Very Large Array

kdog

jiro

Wow! I believe you perfectly nailed this one. thumb Good Job!

Joemess

kdog wrote: »

That is gorgeous...

I took a few minutes to look at your gallery.... Some of your images are so saturated with color, unless you have had a chance to see the desert in its full splendor you would not believe how well you nailed it!

pathfinder

What a cool place the VLA is.

Did you go inside as well?

I would love to see it with a summer stormy sky for a background sometime.

anwmn1

Very nice

T remember our visit there just a couple years ago.

dlplumer

Shimon told me you guys stopped here. Very cool indeedclap

Bring on the Bosque shots:D

Dogdots

Cool shot -- I'm going to sound a little out of the loop with this question, but what are they used for?

TenThirteen

Wow, love this! So Crisp!

kdog

jiro wrote: »

Wow! I believe you perfectly nailed this one. thumb Good Job!

Thanks very much, Jiro. I was pleased with the way it came out.

Joemess wrote: »

That is gorgeous...

I took a few minutes to look at your gallery.... Some of your images are so saturated with color, unless you have had a chance to see the desert in its full splendor you would not believe how well you nailed it!

Thanks for the nice compliment, Joemess. The desert is really a wonderful place to photograph.

pathfinder wrote: »

What a cool place the VLA is.

Did you go inside as well?

I would love to see it with a summer stormy sky for a background sometime.

Hi Jim, a stormy sky would have been super. It's hard to get a good comp there because almost the entire area is restricted. (In fact, Shimon got busted for getting too close to an antennae. But I'll let him tell the story.) The only building we went inside was the visitor's center. There was absolutely nobody in there, so we did the self-guided tour. The technology and equipment is really amazing.

sgonen

Awesome! it came out great - I'll get to mine hopefully by end of week. It was really fun shooting with you buddy.

Richard

That is very cool indeed. It looks like it could use just a bit of CC rotation, but that's really a nit. I wonder if it would be possible to get a full moon shot there--what direction are we facing?

kdog

anwmn1 wrote: »

Very nice

T remember our visit there just a couple years ago.

Thanks, Aaron. I remember your visit there and it was part of the reason I made it a point to stop by.

dlplumer wrote: »

Shimon told me you guys stopped here. Very cool indeedclap

Bring on the Bosque shots:D

Workin' on it.

Dogdots wrote: »

Cool shot -- I'm going to sound a little out of the loop with this question, but what are they used for?

Those are very large telescopes, Mary, which are used to look at deep space objects such as galaxies, nebulae, etc. I guess celestial objects throw off radiation in the radio-wave spectrum, as well as in the visible spectrum. So these extremely sensitive antennae can see objects in the sky, much as your eye can. But because each dish is 85' across, they can see very well. The multiple dishes are arranged in a huge Y formation, and the results from all the antenna are correlated. I haven't seen a simple overview of the correlation algorithms, but from working on similar systems, I believe it allows greater sensitivity and noise reduction, as well as precise location of objects through triangulation.

TenThirteen wrote: »

Wow, love this! So Crisp!

Thanks!

kdog

Richard wrote: »

That is very cool indeed. It looks like it could use just a bit of CC rotation, but that's really a nit. I wonder if it would be possible to get a full moon shot there--what direction are we facing?

Richard, that's actually the weight of that large foreground dish pushing the right side of the image down a little. Besides, that front foreground train track tie is exactly horizontal, so the image must be as well. Ok, you got me. I'm normally a real stickler for horizons and can't believe I missed that. I did square that front railroad tie as I mentioned and probably threw the horizon off. That's facing south I believe, so a moon shot there should be very doable. Cool idea!

Dogdots

kdog wrote: »

Those are very large telescopes, Mary, which are used to look at deep space objects such as galaxies, nebulae, etc. I guess celestial objects throw off radiation in the radio-wave spectrum, as well as in the visible spectrum. So these extremely sensitive antennae can see objects in the sky, much as your eye can. But because each dish is 85' across, they can see very well. The multiple dishes are arranged in a huge Y formation, and the results from all the antenna are correlated. I haven't seen a simple overview of the correlation algorithms, but from working on similar systems, I believe it allows greater sensitivity and noise reduction, as well as precise location of objects through triangulation.

Neat concept of setting them all up in a Y formation. Never would of thought of it being done that way.

Would be really interesting to see photos taken with these big things.

Thank you for the information

kdog

Oh, I should have mentioned, here's the home page for the VLA. http://www.vla.nrao.edu/
Images links here: http://images.nrao.edu/

BradfordBenn

Great shot. I think I have another place to add to my places to go shooting.

rookieshooter

That is pretty cool. Are there no restrictions to going there?

kdog

BradfordBenn wrote: »

Great shot. I think I have another place to add to my places to go shooting.

Thanks! It's pretty much just a quick stop if you're in the area. I wouldn't make it a destination on its own.

rookieshooter wrote: »

That is pretty cool. Are there no restrictions to going there?

Oh yes, it's heavily restricted. You're only allowed in a few narrow areas and I don't think you can get near any of the dishes at all. At least I didn't see any place where you could. As it was, the spot I took my picture was probably slightly over the line.

pathfinder

kdog wrote: »

Hi Jim, It's hard to get a good comp there because almost the entire area is restricted. (In fact, Shimon got busted for getting too close to an antennae. But I'll let him tell the story.)

I am waiting with all ears to hear that story for sure.

Interesting, we got to walk all around the base of several antennae about 6 years ago dressed in motorcycle riding jackets and pants. I guess everything changes with time??

This frame was shot with in 2004 with a 10D and a 28mm lens at f4

NeilL

Nicely composed and presented!

Neil

kdog

sgonen wrote: »

Awesome! it came out great - I'll get to mine hopefully by end of week. It was really fun shooting with you buddy.

Thanks, Shimon! It was great shooting with you too. Can't wait to see your shots, especially the one you got busted taking. You know I'm just waiting to post a shot of your "arrest", don't you.

redleash

Neat shot--and yours is so much better than the shots in the link!

kdog

pathfinder wrote: »

I am waiting with all ears to hear that story for sure.

Interesting, we got to walk all around the base of several antennae about 6 years ago dressed in motorcycle riding jackets and pants. I guess everything changes with time??

This frame was shot with in 2004 with a 10D and a 28mm lens at f4

Very nice. One could probably still get a comp like that with a long enough focal length. Shimon got a nice close wide-angle shot with a great perspective before he got "busted". It really wasn't a big deal. Some roustabouts just told him he was where he shouldn't be.

NeilL wrote: »

Nicely composed and presented!

Neil

Thanks, Neil!

redleash wrote: »

Neat shot--and yours is so much better than the shots in the link!

Thanks, Lauren.

Panther

Howdy Joel,

What a wonderful image, love the Endless Sky and great

Composition.

Looks like a stunning place to see, not to mention shoot.