Here is a Samsung Galaxy III pic from the other day.
Photography 2
- Thread starter Floorist
- Start date
Help Support Flooring Forum:
Our coastal fog screws up a lot of opportunities to get shots like that. .......we get em, but not always on a predictable basis. .........and we don't have as many palm trees along the beach. 
Nice shot catching those rays.
Nice shot catching those rays.
Nick
In Remembrance
Wave Breaking, Oahu
OK, it's Not August anymore, but here's an image taken during the Perseid Meteor shower week in '96............ no meteor shots, I've never captured a good one. But here's one of the constellation Sagittarius with Venus shining bright. It's probably a 4 minute exposure using my home-contrapted, Flintstone star tracker.
I just found a photo of the motor driven star tracker that I made, and at the location of my first image of the comet Hale-Bopp. I didn't have the tracker fine tuned yet for making long exposures with my big lens, but it worked fine with a standard lens and a relatively short exposure like the one I show here.
I'm scanning the star tracker slide and I'll put a photo of that contraption on after a while. I had forgotten how rickety it looked.
I just found a photo of the motor driven star tracker that I made, and at the location of my first image of the comet Hale-Bopp. I didn't have the tracker fine tuned yet for making long exposures with my big lens, but it worked fine with a standard lens and a relatively short exposure like the one I show here.
I'm scanning the star tracker slide and I'll put a photo of that contraption on after a while. I had forgotten how rickety it looked.
Here's the Flintstone looking star tracker I made up. I made up a drive motor by coupling up two gear heads from a couple of those wimpy 'hang on the wall' Black and Decker electric screw drivers. They have a double planetary gear set inside the head. They run a little over 130 RPM as I recall.
I bought a second B&D screw driver and cut the heads off of both drivers at the proper locations using a Dremel tool and coupled them together. Now I had a screwdriver with 4 sets of planetary gear sets instead of two, and I ended up reducing the speed from 130RPM down to about 4RPM. It was so powerful at this point I could have used it to tighten lug nuts.
I was getting close, but I needed to get closer to 2 RPM to drive the other gearhead that I had mounted onto the telescope tripod.
........... this other gearhead was from another cordless B&D 1/4 inch drill that I had laying around. I kept that dead drill because I knew it would come in handy ...........some day.
OK, to get the motor speed from 4RPM to 2RPM, I needed something to reduce the battery from 6 volts down to a lower level and it had to be variable. I made up a speed controller with two potentiometers and two LEDs, an on-off switch, plus a switch to reverse the motor to reset the camera platform to it's original position once I made a photo or two.
I used a volt meter to help me maintain the motor speed.......... these motors are not very high tech and they gradually speed up or slow down. The volt meter helped my keep the speed steady.
A star tracking device needs to have a rotating mount that is aligned with or pointed at the north star. (Jon, this won't work for you)
To accurately aim the rotating shaft at the north star, I bought a used rifle scope. I drilled a hole in the center of it and installed a red LED in the hole to light up the cross hairs with a soft red glow......... Cross hairs are black, and I needed to see them so I could point the scope at the north star.
To keep the motor from vibrating the telescope tripod while taking a long time exposure, I separated the motor from the tripod with a flex shaft. I used a camera tripod to hold the motor. The other tripod you see is an old wooden telescope tripod.
This was a lengthy process to figure out how to make this contraption become usable and accurate. I wanted a good photo of the upcoming comet Hale Bopp comet and this was why I spent so much time messing with this.
It was a real PITA set up and use, but It gave me one of the most rewarding images I have ever taken............... a 16 minute long exposure of Hale Bopp using my 300mm lens.
Here's the contraption almost set up, a photo of where I did my first real test with it and my first image of the comet.
The image was a total fail, but the comet was still far away. Fortunately the comet was getting much closer over the next couple of months which gave me time to work the bugs out of the system so I could nail that sucker.
I bought a second B&D screw driver and cut the heads off of both drivers at the proper locations using a Dremel tool and coupled them together. Now I had a screwdriver with 4 sets of planetary gear sets instead of two, and I ended up reducing the speed from 130RPM down to about 4RPM. It was so powerful at this point I could have used it to tighten lug nuts.
I was getting close, but I needed to get closer to 2 RPM to drive the other gearhead that I had mounted onto the telescope tripod.
........... this other gearhead was from another cordless B&D 1/4 inch drill that I had laying around. I kept that dead drill because I knew it would come in handy ...........some day.
OK, to get the motor speed from 4RPM to 2RPM, I needed something to reduce the battery from 6 volts down to a lower level and it had to be variable. I made up a speed controller with two potentiometers and two LEDs, an on-off switch, plus a switch to reverse the motor to reset the camera platform to it's original position once I made a photo or two.
I used a volt meter to help me maintain the motor speed.......... these motors are not very high tech and they gradually speed up or slow down. The volt meter helped my keep the speed steady.
A star tracking device needs to have a rotating mount that is aligned with or pointed at the north star. (Jon, this won't work for you)
To accurately aim the rotating shaft at the north star, I bought a used rifle scope. I drilled a hole in the center of it and installed a red LED in the hole to light up the cross hairs with a soft red glow......... Cross hairs are black, and I needed to see them so I could point the scope at the north star.
To keep the motor from vibrating the telescope tripod while taking a long time exposure, I separated the motor from the tripod with a flex shaft. I used a camera tripod to hold the motor. The other tripod you see is an old wooden telescope tripod.
This was a lengthy process to figure out how to make this contraption become usable and accurate. I wanted a good photo of the upcoming comet Hale Bopp comet and this was why I spent so much time messing with this.
It was a real PITA set up and use, but It gave me one of the most rewarding images I have ever taken............... a 16 minute long exposure of Hale Bopp using my 300mm lens.
Here's the contraption almost set up, a photo of where I did my first real test with it and my first image of the comet.
The image was a total fail, but the comet was still far away. Fortunately the comet was getting much closer over the next couple of months which gave me time to work the bugs out of the system so I could nail that sucker.
Last edited:
I like the pictures, but I like that truck even more.
![MORE Luxury Vinyl Floor Cleaner for Vinyl Plank Flooring - Ready to Use, Daily Cleaning Formula for Tile, Vinyl Surfaces [Gallon / 128oz]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/413LZHZiqCL._SL500_.jpg)
Here's the Flintstone looking star tracker I made up. I made up a drive motor by coupling up two gear heads from a couple of those wimpy 'hang on the wall' Black and Decker electric screw drivers. They have a double planetary gear set inside the head. They run a little over 130 RPM as I recall.
I bought a second B&D screw driver and cut the heads off of both drivers at the proper locations using a Dremel tool and coupled them together. Now I had a screwdriver with 4 sets of planetary gear sets instead of two, and I ended up reducing the speed from 130RPM down to about 4RPM. It was so powerful at this point I could have used it to tighten lug nuts.
I was getting close, but I needed to get closer to 2 RPM to drive the other gearhead that I had mounted onto the telescope tripod.
........... this other gearhead was from another cordless B&D 1/4 inch drill that I had laying around. I kept that dead drill because I knew it would come in handy ...........some day.
OK, to get the motor speed from 4RPM to 2RPM, I needed something to reduce the battery from 6 volts down to a lower level and it had to be variable. I made up a speed controller with two potentiometers and two LEDs, an on-off switch, plus a switch to reverse the motor to reset the camera platform to it's original position once I made a photo or two.
I used a volt meter to help me maintain the motor speed.......... these motors are not very high tech and they gradually speed up or slow down. The volt meter helped my keep the speed steady.
A star tracking device needs to have a rotating mount that is aligned with or pointed at the north star. (Jon, this won't work for you)
To accurately aim the rotating shaft at the north star, I bought a used rifle scope. I drilled a hole in the center of it and installed a red LED in the hole to light up the cross hairs with a soft red glow......... Cross hairs are black, and I needed to see them so I could point the scope at the north star.
To keep the motor from vibrating the telescope tripod while taking a long time exposure, I separated the motor from the tripod with a flex shaft. I used a camera tripod to hold the motor. The other tripod you see is an old wooden telescope tripod.
This was a lengthy process to figure out how to make this contraption become usable and accurate. I wanted a good photo of the upcoming comet Hale Bopp comet and this was why I spent so much time messing with this.
It was a real PITA set up and use, but It gave me one of the most rewarding images I have ever taken............... a 16 minute long exposure of Hale Bopp using my 300mm lens.
Here's the contraption almost set up, a photo of where I did my first real test with it and my first image of the comet.
The image was a total fail, but the comet was still far away. Fortunately the comet was getting much closer over the next couple of months which gave me time to work the bugs out of the system so I could nail that sucker.
Holy cow. That's a crazy contraption.
That's an excellent shot. I love how great the quality of camera phones is becoming.
Me too, Rusty. It was pretty sweet looking back then...... '97. The paint was already 7 or 8 years old in that photo. While I had the engine out when I was doing a rebuild, I hit under the hood with hot water through a pressure washer and painted the firewall inner fenders an everything under the hood with acid based primer, then gloss black like the truck.
When completed, the newly painted fresh engine looked great nestled in there. You could eat off of any part of it.
New intake and exhaust manifolds, new Holly 650 spreadbore carb and chrome rocker covers and bright yellow Mallory plug wires... yum, yum, it looked great.
I still have the truck, but time has taken it's toll. Lots of lower cab rust now, and some on the bed.
Living near the coast and not having a garage aren't an ideal situation for vehicle longevity. It wasn't a show truck. I used it on gravel, pumice and dirt roads at least every other weekend. Logging roads were it's main home. It's most useful purpose was to allow me to go to uncharted territory to take the photos that I've shown here. Many ,many, many thousands of miles over the years either on, or heading to the backroads.
I found photos of the camper while under construction today. That effort blows the star tracker out of the water........... over a year in the making. The camper started out with a cardboard pattern to math the curve of the cab. It's totally from scratch.
I'll post them after I scan the slides. The scanning is a bit of a pain because the process is slow, so not sure if I'll do it tonight....... I'll get started anyway.
I'll get around to finding a better photo of the truck. I didn't take many, but I have em somewhere hiding within my hundreds of little gold boxes.
Here ya go Rusty. The camper is not a shell. These images are when it was about 1/2 way completed. The shell was only part of the fun.
It started off with 2X4s which were cut into 1" by 1/2" strips to make the lower "wall studs" I used ridged foam between those studs as insulation and made the walls in sections as a plywood-foam-paneling sandwich. The front of the camper was made at the same angle as the cab. You can see that if you look at one of the side views.
I made up the floor with the same foam sandwich method as the walls, but with 1/2" and 3/8" plywood and 1X1 "joists".
I started with the floor, then the two stubby walls, then attached each end. From that point, I worked upwards with a wooden canoe sort of construction. The upper sides of the camper were clad with 1/4" plywood so that a person leaning against the rig wouldn't dent it so easy. The plywood also gave me a way to screw on the side marker lights.
The rear doors were one of the hardest parts to figure out. They are made of 1 1/4" plywood. A local sheet metal fabricator showed my how to cut out the window mounting frames from a heavy sheet of aluminum.
He said to me, "once you get the dimensions figured out, add 1/2" to the inside dimension and the glass guys will figure out the rest" He said I could make the window any shape that I wanted.................. I did, and wow was he a great help. Without the custom look of the back doors and windows, the camper woulda looked like crap.
I had a local RV repair place order the outside metal for me. I had them include two seams so the metal would be wide enough. With one seam, the seam would have been off-centered and in a bad location.
It was a very long project............ well over a year in construction, but the camper has been my best friend and provided me with hundreds of opportunities that otherwise would never have happened. Honestly, the camper changed my life by allowing my photography to happen. No way could or would I ever ventured into the local "outback", and accomplish what I did, camping with a tent.
It has a small TV, cassette player and amp. It has an insulated cooler which holds a half rack, plus food and the upper shelf holds a block of ice. A catalytic heater is mounted on the wall and will cook you out of there in 25 degree weather with the doors open............
There is a recessed overhead panel of lights inside that run front to back, plus two swivel lights up front and two in back for reading........... those two lights are amber colored to keep the mosquitos and moths way at night with the doors open.
The teak entry looks like overkill, but it had a purpose...... That's where your feet land when you slip inside. Carpet in the entry area would have been crazy because of all the fir tree needles, dirt, and mud.
Pretty fancy setup for my spacious 6' 2" by 3' 9" interior, but no chandeliers, and no baby grand......... hey, this was my working rig.
It has fuses inside, and I had a second RV battery under the hood supplying power to the camper via a Ford solenoid switch. It charged with the key on, then disconnected and only one battery supplied power to the camper.
That way I couldn't be left stranded with two dead batteries if I inadvertently left the lights on.
I wouldn't have done very many things different.
When I win next weeks Powerball, I'm gonna start building one like this for my S-10.
In that last photo.............. I just noticed that the door "knob" was sideways............ it wasn't locked and oriented straight up like it should have been. ...............oooops. You know me better than that.
It started off with 2X4s which were cut into 1" by 1/2" strips to make the lower "wall studs" I used ridged foam between those studs as insulation and made the walls in sections as a plywood-foam-paneling sandwich. The front of the camper was made at the same angle as the cab. You can see that if you look at one of the side views.
I made up the floor with the same foam sandwich method as the walls, but with 1/2" and 3/8" plywood and 1X1 "joists".
I started with the floor, then the two stubby walls, then attached each end. From that point, I worked upwards with a wooden canoe sort of construction. The upper sides of the camper were clad with 1/4" plywood so that a person leaning against the rig wouldn't dent it so easy. The plywood also gave me a way to screw on the side marker lights.
The rear doors were one of the hardest parts to figure out. They are made of 1 1/4" plywood. A local sheet metal fabricator showed my how to cut out the window mounting frames from a heavy sheet of aluminum.
He said to me, "once you get the dimensions figured out, add 1/2" to the inside dimension and the glass guys will figure out the rest" He said I could make the window any shape that I wanted.................. I did, and wow was he a great help. Without the custom look of the back doors and windows, the camper woulda looked like crap.
I had a local RV repair place order the outside metal for me. I had them include two seams so the metal would be wide enough. With one seam, the seam would have been off-centered and in a bad location.
It was a very long project............ well over a year in construction, but the camper has been my best friend and provided me with hundreds of opportunities that otherwise would never have happened. Honestly, the camper changed my life by allowing my photography to happen. No way could or would I ever ventured into the local "outback", and accomplish what I did, camping with a tent.
It has a small TV, cassette player and amp. It has an insulated cooler which holds a half rack, plus food and the upper shelf holds a block of ice. A catalytic heater is mounted on the wall and will cook you out of there in 25 degree weather with the doors open............
There is a recessed overhead panel of lights inside that run front to back, plus two swivel lights up front and two in back for reading........... those two lights are amber colored to keep the mosquitos and moths way at night with the doors open.
The teak entry looks like overkill, but it had a purpose...... That's where your feet land when you slip inside. Carpet in the entry area would have been crazy because of all the fir tree needles, dirt, and mud.
Pretty fancy setup for my spacious 6' 2" by 3' 9" interior, but no chandeliers, and no baby grand......... hey, this was my working rig.
It has fuses inside, and I had a second RV battery under the hood supplying power to the camper via a Ford solenoid switch. It charged with the key on, then disconnected and only one battery supplied power to the camper.
That way I couldn't be left stranded with two dead batteries if I inadvertently left the lights on.
I wouldn't have done very many things different.
When I win next weeks Powerball, I'm gonna start building one like this for my S-10.
In that last photo.............. I just noticed that the door "knob" was sideways............ it wasn't locked and oriented straight up like it should have been. ...............oooops. You know me better than that.
Last edited:
Here's a decent shot of the truck at sea level.
Next is a shot in mid winter 80 miles away at close to 4,000 feet.
Look at the first photo and the ground clearance.
Look at the second image and notice how flat the snow is between the tires.
The third image is also at about 4,000 feet, but also 300 miles away in Oregon's high desert. This was from one of my August, Perseid meteor shower trips. Temps are in the upper 90s this time of year over there. Here, I am parked on a flat area of a volcanic cinder cone. They use the pumice over there as gravel for the back roads.
I used my wide angle lens as I stood atop the cone. The truck is probably 60 feet below me, and it's another 100 feet down to the floor of the desert. There isn't a better place to observe a meteor shower............ unlike home on the coast, there's virtually a zero chance here of clouds interfering with the meteor show.
Last image as I recall was just before Christmas.............. once again, at about 4,000 feet. It was beginning to snow at 8AM, so I went farther up the road to see how fast it was sticking. Fifteen minutes later as I came back down the road, my tracks were completely covered over.
I figured that it was probably time to get outa Dodge. It was a Sunday and I needed to head back home that day anyhow.
Those were fun times, and I dearly miss them.
Next is a shot in mid winter 80 miles away at close to 4,000 feet.
Look at the first photo and the ground clearance.
Look at the second image and notice how flat the snow is between the tires.
The third image is also at about 4,000 feet, but also 300 miles away in Oregon's high desert. This was from one of my August, Perseid meteor shower trips. Temps are in the upper 90s this time of year over there. Here, I am parked on a flat area of a volcanic cinder cone. They use the pumice over there as gravel for the back roads.
I used my wide angle lens as I stood atop the cone. The truck is probably 60 feet below me, and it's another 100 feet down to the floor of the desert. There isn't a better place to observe a meteor shower............ unlike home on the coast, there's virtually a zero chance here of clouds interfering with the meteor show.
Last image as I recall was just before Christmas.............. once again, at about 4,000 feet. It was beginning to snow at 8AM, so I went farther up the road to see how fast it was sticking. Fifteen minutes later as I came back down the road, my tracks were completely covered over.
I figured that it was probably time to get outa Dodge. It was a Sunday and I needed to head back home that day anyhow.
Those were fun times, and I dearly miss them.
Last edited:
It was simpler when I first used it. See that aluminum disc on the right side of the wooden tripod? That was my timer. I placed a mark on it every 90 degrees. I hooked up a Dremel tool flex shaft to that disk, and by slowly (by hand), I rotated it at 2 turns per minute. It would track accurately with a 4 minute exposure.
....................it got "crazy" as I devised a motor drive. The real, store bought tracking tripods were pushing $600 to $1200, so the McGuyver within me went into hyper cheap............. but it still cost me a few hundred bucks by the time I was done playing with it and fine tuning it.
..................I did it, ..............MY .............WAY!
Last edited:
Nick
In Remembrance
Nice job on the camper Hi.
I agree. It looks very well built.
Thanks guys, it's the only home I have ever built.
....and at 26 years, it's outlasted most Winnebagos.
....and at 26 years, it's outlasted most Winnebagos.
Wow, I love the shooting height of the pier.
I have been sorting and scanning my good slides like a madman and trying to figure out how to do it properly at the same time. I found the sharp mask and tone settings degrade the image a lot, so I have left the auto settings turned off. I am thinking now, that after scanning dozens of slides, I should have been manually setting the histogram on a lot of them............ most of my stuff is purposely underexposed a tiny bit and I think I should have played with the histogram settings on the scanner. Oh well.......... my learning curve is clipped pretty bad.
I'm gonna rescan my seagull in flight image if I can find it. Yours is fantastic, especially because of the background.
I never got any in flight shots worth a hoot because I can't pan anything and keep it in focus.
.............ya writing this all down Daris?
I have been sorting and scanning my good slides like a madman and trying to figure out how to do it properly at the same time. I found the sharp mask and tone settings degrade the image a lot, so I have left the auto settings turned off. I am thinking now, that after scanning dozens of slides, I should have been manually setting the histogram on a lot of them............ most of my stuff is purposely underexposed a tiny bit and I think I should have played with the histogram settings on the scanner. Oh well.......... my learning curve is clipped pretty bad.
I'm gonna rescan my seagull in flight image if I can find it. Yours is fantastic, especially because of the background.
I never got any in flight shots worth a hoot because I can't pan anything and keep it in focus.
.............ya writing this all down Daris?
Last edited:
Nick
In Remembrance
Great photos W .
Thank you sir.
The seagulls are hard to shoot zoomed in like that. I bet it of 50 in-flight shots, I had 3 decent ones.
Nick
In Remembrance
Welcome , really like the pier shots.
