My first forray into night sky photography...cuz you know, I NEED another Hobby!

 

Milky Way Photography! 

So I took my new DSLR out Sunday night to try for some Dark Sky pictures (ie: Milky Way). I bought the camera very recently with my Las Vegas "Winnings" from 2 weeks ago. We went to LV for 4 days (Jeannie's brother/wife and nephew/wife and nephew-in-law/wife were there) and Jeannie loves to go to LV (and give them some of her money).

Whenever we got to LV, Jeannie saves a set-amount for each of us for gambling each day (if you lose it all you're done for the day, there's no hitting up an ATM or borrowing from tomorrows envelope of cash...it's a good policy!) However in recent years I've stopped GIVING LV MY MONEY! It's just stupid to me, they're GOING TO WIN in the long haul as they always do when I gamble! But we decided years ago that whether I gamble or not is my decision. So whatever I DON'T spend at the end of the trip is pure Winnings for the Mattster! It's a brilliant strategy IMO...I'm a WINNER every time we go there!!!! Usually I'd be whaling away on my recently updated Amazon list for Bike stuff...but this year I had a different plan. So that's how I got the camera (she did let me spend my money before the trip which us usually taboo, provided that I promised NOT to gamble, but that's really easy, cuz I had no money to gamble with).

So I'd ordered the camera a week before the trip so that I had it there with me, giving me something to do that doesn't involve being inside a smoky casino, woo HOO!  (I also have some nice shots of Hoover Dam and the Pat Tillman bridge, took the youngsters all with me one morning to get us out of the casinos for a while). And I also did some late evening walking around (when the temps dropped down to a chilly mid to high 90's), taking pics of the strip lights and such. The Bellagio fountains are pretty sweet at night!

So back to night sky pics... first and foremost, I need to switch the camera from "Auto" to "Manual", cuz apparently the camera can't do this in Auto...it needs MY HELP! Say what?? I thought this was a fancy camera with amazing capabilities, what did I just pay for? I tried once before about a week ago to get MW shots, and my stupid focus was off just a teensy bit and all I got were a bunch of blurry pics! (I didn't know that until I get home and looked at them on the desktop after uploading them from the camera). So...camera focus (specifically the lens): Challenge # 1.

Even on the fanciest cameras and lenses, AF just can't get the night sky focus right...so here's something that I found out: every lens has a focus ring (for doing Manual focus...in the AF setting it does the focus automatically when you press the shutter button half-way down)...so when looking up anywhere into the sky and press the shutter button (you know, to take a picture), you would THINK that the lens would just go to the "Infinite" distance, cuz, you know, unless there's a UFO that suddenly swooped into your shot, stuff in the sky is pretty far away right? And I'm looking at STARS...Technically NOT infinite, but realistically, yep...infinite. But NO! When focusing on stars at night, if I use AF it's blurry, and if I manually just turn the lens to Infinite, it's still blurry. I have to manually turn the focus back to something 'less than infinite' (just a teensy bit) to get sharp focused stars! Someone PLEASE explain that one to me! What in the WIDE WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS is INFINITE distance if not freaking STARS??) For crying out loud, this isn't ROCKET SCIENCE! It's not like we're trying to do the impossible and LAND ROCKETS ON THE GROUND AFTER THEY'VE LAUNCHED or anything...oh wait, SpaceX has done that MANY HUNDREDS of times now, and apparently China just did it too. Can't ANYBODY make a camera lens setting that WORKS without ME having to go in and manually do the focus? Great Googly Moogly!

And if THAT's not stupid enough, I now STILL need to make MORE changes (these are in the Camera menu)...such as taking ISO from Auto to an actual number (usually between 800 and 3200), Shutter speed from Auto to a number (at night that's usually 15 seconds, any more than that and the stars are starting to move and you have blurry shots), Aperture from Auto to a number (for really dark sky that's usually the lowest the lens will go, the lower the better for Milky Way shots), White Balance from Auto to Daylight (apparently Auto WB can't do Night sky either, how stupid are these fancy cameras these days? What, were they designed by ChatGPT?), and THEN I still need to go into the internal menus on the camera to turn off "Long Exposure Noise Reduction" and "High ISO Noise Reduction" (both of those settings are supposed to HELP with long shutter speeds and high ISO's, which is pretty much, no, it's EXACTLY what dark shy shots are doing, yet those settings are always recommended to be turned off by photo pros...Luuucy, I need some 'splain-in' please!) 

And after all that, how do I actually get a crisp and clear focus on a star on a dark night? (I'm standing outside somewhere in some pretty serious darkness btw), with my camera on a tripod looking UP at the stars I want to focus on, so now I can't even look thru the viewfinder, cuz it's looking DOWN)...so.. I have to turn on "Live View" which puts my camera lens view on my cameras little screen. Oh wait, that doesn't help either, as my entry level cam screen doesn't pull out and rotate around to SEE IT when you have the camera anywhere except level! Grrr....so now I have to now find a star lower in the horizon (where I can still see the little screen on the back of the camera) and then go to 10x zoom on the camera (it's because of the zoom that I need to have the cam on the tripod, as the stars are tiny and even the slightest movements make it all blurry). 

Once I get his far, I can adjust the focus ring to get a crisp looking star. HOWEVER, another thing nobody tells you: when you take the lens off of Auto Focus, the focus ring moves with the freaking WIND...I mean just the slightest wisp of a breeze, or even THOUGHT of touching it, and it moves! So now I need to tape my focus ring to the lens proper, and in the act of doing that the focus-ring yep...you guessed it...MOVES (GRRRR!!!!!!) and it's blurry again! So now I'm peeling the tape back off the focus ring IN THE DARK, and doing my utmost to get it taped to the ring AND STILL BE IN FOCUS! It's harder than it sounds (and I think it sounds hard). 

After ALL THAT, I'm FINALLY READY to take some Milky Way pictures! Oh wait, now it's close to dawn as I spent all night TRYING to get READY to take night sky pics and the Milky Way is no longer visible! Ok, not really, but it does take some extra time for sure. And so...after all that (seriously, it's quite a learning curve to use a fancy-schmancy camera and take pictures of THE SKY!), here are 2 of the shots I took Sunday night (I did move my tripod several times IN THE DARK around my area looking for anything to be in the foreground, cuz it turns out a shot just looking into the sky is just boring...but having something dark in the foreground makes it all better...thus I found trees. The first shot is with the camera Verical, and the 2nd is when it was horizontal (I couldn't decide which would look better in a picture). I took like 100 shots, and these were my 2 best (tho I'm not truly sure, remember there were are about 100 of them...how on earth can I compare that many? What am I, a CIA Satellite Photography analyst or something??  (note: I sent these 2 shots via email to my brothers and Dave, the one of us that's had a DSLR for a while so has some experience here) did some Hocus-Pocus Harry Potter "Pictureisimo FANTASTICO" magic spell on them (ie: post-processing), really bringing out the depth of the Milky Way compared to my untouched jpg shots. (I do still have all those thousands of shots also in the professional RAW format, which are enormous files, and supposedly, if I knew ANYTHING AT ALL I'd be looking at THOSE files and doing Hocus Pocus stuff, getting the very best of what the camera is capable of). 

Yeah...that's not happening (yet). So...well, here they are (the Hocus Pocused versions)!

The white streak in the upper left corner is a satellite passing thru, not a shooting star. That's what satellites look like in a 15 second exposure. (I took one shot looking up with no foreground, and there were FIVE satellites passing thru in that timespan!)
 

Basically this is the same shot with less trees in the foreground and no satellites passing thru.

I was pretty pleased with this first serious attempt to get MW shots...they aren't for beginners (or are they?)! And this is with a fairly cheap 'entry level' lens! Good lenses for these kind of pictures range from between $250 (which is still 'low end' in the big scheme of lenses) to over $1000. The lens I used cost me $109 on Amazon (didn't come with the camera package)...so that tells you where it falls in the big scheme of lenses. I have my eye on one that's $330, which is a lot considering I got the camera bundle for $500 (the camera, battery, a carry case and 2 lenses: a 18-55mm zoom and a 75-300mm zoom).

I just don't get it...it's not like there are just 3 or 4 people on the planet taking night sky shots...the camera has Auto settings for all kinds of things: Flash Off (forcing the camera to change settings knowing there won't be any 'extra' light), Creative Auto (fancy stuff, like background blur and lots of other stuff EXCEPT Milky Way picture stuff), Portrait, Landscape, Close-UP (Macro), Sports, Food, Night Portrait (which is not even in the same Milky Way as you know, Milky Way shots btw), and finally Video. 

And let's not get started on the settings done by rotating the knob the other direction from the ones I just listed above: there's P (for Program AE, where you can program some stuff into a Semi-Auto mode with certain constraints, primarily it DOESN'T WORK with MILKY WAY pics of course), Tv (Shutter Priority, which basically means the Shutter speed is set manually and Aperture is Auto set), Av (Aperture Priority, where Aperture is manually set and Shutter speed is Auto set), and finally Manual mode where you set pretty much everything important. And oh, let's not forget the BASIC Auto setting, where it cooks and serves me food and then takes a picture.

So to recap: in any of the Automatic camera settings, there's no Automatic dark sky settings for the Milky Way (cuz it's so small and hard to find, and even on a dark night when it's RIGHT THERE, why on earth would anybody even want to TRY to take a picture of it?). And not to kick a seriously dead horse around some more here, but we get a FOOD setting to take pictures of FOOD! Seriously???? FOOD, but no NIGHT SKY? REALLY???

So yeah...I've still got a TON to learn, but this is going to be fun (and sometimes frustrating, like driving 35 miles out of town for nice dark sky photography, taking a bunch of pictures, and having them ALL BLURRY, that I don't realize that until I drive 35mi back home to look at them on the computer). And hey....just know that daytime pics are QUITE EASY in comparison...just don't forget to CHANGE BACK ALL THAT CRAP I JUST DID FOR NIGHT SHOTS, or guess what..BLURRY PICTURES!

And maybe I can plan us an LV trip soon (so that I can get that lens)!! 

2026 Tour, Stages 2 and 3

 I originally thought I was going to try to post after every stage, then I decided that might be a bit much considering things (and how VERY quickly I fell behind in that endeavor). 

But SO FAR, I'm excited because it's an amazing race! So much going on, so much to cheer for, and boy howdy are the guys going thru a bit of Hell out on the road! (I heard it hit 107F out on the road today, that's INSANE!) 

First off, here are some more thoughts on Stage 1 before I move on. After what I believe was the most exciting TTT I've ever seen (THANK YOU to the organization for adopting the new rules) I admit that I'm a fan! As the 2nd to last rider, Visma's Vingago won the day AND the Yellow Jersey, and along with that his team taking the top Team spot (I have to admit that it's maybe a bit weird to have the entire teams position in the Team standings dependent on the 1st guy from each team across the line, rather than the time of the 4th rider from each team across the line). But I get it, really it's not really any stranger than choosing the 4th guy across the line for the teams time in the prior rules...why not the 3rd, or 2nd, or 5th/6th? 

The old rules punished any GC rider who was on a team that isn't a top contender and is supporting sprinters or stage hunters, as that team will likely not have 8 guys (or even 4) who can TT well, and will add significant time to that GC 'hopeful' no matter how good he is in ITT"s. Only the top teams bring enough guys to do a really good TTT. This new format rewards (and punishes) each rider based on their own time just like any TT in the pro peleton. That's fair, and that most TTT's are shorter than some of the really LONG ITT's they throw out there sometimes, it's more than fair. That it's on Stage 1 I really love, it's the perfect place to do a GC sorting right from the get-go. And sure, teams that have several good TT'ers will do better than those with less, but the GC guy can break away anytime he wants from a team who's dragging him down and go get his own time. It's almost like a sprint-stage leadout, except it's for the GC guy and from a LONG ways out.

So, on to Stage 2. Vingo in Yellow, Pogo in Polka dots (pretty rare we've seen THAT), What did they call it, a 'Hilly' stage, that's right. Tho when France is smack dab in the middle of a heat-wave, I think Hilly becomes pretty difficult, ESPECIALLY when UAE moves to the front (Vismo had been riding tempo all day as holders of the Yellow jersey). They put Brandon McNulty on the front and he just destroyed the Peleton, knocking it down to about 30 riders by the time he pulled off after the end of the 1st finishing circuit (it was impressive)! UAE still totally controlling the group, all that's left are basically a who's who of GC Contenders (pretty much the Top 10 in the GC Standings). With Del Toro on the front and about 700m to go to the finish (climbing all the way) he accelerates, Pogo on his wheel, Vingo behind him with Remco and the other GC guys hanging on. As they near the top a gap opens behind Pogo who is now on IDT's side holding pace and looking back, watching to see if anybody from the group can challenge for the line). Remco has passed Vingo and they both valiantly try to close the gap but can't. Pogo does NOT sprint around for the win like he normally would (obviously capable of it) and as they are coming to the line he's got his hand on IDT's shoulder urging him on, and as they cross the line IDT does a "George Hincape wins the Stage" thing!

I vividly recall when Big George won the Queen Stage several years (during Lances rampage of 7 Tour Wins), and amazingly enough, it was his FIRST Tour Stage win EVER! When he crossed the line he saw all zeros on the clock for the first time in his Tour career...he sat up and held his hands over his face in pure astonishment...it was a fantastic moment, and IDT did just that same thing! (only he did it in his very first Tour on day 2). And Pogo seemed even happier for IDT's win that he was! Hugs, teammates and competitors coming to congratulate him, and then Pogo PICKED HIM UP in a crazy man-hug thing, and held him a few feet in the air! I've certainly never seen THAT before in cycling! I was just waiting for the entire Team to get him on their shoulders and start parading around the finish line,  chanting "RUDY, RUDY, RUDY"! (if you've never seen the movie Rudy then you've really missed something that you need to rectify this very instant). 

So Pogo GIFTS a stage win on DAY 2! (granted it was one of his own guys, and actually IDT is wearing the jersey-number 2 btw, making him the top 'Lieutenant' on the Tour team...not bad at 22 years old!). The boyz in the booth(s) and CVV were astounded, they'd never seen anything like that before either! Lots of discussion about it, but if nothing else, it's a gauntlet thrown in Vingo's face declaring that HE is so freaking STRONG and CONFIDENT (and his team is SO GOOD) that he can already give away Stage Wins (and don't forget the time bonus, there was 10 seconds for 1st and 6 seconds for 2nd and 4 seconds for 3rd, and with Remco passing Vingo before the line, HE took the 4 seconds over Vingo)! So Pogo gained 6 seconds back on Vingo's lead of 16 seconds from Stage 1 and was 2nd on the Stage, and honestly I don't recall EVER seeing him SO HAPPY! It was actually a really great moment!! (and just think to the future, whatever number of Stage Wins Pogo has when he finally retires...that number means something...I think Eddy Meryx has 55? Will Pogo beat that? What if he comes up short by ONE?) Obviously none of that nonsense was going thru his mind when he did that, and I personally think it was AWESOME! To both IDT and the ENTIRE TEAM! Boy, they'd ride thru gunfire for him after that! OK, that's all on Stage 2.