The Author – Bart Busschots
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Nov
1
Photo of the Week 8 (Revisited)
Filed Under Photography on November 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
When you’re starting out in digital photography you learn a lot in a year. When I originally processed “Where Dark & Light Collide” I processed it very conservatively. I didn’t crop it, and I tried to remove all dark shadows from the image. This had the effect of washing it out so that it never really showed the drama of the sky that day. Having learned a lot over the last year I re-processed it this week and produced an image that I’m much happier with. At first glance the new version is only subtly different, but for me those subtleties make all the difference. All I did was remove the artificial brightening of the shadows, bump the saturation up a little, warm the white balance slightly, and re-crop the image so that your eye is drawn to the sky more. Here’s the result of my tweaking:
You can see the original version along with all the technical details of the shot in the original post.
Oct
29
Another Irish Asteroid!
Filed Under Science & Astronomy on October 29, 2008 | 4 Comments
They’re coming thick and fast now! It’s only a few weeks ago that I happily blogged about my friend Dave McDonald becoming only the second person ever to discover an Asteroid from Irish soil. Well, another of the shining lights of Ireland’s amateur astronomical community (and another Dave as it happens) has discovered the third ever astroid from Irish soil! Dave is a very active amateur who’s involved with both Astronomy Ireland and the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies. Dave, if you’re reading this, congrats!
If you’ve ever wondered just how much of a needle in a hay-stack an asteroid is check out the observations of the asteroid on Dave’s website, the animation in particular rams home the point!
Oct
27
Photo of the Week 36
Filed Under Photography on October 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I really have no idea why but since I was a young kid this tiny little flower fascinated me. It just seemed too pretty to be genuinely natural and I always thought they mush have just escaped from someone’s garden or something. However, the Common Dog-violet (Viola Riviniana) is a native Irish wild flower. These things are very small, and only really stand a chance in areas where grass won’t over-whelm them. As such they tend to very well in hedgerows and woods. I love this shot because it shows up both the wonderful colour and subtle details of these diminutive beauties.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of this shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 18-55mm (D40 kit lens)
- Exposure: 1/320 sec
- Focal Length: 55mm
- Focal Ratio: F5.6
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
Oct
10
Irish Amateur Astronomer Finds Asteroid
Filed Under Science & Astronomy on October 10, 2008 | 4 Comments
I’m absolutely delighted to be able to say that a local amateur Astronomer and friend of mine, Dave McDonald, has discovered an Asteroid. This is not just a big deal for him, it’s a big deal for Ireland. This is only the second ever asteroid discovered here, and the first since 18 something (about 160 years ago). Dave is one of the leading lights in the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies and was rightly voted Astronomer of the Year last year by the IFAS members. Guess he’s a shoe-in for this year too 😉
Dave is the perfect example of an amateur astronomer doing real science. His setup is in many ways quite modest, but he has it tuned to perfection and has really nailed it’s operation. Dave is getting more out of his gear than anyone else I know. The asteroid he discovered was an insanely dim magnitude 19. This is also not Dave’s first success, last year he made the official confirmation observation of a supernova. I don’t know of any other sciences where amateurs can contribute so much real scientific work in this day and age.
You can find out more about Dave at his website, www.astroshack.net.
If you’re reading this Dave, I offer my heart-felt congratulations, I knew all your hard work and dedication would eventually pay off and you’d strike gold one of these days!
Oct
9
Photo of the Week 32 & 33 – Irish Butterflies
Filed Under Photography on October 9, 2008 | 1 Comment
Since I’ve missed two weekends due to server troubles I thought I’d do a double post today. But rather than post two un-related photos I figured it would make more sense to pick two that are related. I’ve taken a lot of butterfly shots this year, and these two have come out as my favourites. It was a hard call to pick just two, but you can see the whole set in my Irish Butterflies Set on Flickr.
The first shot I chose is my best one of the most spectacular butterfly we have in Ireland, the Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io in Latin). We have no other butterflies with such striking colours or such impressive ‘eyes’ on their wings. I got this shot in my Grandmother’s garden near Cavan, Ireland.
The second shot is one of our most bland species, the Small White (Pieris rapae in Latin). Not as interesting as the Green-Veined White, and very small. But I still think this is a beautiful shot. I love the way the zoom lens has completely blackened the background. You’d never guess there was a hedge behind this guy! I took this shot in the Junior Gardens on the St. Patrick’s College Campus (AKA NUI Maynooth South Campus) in Maynooth, Ireland.
For those of you interested in such things, here are the technical details of the first shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/640 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: F11
- ISO: 400
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Compensation: -1.0
And of the second shot:
- Camera: Nikon D40
- Lens: Nikon DX AFS 55-200mm
- Exposure: 1/1250 sec
- Focal Length: 200mm
- Focal Ratio: F8
- ISO: 200
- Camera Mode: Aperture Priority
- Exposure Compensation: -0.67