tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59307859868426232472024-03-17T18:26:33.490+08:00Rob MastersThe random musings of a geek photographer.
Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.comBlogger2673125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-5263731531307544102024-02-11T18:51:00.002+08:002024-02-11T23:33:29.769+08:00A new Solargraphy project<p> This evening we visited the wonderful<a href="https://rooftopmovies.com.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Rooftop Movies.</a> Before the show, though, thanks to the <a href="https://artrage.com.au/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">organisers</a>, we set up a dozen or so solargraph cameras around the cinema. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqisalkM_c-Gi1IX47Hu2Sn9VzSQeE-PvbWfvKnH7l2W8Psw_28nYJ43M7n874_S6fIVRHHu8gtE0zw_Qt9lnG5AlvHLHv-NpLrgqFv8kgv-YWr44j0GvTOdVpLK5Rr3eVFwID2aYcslWDA1zwm96EEopKX6j5ZZHvsRfCey1XFaTKN38bIk_OSTyPu4/s4032/PXL_20240211_092648131.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPqisalkM_c-Gi1IX47Hu2Sn9VzSQeE-PvbWfvKnH7l2W8Psw_28nYJ43M7n874_S6fIVRHHu8gtE0zw_Qt9lnG5AlvHLHv-NpLrgqFv8kgv-YWr44j0GvTOdVpLK5Rr3eVFwID2aYcslWDA1zwm96EEopKX6j5ZZHvsRfCey1XFaTKN38bIk_OSTyPu4/s320/PXL_20240211_092648131.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhkS9bZAKsNvu5dcj9t9iQqdHmN61HcqRMTjfRzSF71bvWyuRHxyyjIgKK3JPeftUk8_VoR8NbZ4PeF8be57xrucLG5_98s8RRX1gkHX-TgCyA4jIgUBUs1PZqnJKjjUtfkgmrhZ4k6YDFb9Nqk0R3QGR2Gl-ehZ4mpUtg0db-9o3oD3Gg3_Op4EITEE/s4032/PXL_20240211_092539344.MP.jpg" style="clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinhkS9bZAKsNvu5dcj9t9iQqdHmN61HcqRMTjfRzSF71bvWyuRHxyyjIgKK3JPeftUk8_VoR8NbZ4PeF8be57xrucLG5_98s8RRX1gkHX-TgCyA4jIgUBUs1PZqnJKjjUtfkgmrhZ4k6YDFb9Nqk0R3QGR2Gl-ehZ4mpUtg0db-9o3oD3Gg3_Op4EITEE/s320/PXL_20240211_092539344.MP.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">These are a mix of Solarcan Pucks, Solarcan Cans, and some homebrew can cams. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The plan is to recover half of them in a fortnight to check alignments and framing, and the rest on the last day.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As a special treat to ourselves and the Rooftop Movies team, we brought one Puck in after just three hours. Here is the result.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKhQEEtMLVYL9sNW7N3izqVP1HjxY3N7iVxa4BdzlG0Q_tX2rwdF-0phrYK_Ugikw3fHQZAznn-SAWHSTeHyhsm2gDM1tFX-ZFe53oFisTd9y1Ei2BBnjY4ywt4pTKhOrNFv0jTvlFrJAaOzudkuM2XyrFfwS6Ah4csADj4qMxvGsDXeFiJeYiccWEG1s/s2737/RoofTop-20240211.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2737" data-original-width="2736" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKhQEEtMLVYL9sNW7N3izqVP1HjxY3N7iVxa4BdzlG0Q_tX2rwdF-0phrYK_Ugikw3fHQZAznn-SAWHSTeHyhsm2gDM1tFX-ZFe53oFisTd9y1Ei2BBnjY4ywt4pTKhOrNFv0jTvlFrJAaOzudkuM2XyrFfwS6Ah4csADj4qMxvGsDXeFiJeYiccWEG1s/w640-h640/RoofTop-20240211.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-16102098904581521672024-01-28T18:26:00.002+08:002024-01-28T18:26:34.683+08:00The Accidental AuthorThrough late 2022 and most of 2023, an author,<a href="https://writing.exchange/@ewdocparris"> E.W.Paris</a>, on the writing.exchange Mastodon instance shared a daily AI generated image as a writing prompt for a 500 character story. <div><br /></div><div>I found myself entranced by the often surreal images, and responded to quite a few of them.</div><div><br /></div><div>A handful of them turned into a linked space opera that I am now turning into what will probably be a novella with a working title of The Cerian and Varan War. You can find that <a href="https://rdmasters.lympago.com/p/cerian-and-varan-war-story-in.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another one prompted a high fantasy, which is also turning into a larger tale, most likely a long short story or novelette. You can read about <a href="https://rdmasters.lympago.com/p/gwen-and-grey-fantasy.html">Gwen and Grey here.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>And so, without actually intending to, I appear to have become an author of sorts. I hope you enjoy my tales.</div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-85664334823177744002024-01-13T14:23:00.003+08:002024-01-13T14:23:50.174+08:00Post processing in Astrophotography - comparing images<p> I am a novice when it comes to driving advanced post-processing tools like <a href="https://siril.org/" target="_blank">Siril</a>, which, if you are getting into astrophotography, I highly recommend.</p><p>It does have a steep learning curve, especially the post-stack processing side. Powerful, but not intuitive.</p><p>But if you want quick results from your funky new smart telescope, you do have alternatives.</p><p>So let's have a look at some solar photography and see what happens.</p><p>Here is a untouched image, and the same image with some in-camera curve adjustment. The only edit is to crop the image.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8ko0wDm4oghumN8AcwKUIlKSX-oLvVNmIRA8IqDUkAnjTm-vqDg6_m428QaETEcbbQXk5GgZvqTxIJmdNE7xKbsal_uHMMJZsOmhMNA6OTTUUFyMaPMejuMTgWdXima_qPxBzFALlSBbbrUTYIhfYlcriC3LPhERQHZfjfsc0RVRGWAyT7avecYyt8I/s759/DWARF_20240113130049437~2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="759" data-original-width="759" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ8ko0wDm4oghumN8AcwKUIlKSX-oLvVNmIRA8IqDUkAnjTm-vqDg6_m428QaETEcbbQXk5GgZvqTxIJmdNE7xKbsal_uHMMJZsOmhMNA6OTTUUFyMaPMejuMTgWdXima_qPxBzFALlSBbbrUTYIhfYlcriC3LPhERQHZfjfsc0RVRGWAyT7avecYyt8I/w640-h640/DWARF_20240113130049437~2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The Sun, unmodified</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2V7gSPGAnAS3I6y742M4XpR1b5exZmAH0w01hX2-Y7bue38SDzphSpqPFCUsTTmGBSKv_Fzq_nu7iabtkjK5xvVK5QQaEJ4_nDKXfP98rXyrQMQATgNtnplURSTHNz2iHRNMU9yr3xIYhTluOo4YVV1MwuqJicwEgRyWzjR4IrdB9Xuxn-8unWccFH3M/s690/DWARF_20240113130132353~3.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="690" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2V7gSPGAnAS3I6y742M4XpR1b5exZmAH0w01hX2-Y7bue38SDzphSpqPFCUsTTmGBSKv_Fzq_nu7iabtkjK5xvVK5QQaEJ4_nDKXfP98rXyrQMQATgNtnplURSTHNz2iHRNMU9yr3xIYhTluOo4YVV1MwuqJicwEgRyWzjR4IrdB9Xuxn-8unWccFH3M/w640-h640/DWARF_20240113130132353~3.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">With in-camera curve adjustment</div><div><br /></div>Straight away, you can see more detail - the penumbras are clearer in sun spots, the granulation is more obvious. <div><br /></div><div>Now let's look at what happens when you get heavy handed with Snapseed's structure and sharpening tools, adjusting the shadows and highlights a bit more, adding a touch of HDR and tweaking the colour balance.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsu4MHEU_KQxNioMlS1JnIFOodfr2PdwLBWmvphnjtmmZxgyyu6sAh4v0-heEgbXmmnkX52oOiAzBekZtwbDM1ZxwvX-NY-ITqTXi7l2KngLcSeSEPs51OElgoLUs4yfLBPz-sGo_43OeEj0DLk0v7SnUB3hYTrfFtPF0_ljMAX642tkgeIy4pt7cfXA/s690/DWARF_20240113130132353~3-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="690" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqsu4MHEU_KQxNioMlS1JnIFOodfr2PdwLBWmvphnjtmmZxgyyu6sAh4v0-heEgbXmmnkX52oOiAzBekZtwbDM1ZxwvX-NY-ITqTXi7l2KngLcSeSEPs51OElgoLUs4yfLBPz-sGo_43OeEj0DLk0v7SnUB3hYTrfFtPF0_ljMAX642tkgeIy4pt7cfXA/w640-h640/DWARF_20240113130132353~3-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Heavily post processed in Snapseed</div><br /><div>First up, the granulation is very clear now. Those speckles are not JPEG artifacts - they are structures on the solar surface. You can clearly see the umbra/penumbra components of the larger sunspots, and the paler inverse sunspot regions. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lastly, let's apply Google Photo's tools to the image instead. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjx5f8CRV2rVMpq5CPFEzreXOPLGywnJI5U6KtyTk6fouEYn_Il6Ljl16QUXv0EmrEviBNoiNZqGyxqFVB1jGkyLlsL3QNPVHseqy3c9sTYikwiw8UpJY8yg25aYpvnORQYuVJRNJ3abuhejtjlpmurPhPFzHf7sR-EGO1_k6ik3jcJa2R2RGZ2M71YxI/s739/DWARF_20240113130132353~2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="739" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjx5f8CRV2rVMpq5CPFEzreXOPLGywnJI5U6KtyTk6fouEYn_Il6Ljl16QUXv0EmrEviBNoiNZqGyxqFVB1jGkyLlsL3QNPVHseqy3c9sTYikwiw8UpJY8yg25aYpvnORQYuVJRNJ3abuhejtjlpmurPhPFzHf7sR-EGO1_k6ik3jcJa2R2RGZ2M71YxI/w640-h640/DWARF_20240113130132353~2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Heavy post in Google Photos</div><div><br /></div>First off, some key features. We have lost the umbra/penumbra differentiation, and centre highlight is accentuated. As Google Photos only operates on a full image, there are many things we cannot do there. But, there are some. First off, the pop and structure tools are arguably better than Snapseed's equivalents. The colour tools are different, but we have a better HDR tool available. The end result is interesting in that it particularly highlights the pale spot regions.<div><br /></div><div>All of these are, ultimately the one image:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEe8v_m8NR_DAoGgUCYx9KTnOMIbAAg2JZhj8xtVV4PamGXawM7XQYvykIJbrkEW5Xco8b4EQOkW84uS2OHkqQm6jIA7ucTANZjgeNDC2G7hXfary9B5OoAWGOERP7e63-st2Ne6kPKgaDUN4cXpI8wYQFHlFcqHI7NXycaqj1aun175NhyphenhyphenZqa5SjixI/s3840/DWARF_20240113130049437.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="3840" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizEe8v_m8NR_DAoGgUCYx9KTnOMIbAAg2JZhj8xtVV4PamGXawM7XQYvykIJbrkEW5Xco8b4EQOkW84uS2OHkqQm6jIA7ucTANZjgeNDC2G7hXfary9B5OoAWGOERP7e63-st2Ne6kPKgaDUN4cXpI8wYQFHlFcqHI7NXycaqj1aun175NhyphenhyphenZqa5SjixI/w640-h360/DWARF_20240113130049437.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The original uncropped.</div><div><br /></div>This is from a DwarfII, 1/200s, Gain 0, no binning, and 10 frames stacked in-camera. ND1E6 filter for sun protection.<br /><div><br /><div><br /><p><br /></p></div></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-60915778434075239692023-08-26T08:16:00.006+08:002023-08-26T08:16:41.056+08:00Hunting Neptune<p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Back in the day, and I mean starting around the turn of last century, you'd hunt for planets by taking photos through your telescope days or weeks apart, and then comparing the two plates. </span></p><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Today I proved to myself that I have photographed Neptune from my front garden.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">This evening, I took this shot with my DwarfII - 10x15s exposures, stacked, and filtered to make everything cyan. In theory, somewhere in this image is Neptune. Good luck working out where.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEz_1ClWFbXzMp3GeuKTAF70MhJKTDVWCAI4M3YkbomaQmxSSTPIOwgAxBEb1_fDx13txbgiVVPAhHW7PQKxQc2Obbo81AjQqCYG_aGvTpCCXnKv9lWMPj2OIraNRHBpPHAw1hOS2c9EQ1SMIIyJOhp30W-8bbNC68lLJ1MvNK02yIvHSZ6h8FNo9xPK0/s1920/1692976189059-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEz_1ClWFbXzMp3GeuKTAF70MhJKTDVWCAI4M3YkbomaQmxSSTPIOwgAxBEb1_fDx13txbgiVVPAhHW7PQKxQc2Obbo81AjQqCYG_aGvTpCCXnKv9lWMPj2OIraNRHBpPHAw1hOS2c9EQ1SMIIyJOhp30W-8bbNC68lLJ1MvNK02yIvHSZ6h8FNo9xPK0/w640-h360/1692976189059-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyan tinted star scape. Somewhere, Neptune is lurking.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Last week, I did the same thing, but I tinted this one yellow.</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOkjiJJn1nuc5zeu90jEAyTBhBI4ylTEGN_UW5anNK_dpKLiC8KIXWGzfJ3aBPOLBP3j6tLARiYTGF--djStiN3Gyjr25bHGs-RsNlXZ4LPj2apLVAzRQavpqvxuad-pa-q6eDbIBcbgFnM3ZwisacBWvg8x-_suUE9ijYZAS8UlGDfgilvTY9VtoF_yI/s1920/1692466045381-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOkjiJJn1nuc5zeu90jEAyTBhBI4ylTEGN_UW5anNK_dpKLiC8KIXWGzfJ3aBPOLBP3j6tLARiYTGF--djStiN3Gyjr25bHGs-RsNlXZ4LPj2apLVAzRQavpqvxuad-pa-q6eDbIBcbgFnM3ZwisacBWvg8x-_suUE9ijYZAS8UlGDfgilvTY9VtoF_yI/w640-h360/1692466045381-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yellow star scape. Neptune still hiding.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Next, I composited them in Snapseed, and played with the opacity slider.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8XAaYhsbtcpHEM5MjQkzrE-L3ktkZQoyiLQ0fhsVmPgyLxl6_AXqVqNXot_WJG4RfwyeBDxFkeyXu1eWRgz1GEFUxU1E8hTRe5bra87aJ8_qivKVieXg-B6ofFMAVjfL87pJC4xNZk0SX1p8vpPW5GrKBs8KvI3rDolJR3uPNiCVCx9nKhTzBw8KHgM/s1028/1692976189059-01-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1028" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE8XAaYhsbtcpHEM5MjQkzrE-L3ktkZQoyiLQ0fhsVmPgyLxl6_AXqVqNXot_WJG4RfwyeBDxFkeyXu1eWRgz1GEFUxU1E8hTRe5bra87aJ8_qivKVieXg-B6ofFMAVjfL87pJC4xNZk0SX1p8vpPW5GrKBs8KvI3rDolJR3uPNiCVCx9nKhTzBw8KHgM/w640-h428/1692976189059-01-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you see Neptune now?</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Here are the two locations highlighted</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGgInFU20HtspqU5yN07OnVqB34vFWXXghQ0qq3ChfxB6Fj9sV5w_nBDqPT9R41vIEHC61zZTLtv-rTo5dWc4qyEE7y685Hb4u0NptylbDwDI1zbA9Ak-k3Ny9AQf7z6DCD3YEaUjS8nr85ipyaPBI_3lEl-3r9YqbknSEurkgkDteJqdjL5_pQqnq1TQ/s1028/1692976189059-01-01~2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1028" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGgInFU20HtspqU5yN07OnVqB34vFWXXghQ0qq3ChfxB6Fj9sV5w_nBDqPT9R41vIEHC61zZTLtv-rTo5dWc4qyEE7y685Hb4u0NptylbDwDI1zbA9Ak-k3Ny9AQf7z6DCD3YEaUjS8nr85ipyaPBI_3lEl-3r9YqbknSEurkgkDteJqdjL5_pQqnq1TQ/w640-h428/1692976189059-01-01~2.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neptune in two locations, circled</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Two very cool things about this.</div><div><br /></div><div>One, I did this with a telescope the size of a 1L UHT carton <i>from my garden in the middle of suburbia!</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Two, it clearly shows how planets got their name - from the Greek <i style="background-color: white; color: #202124; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">planētēs </i>meaning 'wanderer', referring to the way the move about compared to the stars, which are fixed relative to each other.<br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-78673502881368338952023-07-05T08:52:00.007+08:002023-07-05T22:02:39.369+08:00Good News (every) Week<p style="text-align: left;"> <span face="mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I do not often plug things. One, I suck at it, two, most things are perfectly good at plugging themselves. For this site, I am making an exception.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We all know that there is a lot of horrible stuff going on in the world. And we do need to be informed about it so we can do something about it.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But what about the stuff that has had things done about it? We hardly ever hear about that. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few years ago, David Byrne - ex-frontman of Talking Heads, and all-round nice guy, noticed this problem, and started a news site that focuses on solutions from around the world.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="status-link unhandled-link" href="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #3a3bff; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/"><span class="invisible" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 0px;">https://</span></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="status-link unhandled-link" href="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #3a3bff; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/"><span style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">reasonstobecheerful.world/<br /></span></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a class="status-link unhandled-link" href="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: #3a3bff; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; unicode-bidi: isolate; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="https://reasonstobecheerful.world/"><span class="invisible" style="border: 0px; display: inline-block; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 0px; line-height: 0; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; vertical-align: baseline; width: 0px;"></span></a></span><p></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Well researched and excellently written articles about the good things in the world - giving us all a reminder of why we should keep going. </span></p><div><br /></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-3205525893076968222023-06-24T20:56:00.004+08:002023-06-24T20:56:44.286+08:00The Leaning Tower of Gingin and the Sun<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_xqo8PCMJ6In9Auwqap9IGMBp83brJiklDUeeI3OJscrb87pfC37ZABd3zI_oUQIQKjfCYRNeru9RqWMmu2Lgeq-f2FuIEgv6qKOBoI-QilTljhpc0a-QbD9wLmEak6QeVIKb8Qxy7wXe4X7UfHKohJfF1F3Tw2piPXVy-3kl0t_EbkyRiYujVbdFYI/s2959/1687577204377-7257ed9a-3a62-4ab0-b51f-5b864c194593-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2219" data-original-width="2959" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr_xqo8PCMJ6In9Auwqap9IGMBp83brJiklDUeeI3OJscrb87pfC37ZABd3zI_oUQIQKjfCYRNeru9RqWMmu2Lgeq-f2FuIEgv6qKOBoI-QilTljhpc0a-QbD9wLmEak6QeVIKb8Qxy7wXe4X7UfHKohJfF1F3Tw2piPXVy-3kl0t_EbkyRiYujVbdFYI/w640-h480/1687577204377-7257ed9a-3a62-4ab0-b51f-5b864c194593-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>A six-month solargraph taken at the Gingin Gravity Discovery Centre, looking North at the Leaning Tower. Many thanks to the GDC and AIGO for letting me set the cameras up back in December!</p><p>Scanned using Google Photoscan, and post-processed in Snapseed.</p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-42989498705776449152023-06-24T18:48:00.001+08:002023-06-24T18:48:15.109+08:00Summing Up What Sort of Photography I Do!<p> Folks may have noticed that very little of my photography these days is "normal". I do still take conventional photos with a fairly ordinary digital camera, but that is mostly my nature photography, and I do not often talk about that. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8PajnZXmNpk-lzAcZvebngf7h2Q3zue33ZZJmq-7kcFQzSwyRGtziSX_qzB9xw31fk4YtP6LQBTFH8l5b3gRPP9IzNHZOR2Hi1uPGBxL6_VVXaLgSWwdcZ7ZRqxih-0veNJu--uOasoBNodqo_-S5YpnH3mO3Xaxz8l0Mj6aIYsV_gMoCGW56aLwFU-0/s1440/DSCN8963.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8PajnZXmNpk-lzAcZvebngf7h2Q3zue33ZZJmq-7kcFQzSwyRGtziSX_qzB9xw31fk4YtP6LQBTFH8l5b3gRPP9IzNHZOR2Hi1uPGBxL6_VVXaLgSWwdcZ7ZRqxih-0veNJu--uOasoBNodqo_-S5YpnH3mO3Xaxz8l0Mj6aIYsV_gMoCGW56aLwFU-0/w640-h480/DSCN8963.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Egret - Herdsman Lake, June 2023. Nikon P900<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>I also do some astrophotography, up until recently using my mobile phone, <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7_x0U9DXTrkvNlVOliuvNovfCKr_gLHxt4mNWkMGIApwFK4Q7exCxbcb7hWQKdIbSNPHTvAUyQpAnuXzYrxPFrKQg1tKANpAaSyB7YAhSV3dMstawq6h4nth7Uc0w6w02uOVqvgnn8Urg3ZyAjldjrPAb-tiKkyl9C7C4DiMHtYMRyUWmNSeK-DK3vQ/s4032/PXL_20220605_142642554.NIGHT~2-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB7_x0U9DXTrkvNlVOliuvNovfCKr_gLHxt4mNWkMGIApwFK4Q7exCxbcb7hWQKdIbSNPHTvAUyQpAnuXzYrxPFrKQg1tKANpAaSyB7YAhSV3dMstawq6h4nth7Uc0w6w02uOVqvgnn8Urg3ZyAjldjrPAb-tiKkyl9C7C4DiMHtYMRyUWmNSeK-DK3vQ/w480-h640/PXL_20220605_142642554.NIGHT~2-01.jpeg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Milky Way, Pixel 6a, Guilderton, June 2022.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>but more recently with a Dwarf II 'smart telescope'. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PQQMHBRRDr6MBgsKz1GhV5pWAH0J6wJMqCuAqD78MMTI2HHVb8fuzb1SBx-55z_woXoKiHZ3XoKp_EggIuXyfOxBqLjZkfaIiCla_xpd1slC1Dog9XL63THU2pkMZ1ixl2jRE1KYH8nX8IiQtg3PLBBmLbEtirawuAGCZFDBMTnpv2oMsVAt-jz-_LY/s1122/DWARF_20230619212853371-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1122" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9PQQMHBRRDr6MBgsKz1GhV5pWAH0J6wJMqCuAqD78MMTI2HHVb8fuzb1SBx-55z_woXoKiHZ3XoKp_EggIuXyfOxBqLjZkfaIiCla_xpd1slC1Dog9XL63THU2pkMZ1ixl2jRE1KYH8nX8IiQtg3PLBBmLbEtirawuAGCZFDBMTnpv2oMsVAt-jz-_LY/w640-h480/DWARF_20230619212853371-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cat's Paw Nebula, Doubleview, June 2023, 98 x 15s frames, stacked in camera.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>These are not so much telescopes as dedicated astrophotography rigs controlled via a mobile app, and the results speak for themselves. They can align and stack multiple frames all by themselves, and compensate for significant levels of light pollution. <br /><div><br /></div><div>At the other extreme, I also experiment with in-camera cyanotype photography, using an 1830s era chemistry that is best known for making blueprints! </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LBWkwXts0yrChrAfF_GFnKL8c1RwApD72WDZ9UJ1DLqRo0UCi38sl6y4cCXqPQZBRzTpMU_f4J-wKQf4elWJv_AzBwvf2KaDSBdnDCLaF6BxQ2qQtGYGueVia9i8IGW2z-XIGVqNFpe6APjPj98ZyPsVGJZzX4_O9yOkJAIGCZWhnXov4D5jbWW7EuU/s1622/1609116574055-54b32e53-62b5-48d2-8fb7-5b03ef3b6266-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1217" data-original-width="1622" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LBWkwXts0yrChrAfF_GFnKL8c1RwApD72WDZ9UJ1DLqRo0UCi38sl6y4cCXqPQZBRzTpMU_f4J-wKQf4elWJv_AzBwvf2KaDSBdnDCLaF6BxQ2qQtGYGueVia9i8IGW2z-XIGVqNFpe6APjPj98ZyPsVGJZzX4_O9yOkJAIGCZWhnXov4D5jbWW7EuU/w640-h480/1609116574055-54b32e53-62b5-48d2-8fb7-5b03ef3b6266-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mandurah Canal House, December 2020, Homebuilt Camera, 60 minute exposure.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div>A lot of these I build my own cameras for, as the chemistry is so insensitive to light that I need special lenses to make it work, and even then the exposure times can run into the hours. The results can look quite mystical, though.</div><div><br /></div><div>Slightly less weird is my pinhole photography. In particular my wonderful little Pinsta camera, which combines camera and darkroom into the one unit, shooting directly onto photographic paper. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1b252qkDgfWiPA59R0a8f1NtYxzcjcBSDsVW-o_lzlay2505rgKLUMKXY39ugzNx2V2L-mop-53yY-6XP3i6i2Fj7HznKRQ9zHe8V1pB5i2SBoYLbmo6PszXl_vgcGCbbqIt3mDk3XwNXNhlo0rZ1amDu_QR0zLGkVNzdw_KJrgRJt2xFPp2FdGrYY8/s1867/1669709011574-98c5a078-b429-457c-9e15-8317fce5a269-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1474" data-original-width="1867" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW1b252qkDgfWiPA59R0a8f1NtYxzcjcBSDsVW-o_lzlay2505rgKLUMKXY39ugzNx2V2L-mop-53yY-6XP3i6i2Fj7HznKRQ9zHe8V1pB5i2SBoYLbmo6PszXl_vgcGCbbqIt3mDk3XwNXNhlo0rZ1amDu_QR0zLGkVNzdw_KJrgRJt2xFPp2FdGrYY8/w640-h506/1669709011574-98c5a078-b429-457c-9e15-8317fce5a269-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Murray River Houseboat Mooring, Dec 2022, 15s.</td></tr></tbody></table>These still require longer to expose than an ordinary camera, but once exposed, I can have a print ready to show in less than five minutes! <div><br /></div><div>My most extreme photography, though, is my solargraphy. This is a very extreme form of pinhole photography, where the star of the show (ahem) is the sun itself. Exposure times are measured in days, weeks, months, or even years. This results in a latent image that is so strong it can be scanned without developing. In fact if you were to develop it, you would get a black sheet!</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJahaFdl_bTsWz1zwyZCresjXjFpSIbmpt_U7Mfe_P3nHTXfDkpM4rx9DgeBoKHgRfEQEVoKvCtwZhVhPddxyxgL0bWkKwzfkHiIsjz9m32-EpdR0LNO3N4MglZBqcDBvKJ9Nih_ORQKBwmGXh7gepoPRpxcIm6mVgrTUN82m78rCtAdEWEgYFbHkWZgo/s2959/1687577204377-7257ed9a-3a62-4ab0-b51f-5b864c194593-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2219" data-original-width="2959" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJahaFdl_bTsWz1zwyZCresjXjFpSIbmpt_U7Mfe_P3nHTXfDkpM4rx9DgeBoKHgRfEQEVoKvCtwZhVhPddxyxgL0bWkKwzfkHiIsjz9m32-EpdR0LNO3N4MglZBqcDBvKJ9Nih_ORQKBwmGXh7gepoPRpxcIm6mVgrTUN82m78rCtAdEWEgYFbHkWZgo/w640-h480/1687577204377-7257ed9a-3a62-4ab0-b51f-5b864c194593-01.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gravity Discovery Centre Leaning Tower, 6 months Dec 2022-June 2023. </td></tr></tbody></table><br />And that is a wrap. There are probably things I do that I have not mentioned here, but these are the main ones, and the most interesting. <br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-33703681609596047212023-05-13T22:00:00.017+08:002023-05-14T21:48:14.710+08:00Easy and cheap(ish) Astrophotography<p>Astrophotography is arguably the most technically demanding discipline in the art of photography, with high demands in both equipment and post-processing.</p><p>In recent years advances in mobile phone technology have given everyone access to easy wide-field astrophotography, leaving three areas that still require high end equipment: Stellar, Planetary, and Deep-sky.</p><p> Is there still a place for high end equipment in wide-field? Absolutely! Just like the Instagram folks are discovering that a real camera takes better photos than a mobile phone, so too will a dedicated astro rig take better photos than a mobile phone. </p><p>But the mobile is accessible, cheap, and easy to use - so it will get folks in. If you can get shots like this in a Bortle 5 area, it will get you excited, and some folks will be inspired enough to go further. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zPpgHBbKsUEtNvdI8AjJjFsJf8bHAp3qfRjfN9GUW9tx96aExyYWwI9JYWHF3S0e8EAPlEIkg7HH89P8EB8TWkuYnfuZ-2L9LVDKmZ2VmXIf0rYsta5-SZu7oGH5ojSxHsl1XwxAkl6GLpwwXIBqFE1sLd943T9VRTe6H3ba8FrYltjA76ACCtxU/s4032/PXL_20220605_142642554.NIGHT~2-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8zPpgHBbKsUEtNvdI8AjJjFsJf8bHAp3qfRjfN9GUW9tx96aExyYWwI9JYWHF3S0e8EAPlEIkg7HH89P8EB8TWkuYnfuZ-2L9LVDKmZ2VmXIf0rYsta5-SZu7oGH5ojSxHsl1XwxAkl6GLpwwXIBqFE1sLd943T9VRTe6H3ba8FrYltjA76ACCtxU/w300-h400/PXL_20220605_142642554.NIGHT~2-01.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p>But what about deep sky?</p><p>Enter the "Smart Telescope". </p><p>These are not so much telescopes as dedicated astrophotography rigs. These have many advantages - some of them even will perform stacking in-device. On the down side, they are typically quite short in lens and small in sensor. They are not so good in for planetary or stellar imaging. </p><p>It is one of these devices I want to talk about.</p><p>Back in April, I saw that one of the localish stores was selling the Dwarf II Smart Telescope. </p><p>Now this has about a 3 degree field of view, and an 8MP resolution - although this drops in practice because it bins pixels into 2x2 groups to improve light gathering. It does, however, shoot in FITS format, and then stacks images automatically. And it does not have an eyepiece - you drive it from your phone or tablet.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjko5XazwPnuxSZMUa-Qm5FV2QhILIx3ig25lf6cjjt2MHqvB1dWfcnOFA5tHK_RoeOt0sXR5jPv2GAWNioDFTfXw1Afee68Ix_S1nDiSHFpxA4mJgu46dLSL2yPuMkvbAT6ub8XkOp1W-3H8UbQtqZL0fu9t1_PCFsUcwYloWrCvJeBzTRRokapBr3/s1920/1680355949427.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjko5XazwPnuxSZMUa-Qm5FV2QhILIx3ig25lf6cjjt2MHqvB1dWfcnOFA5tHK_RoeOt0sXR5jPv2GAWNioDFTfXw1Afee68Ix_S1nDiSHFpxA4mJgu46dLSL2yPuMkvbAT6ub8XkOp1W-3H8UbQtqZL0fu9t1_PCFsUcwYloWrCvJeBzTRRokapBr3/s320/1680355949427.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>This gives straight out of camera results like this shot of the Homunculus Nebula in Eta Carinea. With a bit of post processing in Snapseed, you get something a bit more impressive.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitF9-rx5o_bPO0UP4uMgkNSD7JMRtSlV3BMpprRKv_z4WHuOj7LVC24IUpyh_LbBCEskPuQY-VVP3wp-9tYukp42jldzh3aGaYZY5H-AX3ExlvrXIpO6imaUgQm6Q7jTgx8IHBgcI-xonkdTKpb3uVrtYlyleUgCq5kDb-oyYapqIKMXxigtv5oSe6/s1265/1680355949427-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="948" data-original-width="1265" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitF9-rx5o_bPO0UP4uMgkNSD7JMRtSlV3BMpprRKv_z4WHuOj7LVC24IUpyh_LbBCEskPuQY-VVP3wp-9tYukp42jldzh3aGaYZY5H-AX3ExlvrXIpO6imaUgQm6Q7jTgx8IHBgcI-xonkdTKpb3uVrtYlyleUgCq5kDb-oyYapqIKMXxigtv5oSe6/w400-h300/1680355949427-01.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>This is by far not the best photo ever of that nebula. What is impressive is that this was shot in the middle of the Perth CBD (Bortle 7 or worse) with a half moon. <p></p><p>Even more impressive to my mind is that this was shot in less than 15 minutes. </p><p>During the day, you can stick a solar filter on it, turn off binning, and get decent solar images as well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVParkPyFXuL6B4ZLjIUJ0lJAbthrmsFN8CRL8_H8aRCjPz3GoRRUMiB3AJW0xQe8koQzekEL0Gj-neaTkEbi2Qr8V9eUFNaVuYCpzJSaKZ_FDZKez3f6OtrPk_-m4S1j27uIIlcncVJkK8yFpZ8IlF5oASbF8R9OOUPyn-UQVyxqCRcKrrR7qXpR/s943/1682144348081-01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="943" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtVParkPyFXuL6B4ZLjIUJ0lJAbthrmsFN8CRL8_H8aRCjPz3GoRRUMiB3AJW0xQe8koQzekEL0Gj-neaTkEbi2Qr8V9eUFNaVuYCpzJSaKZ_FDZKez3f6OtrPk_-m4S1j27uIIlcncVJkK8yFpZ8IlF5oASbF8R9OOUPyn-UQVyxqCRcKrrR7qXpR/w400-h400/1682144348081-01.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Again, not the greatest, but good, and you can see texture and sun spots. </p><p>And all in a package costing less that AUD900. </p><p>Is it the best smart telescope on the market? No. There are ones that are two or three times better. But they also cost five to ten times more. At which point you are starting to look at a low end tracker and a DSLR anyway. And there is one more thing about this.</p><p>It is <b>tiny</b> - less than 2kg, and about the size of two cans of Guinness, making it incredibly portable. This is a telescope you can take hiking.</p><p>Here it is shooting the recent eclipse - the gold thing is a Solarcan Puck.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypEoWpTI0olakZFB2cAqB__ZiKeVf8vPz5KSqExwqzD_3y6X8eM2AXvn_-wWWzyqidN8G8-zIjraOo34XmndDuqpYCNjUcHk7TOFp4ms2YH9EL7bkkg3ukm6l7utcoNLmQ_jhX8kMwW_cpak9ss2Ai3HQrjvTZ2uMiB720DGf0jl1yiWO8PtEYdko/s4032/PXL_20230420_033454527.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhypEoWpTI0olakZFB2cAqB__ZiKeVf8vPz5KSqExwqzD_3y6X8eM2AXvn_-wWWzyqidN8G8-zIjraOo34XmndDuqpYCNjUcHk7TOFp4ms2YH9EL7bkkg3ukm6l7utcoNLmQ_jhX8kMwW_cpak9ss2Ai3HQrjvTZ2uMiB720DGf0jl1yiWO8PtEYdko/s320/PXL_20230420_033454527.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Does it have flaws? Yes. Focussing is a pain, and there is no way to upload object data or program a night's viewing. But these are relatively tame. And the dev team seem to be fairly responsive. On the positive, it also stores the raw FITS files, so you can re-process in Siril or similar if you prefer. </p><p>So do I recommend it? Yes - with the caviet that you don't expect it to be magic. It can do some amazing things, but it does have limits. Shooting planets is pretty much a dead loss. Some of the larger galaxies can be resolved with it, but again, don't expect too much. For nebulae - particularly the larger ones - it is amazing. </p><p><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-81313487796875939102023-02-18T15:45:00.002+08:002023-02-18T15:45:39.327+08:00AI Visual Writing Prompt 16/17 02 2023<p> <a href="https://writing.exchange/@ewdocparris/109877287387918829">https://writing.exchange/@ewdocparris/109877287387918829</a> and</p><p><a href="https://writing.exchange/@ewdocparris/109882779820415999">https://writing.exchange/@ewdocparris/109882779820415999</a></p><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tannis was not quite sure how she ended up embedded in the middle of a Varan combined tactics formation, but none of them appeared to have noticed her Cerian fighter.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Oh, well, I may as well go with it for now. It is not like they can do much with me in the middle of them, even if they do notice. Who knows? I might even be able to do some good", she mused to herself. A quick glance showed the CVR was running. Not bad last words.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With that, she started checking her weapon loads.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What in the name of all the hells was a Cerian fighter doing in the middle of his formation? <br />How had they even gotten in there? </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And there was nothing they could do about it. It was too close to fire on without taking out one of his wingmen, and if they broke formation, the Cerian would be able to fire off their full load before anyone could get a bead.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Under the circumstances, there was only one thing to do.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Cerian fighter, this is Squadron Leader Ashwan. How did you pull that stunt off?"</p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-56884582643230531622023-02-08T18:41:00.002+08:002023-02-08T18:41:43.174+08:00Visual Writing Prompt 2023 02 07<p>Written <a href="https://writing.exchange/@ewdocparris/109826172595727702" target="_blank">In response to this</a> prompt over in Mastadon.</p><p><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 1</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Twice a year it came out of the river, always stopping in exactly the same place, no matter what was there. Buildings, vehicles, animals, anything there would be crushed - but it never went any further, and anything along the way was avoided.<br /><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There it would stand for an hour, and then return to the river.<br /><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">No one knew why, or where it came from, or where it went. But they all agreed that it had a beautiful singing voice.<br /><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Part 2</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />You wondering why none of us are worried? Well, it has been doing this for as long as folks have been here. Probably longer. </p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />We've had wars come through, and it pays no attention. Mind you, if you shoot something at it, it will come straight back at you!</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />As for the crushing thing, well a few years back Old Harry left his ute there when he was on a bender. Only reason insurance paid up was that it was worth so little to begin with.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />Then there was that developer guy from out of town. Tried to stand his ground. Barely even a smear left after.</p><p style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #444b5d; font-family: mastodon-font-sans-serif, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: plaintext; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br />What was he doing there? Well someone sold him that plot, didn't they? Never did find out who. <br />Yeah, Old Harry does have a nice car now, why? You interested in making a deal?</p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-30008950800017112902022-12-05T20:17:00.007+08:002022-12-05T20:50:10.055+08:00Using a Solarcan Puck at lower lattitudes<p> The <a href="https://solarcan.co.uk/puck" target="_blank">Solarcan Puck </a>is a great little reusable solargraphy camera. It has a relatively wide aperture (f/90), so it can create a decent image in a single day. The limitation is that it has (for a camera of this type) a relatively narrow field of view - about 120 degrees. </p><p>This means that if you have it mounted vertically, you are going to be able to record angles up to 60 degrees above the horizon. This is fine if you are above about 50 degrees latitude. At about 50 degrees, the sun will never be higher than about 60 degrees above the horizon. Why that value? Probably because of where Solarcan are based: in Scotland. </p><p>What do the the rest of the world have to do then?</p><p>You can restrict yourself to winter months - but that is not much fun. </p><p>The other alternative is to angle your Puck upwards. But how far? </p><p>In the worst case, on the Equator, the sun will be directly overhead at Solstice. This means that the Puck will have to be angled upwards at least 30 degrees - but this would mean that the sun's path would just glance off the edge of the paper, so you need more. At least 60 degrees of tilt at the Equator to get a decent track. </p><p>At 30 degrees latitude the sun still gets to about 85 degrees (about 5 off vertical) at Solstice, so you are still going to have to tilt above 45 degrees to get a good track. </p><p>That said, even if you don't angle it high enough, you can still get stunning pictures. This one is a 4 day exposure of the Geraldton Lighthouse.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJdO413YbHp9Hj-wyUhO-TQc6zFki9lcIppT-F5NTuzoWTTg_UOJc3yM_b5E6NuJez9NzPbVVpjLIvYGb15P11t_f1wESXjob2Cyt-gFBxBMhRuiF1ZFt2wrZrFCWnpChU9GRvHN3PV6kbWxlPar48VtjWG43bGE4Za-1it1l3St6wPB5DT9FWGAn/s791/1670234750990-2411b8f1-53d8-4620-80a1-d02f1491d53f-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="791" data-original-width="791" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJdO413YbHp9Hj-wyUhO-TQc6zFki9lcIppT-F5NTuzoWTTg_UOJc3yM_b5E6NuJez9NzPbVVpjLIvYGb15P11t_f1wESXjob2Cyt-gFBxBMhRuiF1ZFt2wrZrFCWnpChU9GRvHN3PV6kbWxlPar48VtjWG43bGE4Za-1it1l3St6wPB5DT9FWGAn/s320/1670234750990-2411b8f1-53d8-4620-80a1-d02f1491d53f-01.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I've missed the sun's path, despite pointing North, bit I've still got a great image.</p><p><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-79447184601804222342022-07-12T22:32:00.004+08:002022-07-12T22:32:58.547+08:00Non alcoholic cocktails #7<p>Jamaican Wonder (Booth's Handbook 1966)</p><p>This one has all but vanished from the lexicon of cocktails - there is a variant on the Absolut site, but that is the only one, and that cuts back on the lime. Even Simon Difford appears to have forgotten it.</p><p>Here is a Lyre's zero-proof version:</p><p>1 shot Dark Cane Spirit or Spiced Cane Spirit</p><p>1 shot Lime Juice</p><p>1/2 shot Coffee Originale </p><p>Dash Angostura Bitters</p><p>Mix in a highball glass, and top with chilled bitter lemon. Interestingly, the published version makes no mention of ice, so don't use any in this either.</p><p>This is quite sharp, but the coffee flavours combine with the rum backing to present a very tasty and surprising drink. </p><p><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-636890999946037342022-04-14T19:05:00.002+08:002022-04-14T19:05:31.458+08:00Today I noticed something odd about the UAP ads<p> So I made the mistake of watching commercial news this evening, and there were a bunch of UAP ads.</p><div data-reddit-rtjson="{"entityMap":{},"blocks":[{"key":"6m550","text":"So I made the mistake of watching commercial news this evening, and there were a bunch of UAP ads.","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"1dl9p","text":"One thing that struck me was that most of the things being campaigned about are things that are not actually things the Australian government directly controls - where super is invested, home-loan rates, and so on. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"ft9eb","text":"Now these things *could* be legislated, but doing so would transform our economy into a centrally planned economy. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"26cpr","text":"This is quite aside from the rather conflicting platform of increasing investments while dropping (or holding) interest rates. Presumably also via legislation. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}},{"key":"d2vhs","text":"For a party that claims \"freedom\" as a defining feature, they sure seem keen on direct legislative control of the economy - a defining feature of authoritarian governments. ","type":"unstyled","depth":0,"inlineStyleRanges":[],"entityRanges":[],"data":{}}]}"><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="0ffcf9" data-offset-key="6ljv3-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6ljv3-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6ljv3-0-0">One thing that struck me was that most of the things being campaigned about are things that are not actually things the Australian government directly controls - where super is invested, home-loan rates, and so on. </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="0ffcf9" data-offset-key="6p51u-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6p51u-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6p51u-0-0"><br /></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6p51u-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6p51u-0-0">Now these things *could* be legislated, but doing so would transform our economy into a centrally planned economy. </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="0ffcf9" data-offset-key="1n3bk-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="1n3bk-0-0"><span data-offset-key="1n3bk-0-0"><br /></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="1n3bk-0-0"><span data-offset-key="1n3bk-0-0">This is quite aside from the rather conflicting platform of increasing investments while dropping (or holding) interest rates. Presumably also via legislation. </span></div></div><div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="0ffcf9" data-offset-key="4coqr-0-0"><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="4coqr-0-0"><span data-offset-key="4coqr-0-0"><br /></span></div><div class="public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="4coqr-0-0"><span data-offset-key="4coqr-0-0">For a party that claims "freedom" as a defining feature, they sure seem keen on direct legislative control of the economy - a defining feature of authoritarian governments. </span></div></div></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-87342014067019307832022-01-16T12:30:00.001+08:002022-01-16T12:30:16.631+08:00Detecting the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption with a barometer<p>Here's a bit of fun around the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai eruption.</p><p>We all know about the tsunami alerts and the distance the sound was heard from.</p><p>But did you know that domestic meteorological instruments in Perth were able to detect the eruption?</p><p>Here is a shot of my personal weather station's history for yesterday with some very rough annotations.</p><p>The eruption was at about 12:10 AWST, and just over six hours later, my barometer detected the shockwave. About an hour after that, it registered the rebound shock.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjm_CEGP6S93MYV52ntnqK0_bsq3mqJoE8oKXvGdOLLc2ICYrYbKfswtps7u6LE_XyVKsVXftMi9_luvq2W9kLEt4a9SqCNTMbp3R5tcWqoY8Y1cFIPZLZGeRHnQw9fxU_KT73pXbV6MHZF0iWBPY6pV5CfEGp6ZnozWhcYUlIG6Jh-J-LQ1TZq6gEa=s940" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="713" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjm_CEGP6S93MYV52ntnqK0_bsq3mqJoE8oKXvGdOLLc2ICYrYbKfswtps7u6LE_XyVKsVXftMi9_luvq2W9kLEt4a9SqCNTMbp3R5tcWqoY8Y1cFIPZLZGeRHnQw9fxU_KT73pXbV6MHZF0iWBPY6pV5CfEGp6ZnozWhcYUlIG6Jh-J-LQ1TZq6gEa=w486-h640" width="486" /></a></div>This has been confirmed by multiple other instruments across WA, and you can even trace the movement of the shockwave across the country. Here is a snip from the station at Condingup.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuvApCpytFVdbB7HFYfuxm-Q87XAFXmOj4YvmgFR66M2C0IUv9cQ2QoT4J2MUyR3fUR-5Uys1vF4jjZQX0irmxT186_WMy3MSBbcQAms6vre_Kq2rX95mjQG-ZktqN5FGcN-1gLVMwq3-TDldP0jga6JuBpPNp6_y0hRuHn8h4AypDfV73pBJoc2bk=s285" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuvApCpytFVdbB7HFYfuxm-Q87XAFXmOj4YvmgFR66M2C0IUv9cQ2QoT4J2MUyR3fUR-5Uys1vF4jjZQX0irmxT186_WMy3MSBbcQAms6vre_Kq2rX95mjQG-ZktqN5FGcN-1gLVMwq3-TDldP0jga6JuBpPNp6_y0hRuHn8h4AypDfV73pBJoc2bk=s16000" /></a></div>As you can see, the pressure shockwave hit there about 30 minutes earlier. Condingup is about 600km East of Perth, so we know the shockwave travelled at about 1200km/h. Tonga is about 7000km from Perth, and the shockwave hit at about 18:25 AWST - about 6 hours and 15 minutes after the eruption. This gives us a speed of 1,120km/h for the shockwave - in the same ball-park, given that my distance calculations have been very, very rough.<div><br /><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-32546326409329052912022-01-14T17:10:00.002+08:002022-01-14T17:10:31.854+08:00SFF Music Video of the Week - #125<div>Well we've got a fun one this week!</div><div><br /></div><div>Banjo spaceships, alien abductions, and a country cover of a classic rock anthem. Offering up a counterpoint to my belief that almost any song can sound good when played by the right people (see - "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaFhUvL_C1s" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">...Baby One More Time" by Ahmet and Dweezil Zappa</a>), this shows that some songs cannot be harmed by the style in which they are played.</div><div><br /></div><div>So sit back and relax (or not) as The Dead South cover "People Are Strange", from 2021.</div><div><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/v4YQJ6KuWvQ" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v4YQJ6KuWvQ/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-77374307948569999382022-01-13T15:18:00.002+08:002022-01-13T15:18:31.466+08:00Life of prepared cyanotype papers<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Common wisdom says to use traditional yellow-type paper as soon as possible after it has been prepared. And certainly, you will get the best results from that.</span></p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">However, do not be dissuaded from using older paper. Last April I ran a workshop on building cyanotype cameras, and I had a bunch of kits left over. Today I pulled out some of the papers, and did some contact print test exposures.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">Pleasingly, despite being quite discoloured when unexposed, they exposed perfectly well, even with a very low contrast negative.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">So even after nine months, a well prepared paper with is still perfectly usable! This makes stockpiling for trips a much more plausible thing!</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">On the left is a 20 minute exposure, and 10 minute on the right. The negative is notably low-contrast.</p><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;">As you can see, fully exposed areas still give excellent density, and the unexposed areas have nearly washed clean, with only a little residual staining.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_lmZ5Rz8F3qKDfbOPOr0ireytkIKg5gxTWINnAfMJ9is_BBjkNaV5NWA283Ld9fOuiqVsJbZi27ksCl9eagZqpV8tL15ENY5j5y1OtBy-Zzm6zGgdV6cxE7JZeFPfP6h1prvvoyLN4HyKRhmFQT6kAyC2FEMKydndkDyusZWWAmWn-PuNYJY5ECdr=s2000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_lmZ5Rz8F3qKDfbOPOr0ireytkIKg5gxTWINnAfMJ9is_BBjkNaV5NWA283Ld9fOuiqVsJbZi27ksCl9eagZqpV8tL15ENY5j5y1OtBy-Zzm6zGgdV6cxE7JZeFPfP6h1prvvoyLN4HyKRhmFQT6kAyC2FEMKydndkDyusZWWAmWn-PuNYJY5ECdr=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p class="_1qeIAgB0cPwnLhDF9XSiJM" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #1a1a1b; font-family: "Noto Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0.8em 0px 0.25em; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-65967351700720761842022-01-12T15:10:00.001+08:002022-01-12T15:10:18.094+08:00SFF music video of the week - 124<div>There's been a bit of a hiatus, but I'm back!</div><div><br /></div><div>This time I go all the way back to 1933, and the legendary Fleischer Studios.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fleischer were the creators of the infamous Betty Boop and many others, and were the original animators of both Popeye and Superman. Here we have them taking on Snow White in their distinctive style, accompanied by jazz legend Cal Calloway. </div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy "St James Infirmary Blues" by Cal Calloway from 1933.</div><div><br /></div>
<iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/bFBx3qYGxL8" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bFBx3qYGxL8/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-29709266115712450372022-01-03T15:17:00.004+08:002022-01-03T15:23:37.430+08:00In-camera Cyanotype exposure calculator<p> Ilford/Harman do a wonderful little <a href="https://www.harmantechnology.com/amfile/file/download/file/1924/product/589/">print-at-home dial calculator</a> for pinhole cameras - but it also covers the range of f/ stops for more conventional cameras. </p><p>After some playing around, I have found that it can be adapted to cyanotype as well.</p><p>1/ On the ISO (middle) disk, locate the ISO .375 entry. Directly opposite it, write in "Cyanotype".</p><p>2/ On the Lighting/Shutter disk (the largest, bottom disk), write in "UV12" between the "->" and the full sun. Then "UV6" between the sun and the "19", and "UV3" between the 19 and the clouded sun.UV 15, for folks in places like Perth or Broome, roughly lines up with the ">" itself.</p><p>That's it! At UV12, and f/1, an exposure time of 30 minutes is given as the result, which is just about spot on for a properly exposed image after washing. The same lens at UV6 gives a 1 hour exposure - which is correct, given the UV Level scale is linear. </p><p>Have fun!</p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-28750458693357526622022-01-03T12:25:00.000+08:002022-01-03T12:25:00.894+08:00Homebrew Solargraph Can Camera Refinement<p> The classic beer can solargraph camera is easy to make - as you can see from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtZOWEB_wcI">Justin Quinnell's video</a>.</p><p>Justin's design is simple and safe for kiddies. Unlike <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_gpbDQHe2Q">this one</a>, although it has the advantage of being significantly more waterproof.</p><p>But what if there was a better way? A way to get near-complete waterproofing (except for the pinhole), and still have the build be kiddie-safe?</p><p>Enter a construction and roofing repair product called <a href="https://www.bunnings.com.au/consolidated-alloys-50mm-x-10m-weatherproof-byute-flash-flashing-tape_p1100470">Flashing Tape </a>- this is heavy-duty tape with an aluminium backing - making it completely light-proof. The adhesive is thick and conformal, meaning that you can get a complete seal with it. </p><p>This means that you can use Justin's tin-opening method (which leaves no sharp edges), and still get a complete water-and-lightproof seal. </p><p>I use two strips of 50mm tape at right angles to ensure a complete seal, but you could also use a single strip of the 75mm tape. </p><p>The only down-side is that you will need to use a knife to cut the foil off when you are done, as the adhesive is permanent.</p><p>This means that the component list for a camera is now: 1 can, 1 pin (reusable), 2 bits of tape, and 1 sheet of photographic paper. And mounting hardware.</p><p><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-59534294951143737652021-12-28T14:51:00.005+08:002021-12-28T14:51:59.822+08:00From solargraph to cyanotype<p> I usually use cyanotype as an in-camera negative. This is a slow process - each exposure is a couple of hours at least. </p><p>I also shoot solargraphs. This is also a slow process, with exposures measured in days or months. Or even years. </p><p>As you all saw, a few days ago I brought in one of my six month solargraphs. The resulting image was dramatic enough, that I thought it would make a good cyanotype contact print. This is a very fast process by comparison. Exposure time in Perth in mid-summer is around 4-5 minutes. </p><p>Here is the result. I think I will do another print, this time on a tee-shirt!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5SrJFqgV3dRWaoBmgH68gDNCeiSrwlmRgfKKQwlfeXVAP0L3kSTj81SWJhvmcdFuSobOQJICrThJxI6ZnS0WdLVa62tSS-RTgaw24wpddLDYheK0oma-1flNVp6_oEAz-rfOP8lyyOnZaDt62OyM7e7JTGZF_RYmGjo0oiyMYFbM7YE4vaNX7SNBU=s2000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1413" data-original-width="2000" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg5SrJFqgV3dRWaoBmgH68gDNCeiSrwlmRgfKKQwlfeXVAP0L3kSTj81SWJhvmcdFuSobOQJICrThJxI6ZnS0WdLVa62tSS-RTgaw24wpddLDYheK0oma-1flNVp6_oEAz-rfOP8lyyOnZaDt62OyM7e7JTGZF_RYmGjo0oiyMYFbM7YE4vaNX7SNBU=w640-h452" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-18688187248448184872021-12-28T11:24:00.001+08:002021-12-28T11:25:38.035+08:00How casting can change a scene<p> Consider the following installation. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlzYOZm6kUQSTPHWQWaoM5b5iFuw6W9wf4y-j9OC4JjnHQPtpdzB7pEBo_QRIO-H-E0jtL0DfpDMV6pX6WRnaioa8doIUqUZyXY4YZrox4MeBxHSUvpvO57Mwc9Ogd-dX60-EdgFgmxpeJsabqZtLTpXgrNb_0AmbZQmCgvRIj5bdsLK6GLQFcGcGu=s5472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="5472" data-original-width="3648" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlzYOZm6kUQSTPHWQWaoM5b5iFuw6W9wf4y-j9OC4JjnHQPtpdzB7pEBo_QRIO-H-E0jtL0DfpDMV6pX6WRnaioa8doIUqUZyXY4YZrox4MeBxHSUvpvO57Mwc9Ogd-dX60-EdgFgmxpeJsabqZtLTpXgrNb_0AmbZQmCgvRIj5bdsLK6GLQFcGcGu=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p>By itself, it could be almost anything. Maybe slightly ominous, depending on what the music is like.</p><p>Now let's add a character. Maybe a nice old lady astrophysicist .</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHOAxLu9lZJIumWFy6dpURjRCY9kp_ObEGTyUu6djvDM4cdNZ3fxt_JxYxi1bDXvvW-qCiBUK4xroFwH-WDA94CgfReOY8IGYTgA-bEG9N-rB2A2zROZfuczfGsXxh_Jsj7ahkwMo74si1wiH3Bl3sVgLjT3ZU3MWVditx1Ab0jVKtvaP9A7MsTzVm=s3647" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3647" data-original-width="2920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHOAxLu9lZJIumWFy6dpURjRCY9kp_ObEGTyUu6djvDM4cdNZ3fxt_JxYxi1bDXvvW-qCiBUK4xroFwH-WDA94CgfReOY8IGYTgA-bEG9N-rB2A2zROZfuczfGsXxh_Jsj7ahkwMo74si1wiH3Bl3sVgLjT3ZU3MWVditx1Ab0jVKtvaP9A7MsTzVm=s320" width="256" /></a></div>Suddenly, it is probably just some funky radio telescope or similar. Perfectly normal, nothing bad is going to happen to anyone because of it.<div><br /></div><div>So let's change it to some bloke scientist.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiludP8081FSJPY7U9RZKBC4WFb2lcje-ZabKk9qT6MHJUhPEWKmyFv9JIUSO1_Kq1KUPRzSYxt2CXtCdDbEg5BhcsW9VmSwsFmsfTQTj8XL4qJ4RK6UpyrKa_bkXeh7v8CF0C-g84m_Gtj9Q8bl0-0sytaCQvGiekKb13ABE0PM978wLo2asCO5Su0=s3403" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3403" data-original-width="2722" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiludP8081FSJPY7U9RZKBC4WFb2lcje-ZabKk9qT6MHJUhPEWKmyFv9JIUSO1_Kq1KUPRzSYxt2CXtCdDbEg5BhcsW9VmSwsFmsfTQTj8XL4qJ4RK6UpyrKa_bkXeh7v8CF0C-g84m_Gtj9Q8bl0-0sytaCQvGiekKb13ABE0PM978wLo2asCO5Su0=s320" width="256" /></a></div><br /><div>Everything is still probably fine, depending on the music. Just some researcher. This does not mean that things might not go horribly wrong, but they seem to be perfectly normal.</div><div><br /></div><div>We can make it even more normal by using two characters -</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLhwq4MwC-O4-roaOto3V28t27s_ejWNsmI0oHb_Vft-XTqNKtU_lHY6xkzcZJKIcbW_h7csD8eJGKQW9H5gRyYSo0MwpoeLOC1K9ASP6N6kPnQmKmM_Ei3I440qW-E_bvJaHE-iixWzi6ceyJ4MStmIMrjso8zrjgotZg7WnFRYRGMLLrmJl9i0qp=s3228" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3228" data-original-width="2583" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhLhwq4MwC-O4-roaOto3V28t27s_ejWNsmI0oHb_Vft-XTqNKtU_lHY6xkzcZJKIcbW_h7csD8eJGKQW9H5gRyYSo0MwpoeLOC1K9ASP6N6kPnQmKmM_Ei3I440qW-E_bvJaHE-iixWzi6ceyJ4MStmIMrjso8zrjgotZg7WnFRYRGMLLrmJl9i0qp=s320" width="256" /></a></div>Honey! I'm home! But I digress. Back to the slow decline.<br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYscehAV_E66ICqrIUI7rn7hAvjoG3exPD49ifHQ4tIHunSKdEWw_M3Xj6GOU5TKxSXDYGdXdOkgO-6sdOa584rMcjMaPb7CXwhkdZ3L1fbkx6hccGJTGRkYAh3Rv5T3vO2HPRJiRij5wj9rK9ccnNrhE9NP_9JcjKll3ozflbBs7Sa6BSO32t_HQo=s3647" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3647" data-original-width="2920" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYscehAV_E66ICqrIUI7rn7hAvjoG3exPD49ifHQ4tIHunSKdEWw_M3Xj6GOU5TKxSXDYGdXdOkgO-6sdOa584rMcjMaPb7CXwhkdZ3L1fbkx6hccGJTGRkYAh3Rv5T3vO2HPRJiRij5wj9rK9ccnNrhE9NP_9JcjKll3ozflbBs7Sa6BSO32t_HQo=s320" width="256" /></a></div>Now things are looking dodgy. Red glasses, self-satisfied smirk, weird flask of something green... it all adds up to this is probably nothing good for anyone. But we can step it up more.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuCOiCXEmIVC792zqre3hDoiwXbS3C7nCnJMxHcfM-4tyt6I2ARrkxsQUvX1CN0RMW8FFlnzu_QlX6LGUbSQDWvUWxyObNZ89DbbMHoaHX3t-xZ4eJVK2Jyu7PIaAE3lf3kUHeZf8n2oaxzccoIMFwJs5bT2CqnVVtrrPiuXwNTkOgkn22zAvfVizY=s3482" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3482" data-original-width="2785" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjuCOiCXEmIVC792zqre3hDoiwXbS3C7nCnJMxHcfM-4tyt6I2ARrkxsQUvX1CN0RMW8FFlnzu_QlX6LGUbSQDWvUWxyObNZ89DbbMHoaHX3t-xZ4eJVK2Jyu7PIaAE3lf3kUHeZf8n2oaxzccoIMFwJs5bT2CqnVVtrrPiuXwNTkOgkn22zAvfVizY=s320" width="256" /></a></div><br /><div>OK, exposed brain alien dude. Let's face it, we're in for a rough and nasty ride. Probably with some awful acting. Or are we?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgL9JKUCJSYatyMlYMtN0JrN62K_b_MXvOWhLQPXOnLxTxls8QddLWPsSoadav5qxyOklbuSgtuYQeDaci8S8B6QNMj1HDekjjlMgipWFI3mLQg9WlC53mPw2ZA8ZV2SCZpvi0Yu3sX7GgOMylla-9kdMzKguXFpQhNAdV_H661pjZkoBKdDsban5lS=s3306" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3306" data-original-width="2645" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgL9JKUCJSYatyMlYMtN0JrN62K_b_MXvOWhLQPXOnLxTxls8QddLWPsSoadav5qxyOklbuSgtuYQeDaci8S8B6QNMj1HDekjjlMgipWFI3mLQg9WlC53mPw2ZA8ZV2SCZpvi0Yu3sX7GgOMylla-9kdMzKguXFpQhNAdV_H661pjZkoBKdDsban5lS=s320" width="256" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Honey! I'm home! I've brought drinks! Suddenly everything is OK, if a little odd. But who are we to judge?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibgITUBwXxgAc80_XcYyJFh2NgTBAhwDTZzCCTwkJwwYdmI3oixHgn9RnBR_pfMuG5fQbyh1yWZPaDfHzLaAM8OiUK3d-CTWa5tyDmvz3-KXuVaIas_37HzKy4QrQ_d_0Xrpw0mqGLr0Tbb3UvXjFpH6fuTPJMZ-0nyWLTDs4Ts_xLbj5syzj4WrdG=s2989" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2989" data-original-width="2388" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEibgITUBwXxgAc80_XcYyJFh2NgTBAhwDTZzCCTwkJwwYdmI3oixHgn9RnBR_pfMuG5fQbyh1yWZPaDfHzLaAM8OiUK3d-CTWa5tyDmvz3-KXuVaIas_37HzKy4QrQ_d_0Xrpw0mqGLr0Tbb3UvXjFpH6fuTPJMZ-0nyWLTDs4Ts_xLbj5syzj4WrdG=s320" width="256" /></a></div>And now it could go either way. Mad scientist, or bohemian? Has he brought a cocktail or a world-ending virus? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZzgvITx8x-HDVro4aIoDQwoq6V42XspPcA9k3PpXw1itR8ySMc4eDkND27Ww6OQwkJTLZLTJu2MhFNyK8J35e2Dt2sD6ggJev-gk5v-YyCg38N_TnVuik_sP5VHjWdiCs36chQAd0hLBvIRu08in1BhTzxQxgPs6RC-keic-bbDvTPI60oQ1Rwh1v=s3187" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2549" data-original-width="3187" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZzgvITx8x-HDVro4aIoDQwoq6V42XspPcA9k3PpXw1itR8ySMc4eDkND27Ww6OQwkJTLZLTJu2MhFNyK8J35e2Dt2sD6ggJev-gk5v-YyCg38N_TnVuik_sP5VHjWdiCs36chQAd0hLBvIRu08in1BhTzxQxgPs6RC-keic-bbDvTPI60oQ1Rwh1v=s320" width="320" /></a></div>This, however, is almost certainly bad.<div><br /></div><div>And lastly</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCp62rC2n69_J_Thtjc9lc2Thhhbmtn7-m-CSl-j-2cSt48i_7vZCK5v3T2ISMKZhLMzqRH9ogQTnr19oj6nXGRpYWdodYeMMMvJMcN8T3I5EuYBCOgPaVqJsFwfhrWPz3MjiEwv1q7mJUsu_xeP-wVS785g1wJWDp6FoyYy6GWHK5prRyxikb2dSO=s4557" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3647" data-original-width="4557" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgCp62rC2n69_J_Thtjc9lc2Thhhbmtn7-m-CSl-j-2cSt48i_7vZCK5v3T2ISMKZhLMzqRH9ogQTnr19oj6nXGRpYWdodYeMMMvJMcN8T3I5EuYBCOgPaVqJsFwfhrWPz3MjiEwv1q7mJUsu_xeP-wVS785g1wJWDp6FoyYy6GWHK5prRyxikb2dSO=s320" width="320" /></a></div>There is no way there is anything good happening here. <div><br /></div><div>Of course there are other directions for all of this. Consider</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZDZb8kNd-lY3qU8MTF3xyZFba3rOZfOJzFgYaeIBkJngzB4uFBURdKZVxDVNhQZHLOIUeg5FwYkLj9W0LteYEwECZr9iCXPiTtH-ULuoKv5COd7oI5yU4B5taTrMazAh-Y1jJAn4cQ2ER3XRB933U3ACyXZKtgS0VklH4olZsEv7qnKqGfAtZc6FM=s5472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjZDZb8kNd-lY3qU8MTF3xyZFba3rOZfOJzFgYaeIBkJngzB4uFBURdKZVxDVNhQZHLOIUeg5FwYkLj9W0LteYEwECZr9iCXPiTtH-ULuoKv5COd7oI5yU4B5taTrMazAh-Y1jJAn4cQ2ER3XRB933U3ACyXZKtgS0VklH4olZsEv7qnKqGfAtZc6FM=w261-h176" width="261" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: inline !important;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkNYoMFabyQrGaKfOYHjOIJaFCj9lcIsK1lKXW8YgDloCgVtHdy6cBpGaiD3PoOBvbtJNmE-T54m-c5pLuF1eWXnuKx_UwLMiMEyxgANTIflMnLEwMU8D5oWjA63DwIlKALroHwSHe-hgp-SaqlO3mcuoUt-j4psqa_zliJrmzTDS2w5mbC1rWGtuv=s5472" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="5472" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgkNYoMFabyQrGaKfOYHjOIJaFCj9lcIsK1lKXW8YgDloCgVtHdy6cBpGaiD3PoOBvbtJNmE-T54m-c5pLuF1eWXnuKx_UwLMiMEyxgANTIflMnLEwMU8D5oWjA63DwIlKALroHwSHe-hgp-SaqlO3mcuoUt-j4psqa_zliJrmzTDS2w5mbC1rWGtuv=w262-h174" width="262" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">About which little needs to be said.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><div><br /><div><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-58186860938674539032021-12-26T11:28:00.002+08:002021-12-26T11:37:49.959+08:006 month solargraph, rooftop, winter to summer.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNqXFUKPDYxDsAbUN7RxG5sSpso02kruHYckIiNg3E7-WcUrlb7hw2vQobhyZH-S4B4a5ju6bJV07No_SckFFula2Viil3cs356ZMvmJ_4YxG_zXvAWzFJ1LFgqYH1vCDTHzOrvdGS6trdn-8VNesjsCaQXR8C9JTx6iJgHEgLui2JePVDP43hDeNO=s4060" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2978" data-original-width="4060" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjNqXFUKPDYxDsAbUN7RxG5sSpso02kruHYckIiNg3E7-WcUrlb7hw2vQobhyZH-S4B4a5ju6bJV07No_SckFFula2Viil3cs356ZMvmJ_4YxG_zXvAWzFJ1LFgqYH1vCDTHzOrvdGS6trdn-8VNesjsCaQXR8C9JTx6iJgHEgLui2JePVDP43hDeNO=w640-h470" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Taken with a Solarcan Eldorado over six months, starting on the Winter Solstice, and ending on Christmas day. View is looking across our roof to the neighbours. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Scanned with an Epson multifunction scanner, and processed in Snapseed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is interesting (to me) that the Solarcan cameras have the pinhole only 4cm from the top of the 16cm can (about 2cm below the shoulder). Despite this, the Summer solstice, and the preceding month, are all too high in the sky to be fit in frame. From this I figure I'd need a can nearly 30cm tall (and still the same diameter) to capture the entire arc. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have now reloaded the can with some Ilford Multigrade III that I dug up from the back shed (which I have tested, and is still usable for this purpose).</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-51803259230652822412021-12-26T09:16:00.003+08:002021-12-26T09:16:59.378+08:00SFF Music Video of the Week - #123<div>Back to that rich vein of videos, the 80s this time, and one of the musical greats the the era produced. </div><div><br /></div><div>Our video is a stop-motion paper-cut surrealist dream-sequence, and that by itself would not gain it an entry to this series. What gets it in is the way it mirrors the song in a very literal way. This is someone who has achieved flight and is never returning to the ground. It might be an acid-fuelled vision of the narrative, but it is clearly what is going on. </div><div><br /></div><div>I do wonder about the flippers and the slippers, though.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, here is 1985's classic hit "And She Was" by Talking Heads from Little Creatures.</div><div><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/cl3B_FTDKD0" style="background-image: url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cl3B_FTDKD0/hqdefault.jpg);" width="480"></iframe>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-89500948426123887052021-12-10T22:56:00.000+08:002021-12-10T22:56:08.449+08:00SFF Music Video of the Week - #122<div>Another fresh tune this week, with a track released just ten days ago!</div><div><br /></div><div>Hold on for a ride you've not seen the likes of since Galaxy Quest. And no, do not expect spaceships mit der blinkenlights. But do expect a bunch of very quirky and rather naive aliens. What do they want from us? Why did they come here? All will be revealed!</div><div><br /></div><div>Hailing from the Isle of Wight, here are Wet Leg with "Too Late".</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/UB3PJwPMHzQ" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930785986842623247.post-55149373024715761022021-12-09T21:48:00.006+08:002021-12-09T21:48:54.895+08:00SFF Music Video of the Week - #121<div>Back to a solid standby this week with one of Lindsey Stirling's earlier works. </div><div><br /></div><div>In this one we get the whole Narnia thing without the religious overtones - a whole world on the other side of the closet, but you can only visit. Still it seems to give her strength, so props to her. It is interesting to contrast this with <a href="https://rdmasters.lympago.com/2020/11/sff-music-video-of-week-67.html" target="_blank">Monarch ( SFFMVotW-#67)</a> , which has some similar themes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is 2015's Take Flight, by Lindsey Stirling.</div><div><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/QAD0BtEv6-Q" width="480"></iframe>Rob Mastershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01802207530235432197noreply@blogger.com0