Trying to get the focus right

One of the biggest challenges I had trying to get photos of the comet was to try and focus on the stars. It is tricky business when you are fumbling in the dark trying to see how infinity is infinity focus..when the lens ring just keeps spinning. 

when you are taking shots with 10 second to 30 second exposures, it is all the more painful.. you don't know how it will turn out after what seems to be an eternal wait time. Then you have to zoom into the pic on the display to see if the stars looks like sharp points or blurred bokeh's.

It took me 70 tries to get the hang of it.. to the point where we were at Skyline ridge for 20 minutes and I got zero shots.. then we go to a friends backyard and got better shots.. 

even had a few airplanes fly by to give the comet some context. 

I should practice more.. start clicking pictures in dark conditions from my own backyard and then try it on things like comets.. 

The practice has begun.. somewhere in this cosmic mess, Neowise is there as seen from our backyard..

or maybe it is just blocked by that tree..one more day to practice "finding the comet" today. Apparently it stops being visible starting tomorrow night. 

This thing was fun. Got pictures of it on three different nights. 

The best part ?

For a guy who gets lost in his own house or work or local roads, the abilty to use the big dipper and precisely point to the comet even though it is not visible to the naked eye...

that was something! Family was impressed. now they might expect me to "not get lost" when we start driving again.. that is a tough ask. 

Comet sighting

The Neowise comet is the "star of the show" ironic as it may be.. 

We have a neighbor who has a decent telescope. So for starters he helped me find the general direction of the comet. Given the clouds and the fact that we are not at some skyline on a hill top viewing this, the general strategy was to zoom out , set a 4 second aquisition time and see if the comet is in the frame..

Then zero in on it and play with settings.

Finally have someone show an iphone flash on you for a split second to illuminate foreground during a 4 second shot where you hold your breath as much as possible.. That is where the yoga helps. 

as an added bonus got Jupiter from the front yard.. they are almost in exactly opposite directions.. you can clearly see at least 4 moons of Jupiter (used the 70-200 mm lens with a 2x extender set to 400mm.. the trick I learned was that if you set the focus ring at infinity it doesnt work.. you have to focus on Jupiter.. easier to do than a dull comet which you really have to hunt in cloudy conditions). 

Hoping to find a view point just post sunset locally here to get a decent shot of this in next two or three days. 

Fathers day gifts from family

Most of the families we know went out to some beach, local park etc. We did not go out today. Went for walks around the block, did yoga, took pictures and that was it.  Really did not know how crowded it would be in those places and wanted to go next week when it would be less crowded. 

I love my family for their support when it comes to yoga. They might not all be doing yoga with me, but they do support me immensely. 

They watch me with amusement as I keep trying to do the same thing over and over again. 

Usually there would be a yoga class on Sunday morning at BYSJ and they would give our a rose to take back for all dads and we would take a picture. The missing years are ones where I had to catch a 1PM United Flight to China on Fathers day.. 

Today we had to make do with a small rose from our own backyard but the kids obliged with a picture and even gave me permission to post it ! That is two old photos to recreate in one day!

Then after I finished the 90 minute class, they helped me with a little demo where I wanted to see how close to "sitting in the chair, not below the chair" the awkward pose was.. and if I did indeed straighten my back. It was weird to do this.. but if you have family volunteers this is worth trying to get a feel for what this pose should be like..

The end result was okay.. Need to do a lot more exercise to get rid of some belly fat. Sitting all day in the same place in meetings does not help that much. There was one yoga teacher who would stand only on his big toes and go ballerina style on this.. in another 5 years will try it.

This has been a good day! Wishing all of the dads out there a happy Fathers day. I am not too thrilled that my dad is in Chennai and I cannot even go see him right now if I want to. Hopefully that changes soon. 

My wife and kids made my day!