it's a great location. Here's the pick of my bunch.

Fingal Head sunrise

2011-12-29T23:23:00.001+10:00

Went down to Fingal to capture Comet Lovejoy, but the clouds had another idea. So we stayed for sunrise. Well worth it. I did have a minor disagreement with a wave over my location - ie my camera and I got drenched. Thought I'd cleaned the lens in the dark, but there was some flare in this image from some droplets that I didn't get. Did my best at processing it out. If you look closely, there's a bonus ghostly fisherman somewhere in there. :)

Christmas lights

2011-12-18T22:42:00.002+10:00

This is a house around the corner from Kristy's parents' place. Regularly wins the local best lights competitions. All of the lights are synchronised to a soundtrack, changing colour and turning on and off to the music, and are absolutely spectacular.

Hayden had an absolute ball, dancing away to the music and watching the lights. Hilarious. He loves his music and dancing, and the crowd was smiling watching him squeal with delight and jigging away.

F-wow-ah

2011-12-18T17:45:00.001+10:00

Hayden at Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens.

PixInsight: master calibration files workflow

2011-12-15T21:27:00.002+10:00

After doing a lot of reading and trying to understand the best settings and workflow for creating master calibration files for astro image processing in PixInsight, I thought I'd post these screenshots of the settings here, more for my poor memory than anything else.

Master Bias file creation:

Master Dark file creation:

Master Flat file creation:

I can flyyyyyyyyy!

2011-12-04T10:34:00.001+10:00

Took the camera to the park yesterday for a change. Been a while and wanted to capture some of Hayden's shenanigans.

Cause and effect:

Jupiter 13/11/11

2011-11-15T13:40:00.002+10:00

Had a go at shooting Jupiter the other night. First time in over 2 years. Bit grainy, I think due to the debayering from monochrome images captures to make it colour. Need to get to the bottom of that. Still, pretty happy with the detail.

Imaged with DBK21 camera, 2.5x Powermate and 10" Newtonian scope.

Said the spiders to the fly...

2011-11-06T13:12:00.002+10:00

Went to New Farm Park playground this morning, managed to sneak away from Kristy and Hayden for 20mins to take some macros.

Fly:

Jumping spider:

Lynx spider:

Little jumping spider:

Hunting bugs

2011-10-28T12:33:00.003+10:00

I recently joined the Australian Invertebrate Forum to learn and share more about Australian insects and spiders. To try to learn how to find more critters, I got the following advice from one of the more experienced members there, "critter guy":

I used to only do hunts of critter's for macro's when my wife wanted to check on her sites/show me the progress they'd made on them before I got into capture and sales.
That's how I already knew good spots and where to look for things when I first starting doing it as well as had a general idea of the population sizes and distribution of certain insects for each area and what times of year they increased making it easier to know how many would be safe to take and when.

Long post, but plenty of tips and info for you and others.

Times of day the best are early morning-11am and then again from 2:30pm-5/6pm (whichever is sunset for you), inbetween is the hottest part of the day when alot of things will retreat into their hides/shade to conserve energy and minimize moisture loss.

For the nocturnal insects it's sunset - 9pm and 9pm-12am depending on the type of critter.

I know it's not a natural setting but in the middle of summer you'll get a large variety of insect's at well lit places at night like IGA and fuel stations both of which spray insecticide 2-3 of times a year (usually in winter and August and January/Feb), but the spray usually wears off in 1-3 month's and then you'll see all the critter's appearing alot again.

Nov-Feb is the time of year you'll get the most variety of insects out and about and in large numbers, spring is also good but not as good for things like mantids, stick insects and beetles, but great for different sp of flies, wasps, bees and other things that like flowers.

Alot of jumping spiders make a silk retreat in curled parts of leaves, the underside of leaves, under bark and can pull sections of leaves together as well, so do alot of sp of other things including some spiders, leaf curling cricket sp, some sp of native roach, sp of Orb weavers and crab & triangular spiders.

Sometimes you can find the silk retreats containing a spider as well as juvie insects like juvie native roaches sharing it.

The orbweaver daytime retreats are easy to find as they will have a large web attached next to it by a long strand/several strands of silk.
Be careful opening these as the orbweavers can be a little narky as one would be if someone broke into their bedroom while they were sleeping, only partially open the entrance to them as well, just enough to get the lens and some of the flash/daylight in, you don't want to damage them.

Sp of Eucalyptus and Meleuka (can't remember how to spell it, paperbarks anyway) that have soft, smooth not very waxy leaves are good for Stick insects as are river she-oaks and sp of pines. Some sp of baekhousia that have soft, less spiky leaves are good as well.

Stocking gums - Corymbia tesselaris are good for finding bark and boxing bark mantids and a few other things on the rough bark section.

Young pandanus's can contain a good variety of things including small sp of frogs, huntsmans, leaf rolling crickets and some sp of carnivourous katydids, they can be extremely spiny but can be worth it to have a look through.

Rough but smooth looking barked trees are good for Tree running mantid, smooth gums with segments of peel away type bark are good for jumping spiders, ants, some sp of True bugs and communal huntsman as are lily type of plants (good for huntsmans too).

Try to only peel the bark outwards enough to peek under to look for critter's but not enough to break it off the tree, too much segments peeled off is bad for the tree and also deprives plenty of insects, some reptiles, amphibians and spiders of habitat to make home in or hide under when resting/hunting to be safe from prowling predators.
At certain times of year alot of the bark will just drop off the tree naturally, those times of year are bad for finding the things that would usually hide under it when it was on the tree, but you can find plenty of things hiding under the fallen off bits on the ground.

With bark, wood, logs and rocks always make sure to lift them on a angle that makes the top surface of them face you not away from you so as if there is anything potentially dangerous under them like snakes they can sliver away from you and not be facing you when you tilt their hide up and give them a scare accidently making them feel cornered and have the need to defend themselves.

Make sure you put the wood etc back in as close to the position you found it in as you can wreck the small ecosystem that was under it for micro-organisms and the other occupants, throw off how much moisture builds under it etc.
I know it doesn't sound like it would do much damage but it can if you are lifting enough things to check under them in an area, especially logs as they can usually have a complex ecosystem under and in them.

A no brainer I'm sure, but don't stick your hands, feet and face underneith/into said logs, rocks etc or near the gaps under them before you check under/in them and when you do tilt them to look make sure your fingers/fingertips only stay near the tops of them and don't go underneith them much.

If you need to check in a large crevice between rocks/under a log with a torch make sure to keep a min of 1/2 a metre away when you first check it as that is the avg reach a striking snake will have and will also leave room enough for other frightened inhabitants to come flying/crawling/slithering out and get away if you accidently scare any out of the crevice when you shine the torch in.

...

Oh and the other main thing is take someone with you (even if they just wait in the locked car sleeping or bored) or make sure you are in reception to call help or atleast let someone know you are going on the hunt, how long you'll be and where before you do incase you encounter trouble and need help, whether it be dodgy people in that area, bush pigs, snakebite, strain/break a limb etc, alot can happen and that includes the manmade sites like the well lit IGA or petrol station as you can get unsavoury/possibly dodgy types of people hanging around them.

I can haz speling?

2011-10-19T18:07:00.005+10:00

Saw this sign at a service station today. You'd think signwriters would have to be a little more conscious of their spelling than the rest of us?

My astro gear

2011-10-04T13:08:00.000+10:00

Don't think I've posted a shot of my telescope. Here are some shots I took of it at Astrofest this year.

This shows the main imaging scope, a 10" Newtonian, on the computerised German Equatorial Mount. On top of the imaging scope is a smaller guide scope that is used to track accurately during long exposures. In the black toolbox is power and data hub.

This shot shows my tent (a camping shower actually) in the background that has chair, table, and laptop inside to keep dew off:

7Timer! weather charts updated

2011-10-03T17:34:00.003+10:00

Not sure how long ago, but the wonderful 7Timer! website looks like it's had a bit of a facelift. It's a great tool for checking out what the weather is going to be like for astro using the below graphical chart. Basically, the bluer and/or smaller, the better.

Back from Adelaide

2011-08-21T19:44:00.004+10:00

Went to Adelaide for 5 days to visit Kristy's grandmother who hasn't been able to travel to meet Hayden.

Day 1: Couple of photos from Brisbane airport waiting for the plane down there.

Just liked Hayden's expression of wonder/surprise in this one:

Day 2: Went to the Adelaide Zoo. Really enjoyed the zoo, felt really open and most of the animals were quite active, not sleeping or hiding. I've already posted a couple of photos here.

Same mandrill but different pose:

Lachlan, Hayden's cousin, loves this bag:

Day 3: Went into Adelaide city in the morning, visited the Central Markets in the morning, then Jacob's Creek in the Barossa Valley to catch up with Kristy's grandmother and cousin for lunch.

At the markets:

At Jacob's Creek:

Lachlan getting a bit tired and grumpy, and letting Hayden know all about it :)

Adelaide Zoo

2011-08-21T15:48:00.001+10:00

More than a mere cat, a meerkat! I know, I'm hilarious:

Colourful mandrill showing his chompers:

Katherine and Michael's Wedding

2011-08-07T22:56:00.001+10:00

Loved the expression, like "OMG What have I gotten myself into"! Hehe.

M20 Trifid Nebula

2011-08-02T20:26:00.000+10:00

This is my one and only deep sky image that I took at Astrofest. Quite happy with the way it turned out. I particularly like the dusty regions showing through.

2011 Queensland Astrofest

2011-07-30T21:05:00.000+10:00

Just got back from the 2011 Queensland Astrofest. Was there for 2 nights. Good to get out under dark skies, it's just so peaceful.

This is my first attempt at star trails. Goal was just to get my scope and computer tent (bottom left) and the South Celestial Pole (centre of the circumpolar star trails). Focus and exposure was a bit of a guess after a bit of a chat with one of the other guys there. Very happy with the way it turned out. This was as many exposures as I got before dew set in. Next time might try a dew heater for my lens.

Halcyon days

2011-07-10T19:57:00.011+10:00

Dropped in to see Mum and Dad's new place. They seem very happy with it, the neighbours/community, and the facilities. Went for a walk around with them to the lake area. I get the impression they always love catching up with Hayden more than me these days ;)

Mmm, beer

2011-07-03T20:19:00.002+10:00

I know. I'm a terrible father...

Total Lunar Eclipse

2011-06-16T13:47:00.007+10:00

Got up at 2.30am this morning to view and image the Total Lunar Eclipse. Met up with some other IceInSpace members, and was very glad for the company as we had decided to image from New Farm overlooking the Storey Bridge and city. That part of town, that time of night, alone, with expensive camera gear, not good. Safety in numbers :D

I hadn't really planned what or how I was going to shoot it. And it showed. Totally butchered what I had intended to be a timelapse attempt. Wasn't overly happy with any of the results, but used it as a learning exercise for the next one on 10 December this year.

Above is a montage as the Moon went from near full to totality. Click the image for a larger view and you can see the brightness and colours change as the Moon goes from full to totality.

The below red coloured Moon was taken around 5.30am. The colour is as close to "true" as I could get. Doesn't quite look that red to the naked eye, but the camera picks up the colour better. The Moon is fully in the shadow of the Earth here, and the red is sunlight refracted by Earth's atmosphere.

Back from Wordpress :(

2011-06-14T09:28:00.001+10:00

I was going to transfer this photoblog to my own server at http://piggo.com/~troy and use Wordpress to do it, but the spammers seem to have found the site and have bombarding it with their garbage. It doesn't make it to the page itself, it has to be moderated/approved by me before publishing, but I've received 50 or so spam posts in the last day and I'm not going to do that much moderating.

So as I had it set up previously, anyone going to the above link will get redirected here anyway. Blogspot has a much better anti-spam detection before I even see it.

NGC6188 - an emission nebula in the constellation Ara

2011-05-28T17:42:00.002+10:00

Clear night last night, so took the opportunity to capture this emission nebula in the constellation Ara.

Damsel in distress

2011-04-03T20:04:00.001+10:00

Well, not really. This cute little damselfly was patient enough with me to allow a portrait. Took this at Mt Coot-Tha Botanical Gardens yesterday.

Mastercard Wedding

2011-03-16T20:26:00.000+10:00

Received this by email the other day. Great story, funny too. But it's been going around for years and it's just an urban legend. For some reason the authors seem to think that saying it actually appeared on Jay Leno's show makes it more believable. Suppose the fact it's still circulating since 1985 means that it does.

For anyone who feels they've been invited to too many weddings lately have a laugh. This is actually true. It was in a local newspaper in South Carolina and even Jay Leno mentioned it on the Tonight Show.

This is a true story about a recent wedding that took place at Clemson University. It was a huge wedding with about 300 guests.

After the wedding, at the reception, the groom got up on stage at the microphone to talk to the crowd. He said that he wanted to thank everyone for coming, many from long distances, to support them at their wedding. He especially wanted to thank the bride's and groom's families for coming and to thank his new father-in-law for providing such a fabulous reception.

To thank everyone for coming, bringing gifts and everything, he said he wanted to give everyone a special gift just from him. So taped to the bottom of everyone's chair, including the wedding party, was a manila envelope.

He said that this was his gift and told everyone to open their envelopes.

Inside each envelope was an 8x10 photo of his best man having sex... with the bride. He had gotten suspicious of the two of them and hired a private detective to trail them weeks prior to the wedding.

After he stood there and watched the people's reactions for a couple of minutes, he turned to the best man and said, "F*CK you!" He turned to his bride and said, "F*CK you!" Then he turned to the dumbfounded crowd and said, "I'm out of here!"

He had the marriage annulled the first thing that Monday morning. While most of us would have broken off the engagement immediately after finding out about the affair, this guy goes through with it anyway, as if nothing was wrong.

His revenge:

1) Making the bride's parents pay over $32,000 for 300 guests for a wedding and reception.

2) Letting everyone know exactly what did happen. And, best of all...

3) Trashing the bride's and best man's reputations in front of all of their friends and their entire families.

This guy has balls the size of church bells. Do you think we might see one of those MasterCard "Priceless" commercials out of this? Huh?

Elegant wedding for 300 family and guests -- $32,000
Photographers for the wedding -- $3,000 Deluxe
Honeymoon accommodations in Maui for 2 weeks -- $8,500
The look on everyone's faces after seeing a photo of
the Bride and Best Man having sex -- Priceless!!!

Source: Urban Legends "Mastercard Wedding" page

Hoaxes and Urban Legends

2011-03-16T20:16:00.002+10:00

I often receive emails that are hoaxes or urban legends. It may not always go down well with those that sent the email to me, but I always try to reply and let them know it's a hoax.

Some of these hoaxes and urban legends are funny stories and good for a laugh, but some are just plain misleading. I don't know why, but it's always bugged me and I don't understand who would invent such complete fabrications. And these stories circulate the internet for years and years, and people change dates to make them seem new or more credible.

So I decided that when I receive one of these emails now, I'm going to post it here to "out" them.

If ever you're interested in checking a story is real or not, just type some key words from the beginning of the email along with the word hoax. You'll usually get some hits if it is from these credible (in my opinion) sites:

Hoax Slayer
Snopes
Urban Legends

My experience - if it sounds like a hoax or urban legend, it probably is.

Full Moon risen

2011-02-21T17:52:00.013+10:00

On a night when I was plagued with computer problems, this was the only shot I walked away with.

Shot this with my 5D MkII on 10" Newtonian.

Mt Warning sunset

2011-01-28T19:28:00.003+10:00

Had some spectacular sunsets down here at Salt this week. This was the view from our balcony the other afternoon. I really like the way the salt spray or haze gives depth to the shot between the hills/mountains.

Normally I'd shoot landscapes with a tripod and a wide angle lens, but this was shot hand-held with a 135mm lens.

Fingal Head landscapes

2011-01-28T19:06:00.003+10:00

Down at Salt for a holiday. Having some great weather. While we're down here I wanted to take the opportunity to shoot some landscapes at Fingal Head. I knew there was this cool rock formation, but hadn't been there before.

Walked out at 3.30-4am on rocks in the dark to leave myself enough time to scope the place out, get set up, and catch sunrise. A rock rolled under me and I sprained a finger, bruised my arm and put my back out. Still. It was worth it. :D

I had to use a couple of filters over the lens to get these shots to look this way "in camera".

I used a 3 stop neutral density filter over the whole lens to cut down the light, which meant a slower shutter speed, which meant I got that nice, smooth ocean look.

I also used a 3 stop reverse graduated neutral density filter, which cuts down the light on the brighter sky, but not the ocean. Just so the overall exposure looks right.

You can kind of achieve some of the effects above with Photoshop, but with the filters you can get it pretty much right in camera, which is a much more betterer way of doing it. A bit more purist. Unlike my english.

Highly recommend checking out the full size version of this panorama:

Salt

2011-01-23T19:07:00.001+10:00

Down at Salt for a week's holiday. How relaxing.

Spent a lot of time in the pool at the resort. Hayden loves the pool as you might know.

He wasn't so keen on the surf, but it was his first time in the actual waves. Think they were a bit intimidating coming at him.

Satellite image of flood extent

2011-01-16T09:05:00.000+10:00

View Large Map

Wellington Point at sunset

2011-01-10T12:35:00.001+10:00

For Christmas, Kristy got me a session with Blue-Dog Photography Courses for "Brisbane at Dusk" at Wellington Point. Here's some shots from it.

Underwater World

2010-12-31T20:06:00.004+10:00

I think the swimming lessons are paying off. Hayden and Lachlan having a swim today, New Year's Eve 2010. Fun.

Christmas is fun

2010-12-21T13:06:00.000+10:00

I think Hayden is going to enjoy this time of year. Kristy took him to their Mothers' Group Christmas party last week and he got his first Christmas present.

I can't wait for Christmas Day! :)

They gave me this box with silver paper and called it a present. Sure tastes funny...

Ooooh, HAHAHHAHAHAA. The present was inside! You guys tricked me! HAHAHAHHA.

Santa is gonna have a sore head

2010-12-17T14:31:00.002+10:00

And not just from the booze...

M8 Lagoon and M20 Trifid Nebulae

2010-12-12T19:15:00.000+10:00

Went back to some of the images I captured at 2009 Queensland Astrofest again this weekend and re-processed this one.

A lovely pair of nebulae, but in retrospect I'm not quite happy with the way they fit in the frame. Next time I think I'll concentrate on them separately.

WEEEE!!!!

2010-12-05T20:48:00.000+10:00

Swings! These things are hilarious! :)

NGC7635 Bubble Nebula

2010-11-27T10:42:00.002+10:00

Since I haven't been able to get out and do any astrophotography lately, I've been going through old data and practising processing. A very generous member, Sean "Falcon-" Murphy on the Cloudy Nights forum, offered some of his raw data to use.

One of the objects he offered was the Bubble Nebula. I've been fascinated with this nebula, lovely delicate shape of a very obvious bubble (top right). It is also not visible from where I live, so will never get an opportunity to image it. He also included in the shot the open star cluster M52 (bottom left).

Troy's Astro Actions

2010-11-24T07:01:00.025+10:00

I find Photoshop Actions extremely useful while processing astro-images. Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools are a wonderful set. Rather than rewriting actions that do the same thing, my idea is to supplement them.

Shamelessly titled "Troy's Astro Actions", here is a list of each action and what it does. Each is non-destructive, ie will not alter the starting image. Just highlight the layer you want to apply the action on. It can't be an adjustment layer. Oh yeah, they're free as in beer.

Threshold Crop: After stacking there is inevitably some mess around the edges from where each frame didn't quite line up with the others. I found using threshold a convenient way to highlight where these misalignments are for cropping. When running the action it will pause to allow you to adjust the threshold. Use the slider to find a point where the misalignments are clear, then click OK.

Next a crop window will appear for you to adjust, then click Enter.

BIG S T R E T C H: I use this curves adjustment when the histogram needs a lot of stretching from the dark end. The action merges as a layer on top. If it's too much of a stretch, just manually adjust the curves or delete the adjustment layer.

Small Stretch: Similar to the big stretch, but smaller. More subtle.

Separate Stars and Sky: Removes the stars in one layer called "starless", and puts the stars into another layer called "stars". I'm very proud of the clever layer naming system adopted. The stars layer will be mostly black and the stars, and the layer blending mode will be linear dodge (add). I've found that to give the best results. I have written a more detailed post on this action and will be posting it soon.

Just Remove the Stars: Similar to the above, but doesn't add the stars layer.

Median Noise Filter: This is a very quick and simple, not perfect, noise reduction action. It doesn't treat chromatic noise, just lightens dark pixels.

Grain Reduction: This is a modified version of the technique explained in R. Scott Ireland's excellent book "Photoshop Astronomy". After using this action, might be best to adjust the opacity down a little.

Download Troy's Astro Actions v0.9.2 last updated 4/12/10

NGC6334 Cat's Paw Nebula

2010-11-20T20:46:00.002+10:00

Went back through some data trying to implement some processing tricks I've picked up along the way. This is NGC6334 Cat's Paw Nebula captured at the 2009 Qld Astrofest.

NASA's big announcement

2010-11-15T18:24:00.018+10:00

I was reading this from NASA's website:

NASA will hold a news conference at 12:30 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 15, to discuss the Chandra X-ray Observatory's discovery of an exceptional object in our cosmic neighborhood.

Couldn't help but imagine what the announcement was going to be about, and decided to take a photo of what I imagined. Hey, it was Sunday and I had nothing to do.

"A huge comet is heading to Earth. Somebody get me Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck on the phone!"

Hayden looking more like his Daddy?

2010-11-14T20:18:00.000+10:00

Kristy reckons Hayden is looking more like me every day. I don't see it. What do you reckon?

Banner changes

2010-11-09T12:40:00.004+10:00

Been playing around with the title/banner/header image on this site. Still not sure how I want it to look, so you may see it changing a bit over the next week or 2. If you see one you like or hate, let me know please. I need help.

Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens

2010-11-07T07:13:00.006+10:00

Went to the Botanical Gardens just to get out of the house today. Took the opportunity to take more photos of Hayden. As if I needed an excuse...

I love my mummy

Whatchyou doin' over there?

Oh, hahahahahah!

Robin Williams

2010-11-06T10:17:00.001+10:00

Kristy gave me a date to remember last night. Thought we were just having a quiet Friday night as usual. Got home from work and she had arranged baby-sitters and tickets to go and see Robin Williams live at Brisbane Entertainment Centre!

Support act was the Umbilical Brothers.

FYI - awesome, hilarious, witty, fast, talented, and a very, very good way to put a smile back on your face

Scorpionfly

2010-10-31T15:20:00.002+10:00

First time I've ever seen a scorpionfly. It was very patient with me taking lots of shots. Not particularly happy with the lighting, the flash is a little harsh.

Glass Houses

2010-10-29T12:59:00.004+10:00

Took a scenic drive along Mountain View Road, Maleny the other day. Beautiful view of the Glasshouse Mountains.

The Hayden Roll

2010-10-26T06:45:00.000+10:00

Kristy phoned, very excited, yesterday afternoon. Hayden had just rolled over for the first time while I was at work. When I got home he did it again. This is the second time he rolled over from his back onto his front unassisted. Unfortunately we only turned the camera on after he had already thrown his leg over.

Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary visit

2010-10-23T14:41:00.005+10:00

We took Hayden to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary today. First time he's seen and touched koalas, kangaroos, and other native Australian animals. Needless to say, so much to look at and touch, he loved it.

We got season tickets, valid for a year, so will definitely be going back some more. Handy because it's so close, but at the moment he's only lasting a couple of hours, so the season pass will be used a bit.

1 city, 1 Moon, 4 planets

2010-10-21T20:00:00.008+10:00

Around 12 August there was a rare conjunction with the Moon and 4 planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars and Saturn. I had checked the weather, all was supposed to be clear, planned (in my head) where I'd be shooting from here in Brisbane and the look I was after. Then reality kicked in...

While the night was clear, the wind was absolutely howling. I had to weigh my tripod down to stop it all blowing over. It was freezing cold and I hadn't packed a jumper. The light pollution was worse than I anticipated. The location I had was not quite giving me the relationship between the conjunction and city that I had in my head. And at the scale of image here, not sure the actual planets are that visible

Crescent Moon with Mercury just below right, bright Venus up a little higher with Mars just above and Saturn just below.

Train rides are fun

2010-10-20T17:19:00.004+10:00

On the way home from Hayden's first swimming lesson, we noticed the Multicultural Festival on at Roma St Parklands. We decided to go home, let him have a nap, then get the train back in for a bit of a walk around.

He absolutely loved it. The train ride. The festival. People and movement everywhere.

At the festival:

Where's the train?

I said, WHERE'S THE TRAIN?!

Yay! Here it comes!

Hayden's first swimming lesson

2010-10-20T15:00:00.003+10:00

Kristy and I took Hayden for his first swimming lesson at Spring Hill Baths on Sunday. He absolutely loved it.

It was a nice small group, and we're doing it with Andrew/Michelle/Lachlan as well, so that's awesome.

You can't teach them early enough to swim and be water-safe.

I have been Toilet

2010-10-16T16:53:00.004+10:00

You might think this photo of a funny sign was taken somewhere overseas, but it was taken right here on the front door of a shop in Toowong (Brisbane), Australia.

"I have been Toilet for a while. Just wait a second. 1 min plz"

Must admit at first glance I thought the last bit said "I make piz". Haha.

Love the little picture. Just in case you didn't get where they were.

Do you reckon Hayden likes avocado?

2010-10-13T12:30:00.002+10:00

Starting Hayden on solids. He's been having the rice cereal, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, apple, pear, etc. No worries. One of the books we have lists popular foods, and the only one we hadn't given him was avocado. Check out this video of us trying him on that for the first time.

It is a bit hard to tell at first when he's trying new foods to tell if he likes it or doesn't. He's still getting a hang of the whole swallowing thing, and has this gag reflex if it doesn't slide down like milk. So we weren't deliberately trying to make him eat this. Not until around the 3:30 mark I realised and stopped. Still, his reactions are kinda cute. Kinda?

Sorry it's around 4mins long. Still working out how to edit videos to cut the times down.

PS - don't ask me about my hair. Was before I got a haircut and I just rolled out of bed.

Some landscapes from NZ

2010-10-12T06:30:00.004+10:00

Been going through my photo library cleaning it out. Came across these landscapes I took on our trip to New Zealand last year and decided to reprocess them as black and white conversions. Quite happy with the way they turned out, but always learning.

Rocky Shore:

Driftwood:

Milford Sound:

Rainy day macros

2010-10-09T21:57:00.008+10:00

Was supposed to go to Roma St Parklands today for another meet with some local macro enthusiasts. The weather had other ideas.

Cleaning out the fridge and found some mouldy cake. Ever wondered what mould looks like at 1:1, 3:1, and 5:1 lifesize? I did.

Sounds disgusting, doesn't it. Not sure what you think, but I think it looks beautiful at this scale. Like some alien forest.

5:1 lifesize

Crop from another shot:

More after the jump...

1:1 lifesize

3:1 lifesize

3:1 lifesize

5:1 lifesize

Happy Anniversary to us II

2010-10-04T21:21:00.004+10:00

For our anniversary I made this mosaic of all of our wedding and honeymoon photos. About 2200 photos in all. Full image is some 12,500px wide. If you squint at this image you can see the original more clearly. We plan to get this printed on a huge canvas.

Click the image above for a bigger version, or go below to see what the original image looked like and some crops showing more detail.

This is what the original image looked like:

Here is a crop of us up closer:

Here is another crop showing how detailed the panels are:

Happy Anniversary to us

2010-10-04T08:00:00.000+10:00

Today marks the second Anniversary of Kristy and I getting married. I have to say, it's been the best 2 years of her life and she is very lucky to have me. Seems like just yesterday she was chasing me and asking me out. Wasn't too long a wait for her to seize the opportunity when I was drunk one night, took advantage of me, and we've been together ever since. Her dreams really have come true.

RSP macro meet

2010-09-25T21:53:00.008+10:00

Had arranged for a bit of a local macro-enthusiasts meet at Roma Street Parklands this morning. The weather had other ideas, unfortunately. Wasn't looking good, so the others decided to stay at home. Understandable.

Me? I'm an idiot and went in there regardless. Was drizzling from around 7am to 8am, so I just wandered around looking for options if the rain did break. When it did, this shot of a hoverfly was the only one I considered worth mentioning :

My macro rig

2010-09-23T06:00:00.007+10:00

Finally got around to taking some shots of my current gear in a couple of different configurations I've used. Thought I'd make a post about it all.

I diffuse my MT-24EX with Lumiquest UltraBounces. The shot above is my Canon MP-E 65 macro lens at 5x with the MT-24EX and diffusers.

180L with MT-24EX diffused:

Sigma 105 with Lumiquest Softbox. I've also used this with Canon 100, Sigma 150, and a similar arrangement with the Softbox III and 180L and MP-E 65.

The full set of more configurations is here, but the shots above are my most commonly used.

My answer to "Which macro lens?"

2010-09-17T05:30:00.007+10:00

I come across this question a lot on the photography forums I frequent. The answer is usually the same, so I've decided to post it here to save myself a lot of redundant typing from now on. If you have anything to add, disagree with me, or have questions/answers that you don't think I've covered, please let me know so I can improve this post.

Before asking "Which macro lens?", think about the following to help you make your decision and to help others make an informed and reasonable recommendation for you:

* What is your budget? Make sure you specify what currency to avoid confusion if you're getting advice from people all over the world as is the case on many forums.
* What do you want to shoot? Insects, flowers, jewellery?
* Do you have requirements for a particular focal length? Reasons?

Around 100mm is by far the most commonly recommended focal length (FL) to start out macro with. It is an unbeatable balance in terms of working distance, usability, and cost. Working distance (WD) is important if you're aiming to shoot bugs, less chance of scaring them off.

But going too long with FL to get more WD brings in some complexities. Talking about the 150-180mm FL now. It's heavier and harder to hand-hold, you get the subject jumping around more in the frame, even little things like the flash might be further away so slightly harsher light.

Don't get caught up on brands. True macro lenses are all primes and are all some of the sharpest lenses you will ever own. Canon, Sigma, Tamron, Tokina[1] - they all make top notch macro lenses and you shouldn't have regrets no matter which one you choose.

Also, don't get caught up on comments about slow auto-focus. Unless you're using the lens to double as a portrait lens or something, AF does not matter as you'll be shooting macro in manual focus anyway. If you are using it as a portrait lens as well, although some may comment that this macro lens has faster AF than that macro lens, they are all extremly slow to AF compared to normal lenses intended to shoot portraits.

I haven't used the EF-S 60, but know it does produce fine results in the right hands. Just not enough WD for my liking. The kind of scenario I've come across where I would consider recommending it over the 100mm range was if you're using it to shoot subjects where you can't back up enough and need to be in closer - this dentist was wanting to use one to shoot people's teeth in a tight room space for example.

I do not recommend the Canon MP-E 65 for someone new to photography. Yes, it is a fine, if not the finest, dedicated macro lens available. But it cannot be used for anything else, it does not focus further than about 100mm in front of the lens, it is very specialised. If there are any MP-E owners out there that don't have a normal macro lens in their bag as well, they're certainly in the minority and they must have a very particular reason for it.

So, I recommend the Tamron 90, Sigma 105 or Canon 100 as a general rule. I have no experience with the new Canon 100L IS, but if you have the dough the IS may be beneficial. Personally I'd rather keep the dough and spend it on lighting because you'll want flash and diffusers eventually, maybe extension tubes too.

I've used or owned or still own the Canon 100, Sigma 105, Tamron 90, Sigma 150, Canon 180L, Canon MP-E65. If I had my time again, I'd get the Tamron 90 to start with and it would always be in my bag no matter what other macro lenses I got to complement it.

A final word on hoods and filters. Don't bother for macro shooting. Hoods just take up valuable real estate between your lens and the subject that might get scared away by it as you get close. But I always use a hood for non-macro shooting, so if you're using the lens for portraits etc, hood is a reasonable idea. I don't use UV filters as a general rule for lens protection any more. They just add more glass in the imaging train and I'm careful anyway.

[1] I only have experience with Canon cameras. I'm sure that Nikon have equally excellent macro lens options.

More babies in the house

2010-09-16T05:29:00.003+10:00

Baby bugs that is.

I noticed some kind of true bug, pretty sure it was a seed bug, on the wall near our laundry. Kept an eye on it and sure enough it layed some eggs on the door frame. Been watching them hoping they'd hatch, and they must have done so some time in the last few hours before I took these shots. Grabbed a few of the little cuties near where they hatched then moved them, very delicately, outside onto some plants. Made sure I took the opportunity to get some shots on the nicer green background.

Think this is my pick of the litter.

Just to give you an idea of how small they are, this is them next to my pinky finger.

This is where they hatched from. Little cuties.

Really close at 5:1 lifesize. You can see some of the shell casing still stuck to it's leg.

Macro-photography quick tips

2010-09-14T18:33:00.101+10:00

Just thought I'd share some of the things I've learned about macro photography (especially insects) with dSLR cameras since taking it up in November 2007. This post will just be some quick tips and common settings and techniques I use. I intend to do some more in-depth and specialised posts later and will link them from here.

If you have anything to add, disagree with me, or have questions/answers that you don't think I've covered, please let me know so I can improve this post.

Macro photography is not like other styles of photography. You are working extremely close to the subject (couple of hundred millimetres or less) and depth of field is very, very narrow because of this (in the order of millimetres or less than a millimetre). This adds a whole new dimension to your technique and gear.

Camera Settings

I always shoot in full Manual mode. Take control of your camera. If you shoot in one of the automatic modes, or even Av or Tv priorities, you are assuming that your camera will get the exposure right. It doesn't always. Shoot in full Manual and you will get much more consistency and control of your exposures. I apply this philosophy to all of my photography, not just macro.

Aperture

Because you are working so close to the subject, depth of field is extremely narrow. We're talking less than a millimetre even if your aperture is f/8 to f/11. That's hard to focus hand-held on a living bug walking over a plant stem that is blowing in the breeze.

Close the aperture down to f/8 to f/16 to give a depth of field to something a little more workable. I usually have aperture set to f/11. At min working distance this might give depth of field enough to get at least the head/eyes in focus.

Try to refrain from using apertures smaller than f/16 as diffraction softening can come into play. That's where the image loses its sharpness.

Shutter Speed

Keep it reasonably fast. For my camera and flash, 1/200s is the fastest shutter speed possible that can sync with the flash. This maximum speed is a function of your flash and camera and it varies from model and manufacturer. It may be 1/200s to 1/250s or thereabouts. But the idea is that you want to stop the motion of moving bugs on swaying branches etc, while at the same time you want it slow enough to get some ambient background light.

ISO

You don't want noise or grain in your photos, so keep ISO at or below about 400. This will vary from camera to camera. Some might go up to ISO 800 without showing too much noise.

Flash

I almost always use flash. At the sort of apertures and shutter speeds mentioned below, you'll struggle without adding some light to the scene. You could up the ISO, but that can make the shots noisier/grainier and so penalise your final image quality.

For similar reasons to the above, I am shooting pretty much full Manual flash now also. You can use E-TTL flash very successfully, but I like the control and consistency of light with manual flash. Additionally, with E-TTL flash there is a pre-flash before your shot is taken, and sometimes this can startle your subject before you actually get the shot. There is no pre-flash with manual flash so if the insect gets startled, it's after you've already got your shot.

With subjects so close, built-in flashes will probably give a shadow due to the end of the lens. Additionally, the lighting and shadows from un-diffused flash is very harsh. Diffusers soften the highlights and shadows nicely.

Focusing

As I've mentioned several times above, your depth of field is very narrow. Put your lens on manual focus. Macro lenses are typically very slow to autofocus and the bug has moved by the time the AF has finished hunting.

Find the rough focus by manually adjusting it, the physically move yourself backwards and forwards until the subject is in focus and shoot quick. I usually move forwards until the head or eyes are just leaving the depth of field, then move back half that distance to get most of the interesting part in focus. Insects, as with human portraits, look better if the focus is on the eyes.

It sounds tricky but just takes a little practice.

More detail on:

* Choosing a macro lens

Other Tips

Other things I'd like to discuss/share later are listed below. This is kind of like a "to do" list:
* diffusers
* extension
tubes
* teleconvertors
* focus stacking (with lrenfuse, zerene stacker, combinezm)
* post-processing
* when to best shoot
* hunting bugs
* composition
* lighting
* diffraction softening
* holding
* stalking
* good links
* beanpole
* monitor calibration
* white balance
* close-up filters
* bellows
* reversing lenses
* ring flashes, brackets, twinlight
* pre-flash ETTL and manual flash benefits
* working distance and flash diffusion considerations
* field curvature
* holding the leaf

ET impersonation

2010-08-30T12:36:00.006+10:00

You can't see me.

Bad habits

2010-08-28T14:11:00.006+10:00

Couch potato at 4 months.
Honestly, I don't know where he gets this from. Must be his mum. :)

Interesting morning...

2010-08-25T11:57:00.004+10:00

Just got back from the police station...

This morning I got a phone call from my bank. My Visa card was over limit. That's not right. I haven't made any huge purchases recently. Check the account online and there's 3 purchases made at Apple Online Sydney totally $4,500 a couple of days ago! That most certainly wasn't me!

Phoned by bank to raise a dispute. They're investigating. Really good actually. They refunded the money pending the outcome of the dispute.

Phoned Apple Online. It appears someone has opened an account with them using my name, my Visa card no, a fake email address but using my domain name (piggo.com). They'd ordered an iPod Nano and 2 MacBook Pros before the limit was exceeded. The orders were on the way to these frauds/thieves! They gave an address! In Queensland! I asked for the address, but they wouldn't give it to me :( I had a little delivery of my own to make. Sporting goods - a swinging baseball bat. >:(

Went to the police, made a report. Told them if they go to the address and need backup, call me. :D

Update: Since posting this I've heard from several acquaintences that have had exactly the same thing happen to them over the last couple of weeks. All had odd credit card transactions for items from Apple Online Sydney. It appears that either Apple or some other websites I've read reckon iTunes has been hacked and credit card details stolen.

Going bush

2010-08-22T17:27:00.006+10:00

We decided to go for a bit of a bushwalk with Hayden. I never realised there was some bushwalks around Mt Coot-Tha. All these years I've lived here, and I've only really gone to the top where the main lookout and Summit restaurant etc is.

Hayden absolutely loved it. Constantly looking around. So much to see, and he particularly liked the bounces as we walked down steps.

Nursery Rhyme Violence

2010-08-21T10:49:00.014+10:00

Imagine sitting down to read a nursery rhyme to your baby to help him sleep, not really knowing the words to even the common rhymes, and reading half way through one about beating dogs, biting pigs, killing oxes, hanging butchers and so on. I've quoted below the nursery rhyme. It's called "The Old Woman and her Pig", and it's from the very innocent-looking "Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes" book containing all the classics. I've quoted the whole thing after the jump.

Don't get me wrong. I'm no prude, and I know for the little ones it's probably more about the sound of my voice rather than the content. He doesn't understand what's actually being said. I know that.

Still, makes you wonder. People criticise today's video games, movies etc. Yet generation after generation has been reciting these words to their newborns for centuries. Political correctness? Meh.

An old woman was sweeping her house, and she found a little crooked sixpence. “What,” said she, “shall I do with this little sixpence? I will go to market, and buy a little pig.”

As she was coming home, she came to a stile: but the piggy wouldn’t go over the stile.

She went a little further, and she met a dog. So she said to the dog: “Dog! bite pig; piggy won’t go over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the dog wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met a stick. So she said: “Stick! stick! beat dog! dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the stick wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met a fire. So she said: “Fire! fire! burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the fire wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met some water. So she said: “Water, water! quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the water wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met an ox. So she said: “Ox! ox! drink water; water won’t quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the ox wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met a butcher. So she said: “Butcher! butcher! kill ox; ox won’t drink water; water won’t quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the butcher wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met a rope. So she said: “Rope! rope! hang butcher; butcher won’t kill ox; ox won’t drink water; water won’t quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the rope wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met a rat. So she said: “Rat! rat! gnaw rope; rope won’t hang butcher; butcher won’t kill ox; ox won’t drink water; water won’t quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the rat wouldn’t.

She went a little further, and she met a cat. So she said: “Cat! cat! kill rat; rat won’t gnaw rope; rope won’t hang butcher; butcher won’t kill ox; ox won’t drink water; water won’t quench fire; fire won’t burn stick; stick won’t beat dog; dog won’t bite pig; piggy won’t get over the stile; and I shan’t get home to-night.” But the cat said to her, “If you will go to yonder cow, and fetch me a saucer of milk, I will kill the rat.” So away went the old woman to the cow.

But the cow said to her: “If you will go to yonder hay-stack, and fetch me a handful of hay, I’ll give you the milk.” So away went the old woman to the haystack and she brought the hay to the cow.

As soon as the cow had eaten the hay, she gave the old woman the milk; and away she went with it in a saucer to the cat.

As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the rat; the rat began to gnaw the rope; the rope began to hang the butcher; the butcher began to kill the ox; the ox began to drink the water; the water began to quench the fire; the fire began to burn the stick; the stick began to beat the dog; the dog began to bite the pig; the little pig in a fright jumped over the stile, and so the old woman got home that night.

Charming. Suppose there was a happy ending at least. She got home that night...

Blog relocated

2010-08-09T15:28:00.005+10:00

I've relocated my blog to Google's http://blogspot.com. Just finding I have less and less time to hand-code my own website, so am taking the easy way out in the interests of writing/posting more and coding less.

I started copying over articles from the previous one, but decided it's probably not necessary anyway. I'll copy some of the more important ones I guess, when I get the time.

Let me know if you have any comments or feedback on the layout and content.

Hayden playing

2010-07-24T18:24:00.004+10:00

Just made a bit of a Youtube video of Hayden. He's started deliberately playing with toys this last week. Not bad for 11.5 weeks old? Bit wobbly with the motor skills, but we're proud :)

His reaction to our cheers after a big spin at around 48secs into the video cracks me up.

Published!

2010-07-22T21:30:00.010+10:00

Got my first astro-image published! Woohoo! First 2 pages of this PDF are B&W scan from Aug/Sep Australian Sky and Telescope magazine, last page is a nicer colour version of my image.

catchup with friends

2010-07-04T15:55:00.013+10:00

Finally caught up with Anthea and Dan after too many years, with Neil and Jodie. Great lunch down at Portside. Don't ask why, but I felt like some B&W shots instead of colour.

Jupiter and Neptune conjunction

2009-07-13T14:46:00.003+10:00

Jupiter and Neptune are very close at the moment. I wanted to get a shot of them together. Last night I was doing some testing of my setup, so took the opportunity.

Click the shot below for labelled image:

Latest Astro Photos

2009-05-01T14:41:00.003+10:00

Another new moon on the weekend and clear skies, so went to another dark site near Boonah. Met some other astrophotographers and had a great night. Still learning little bits and pieces, but am getting there.

NGC3372 Eta Carinae Nebula:

M20 Trifid Nebula and M8 Lagoon Nebula:

Dark skies

2009-03-04T15:16:00.006+10:00

On the weekend we went out to my first "dark site" at Leyburn to do some astrophotography. I have been absolutely jumping out of my skin for an opportunity like that. Since getting my telescope the weather has been cloudy most of the time, or full moon and light pollution from the city ruining the darkness for imaging.

Had been checking the weather reports all week and was supposed to be clear skies. Moon was near new. Everything fell into place. Awesome.

So here are some images I took.

M42 Orion Nebula:

M83 Southern Pinwheel Galaxy:

Comet Lulin:

Tribute to Blinky

2009-02-10T14:36:00.006+10:00

On the weekend I found out that a friend of mine, Lee "Blinky the Shark" Rizor, passed away last week due to complications from the flu. We had exchanged emails just the day before, and he had mentioned that he'd been ill with the flu but felt he was getting better.

The sudden passing took me quite by surprise and I was more than a little upset at the news. He was a larger than life character with a very strong personality. Hard to believe that something like the flu can take away someone that full of life.
Blinky was very prolific in several newsgroups I frequented, mostly to do with computer and photography related topics. I recall when I first started using linux he helped me on many occasions and on many more since.

In the last year we discovered our mutual interest in photography and exchanged many emails about equipment, macro photography methods, sharing photos and critiquing each other's work. He was a retired TV cameraman who worked and lived near Hollywood.

His USENET alias of Blinky the Shark arose when he read somewhere that some sharks can't/don't blink. Many people on USENET don't use their real name for privacy reasons. I have know him for years as Blinky, and only recently learned his real name.

It sounds strange that you can meet someone through USENET, never know their real name and never meet them face to face, yet still be so affected with news of their passing.

Farewell Blinky. We'll miss you.

Links

2009-02-02T16:26:00.007+10:00

This is a list of links that I find useful and hopefully others may too. I'll be building the list up over time.

Photography:
Photography-on-the.net - fantastic resource for photography equipment and photo sharing
Flickr - online photo management and sharing. It's where I host my photos these days. My Flickr page is http://www.flickr.com/photos/troypiggo
Strobist - learn to light with off-camera flash on your DSLR
deviantART - an art, not just photography, community. My dA page is http://troypiggo.deviantart.com/
Shoot-In - a friendly photography exercise started on rec.photo.equipment.35mm

Astronomy:
Ice In Space - Australian-based amateur astronomy resource, knowledge-base, and photo sharing
Cloudy Nights - astronomical community
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA

Astronomy software:
Astroplanner beta

Weather:
Weather Underground
SkippySky Astro-weather Forecast
Weather.com.au
WeatherZone

News:
News.com.au

Sport:
Brisbane West Indoor Sports - for indoor netball game times
Sportsbet - I don't gamble, but am in friendly tipping contests and this is handy for odds etc

Lorem Ipsum

2009-02-01T14:29:00.000+10:00

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.