• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

Picture taking

John A.

Unconstitutional laws are not laws.
Staff member
Administrator
Global Moderator
I'm going to be the first to admit, that I don't usually have an eye for photography and often times wouldn't be able to change the camera to the proper settings if my life depended on it, but these newer whiz bang electronics takes all the guess work out of it and pretty much changes everything automatically to even where I could take a decent picture.

Last night, I was taking the dog out and noticed that the sky was so clear and the cooler temps had less "haze" than usual so I thought I'd try to get a few pictures while things seemed favorable.

This picture was trying to highlight the Plaedes star cluster. I've always been interested in it because my eye will pick up the faint glow of it, but only through my perephreal vision if I'm not focusing directly on it and looking off to the side of it. So, I was pretty ecstatic when I got back in the house and reviewed some of the pictures.

That star cluster is the question mark looking constellation near the top center in the pic.


plaedes bright.jpg

And zoomed in a little better without the trees in the frame
plaedes star cluster .jpg

And a few other random pics I've taken in the past.

JFKIiHN.jpg


Dzl0kSh.jpg


p2Gz13E.png


0Op9gO0.jpg
 
I have my settings on the higher side and save directly to the SD card. I have an older Samsung but it works good, even without image stabilization on.

NOTE 1: make sure the SD card is rated at least "U" or "10" and get the highest capacity your phone will handle. I use a small program to "test" the write/read of the cards and would recommend paying a little extra and buying from a bigger retailer. I've bought a couple fakes before rated at 10 but neither could manage better than 4. The program is h2testw.exe If you can't find it I'll send it to you--it is only about 244k.

NOTE 2: Make sure the Exif data is turned off on your phone. This prevents leaving a GPS "trace" on your pictures.
 
I enjoy watching the sky and are interested in the universe and all things in it. I only have a cellphone camera and unfortunately it hates dark things :) If the sky is clear, i can always see Venus with my eyes because it shines so strong. The Pleiades is sometimes tough to spot for me. If i use my binoculars i can see it more clearly. Not much traffic in the sky but some things move.. satellites and other stuff.. Some of them flashes back to me ( no joke, the respond to me, repeatedly ) when i flash my flashlight at them.. really weird..
 
Last edited:
I have seen what I think was a satellite a few times.

They don't have any marker light/strobes but for some reason, the ones I have seen appear to be bright enough that I can pick them up with my eyes. Usually moving from south to north, which I have heard are likely spy satellites but who knows?
 
I've somewhat seriously in photography over the years and took a few classes. The biggest thing is proper framing of the shot, you don't want things in the frame pulling your eyes from the main subject.

I like your pics.
 
The biggest thing is proper framing of the shot, you don't want things in the frame pulling your eyes from the main subject.

THIS^^^^ and even if you are going to crop afterwards, you still need to frame so nothing will be in the crop. Long guns are a little more difficult because they are long and narrow. And stop taking pictures of your feet! :D
 
THIS^^^^ and even if you are going to crop afterwards, you still need to frame so nothing will be in the crop. Long guns are a little more difficult because they are long and narrow. And stop taking pictures of your feet! :D
haha.. i hate when i get my feet at the bottom of the pic
 
Back
Top