Comet McNaught at Sunset

troutstreaming

Nothing spectacular, as I needed some longer glass than the 135L that I had with me, but here are a few landscapes with comet -really, the little blurry thing is the comet... Different white balance and level of aggressiveness picking the blackpoint account for the diffences in the image appearances. Full gallery here: http://www.troutstreaming.com/gallery/2346355

ian408

Cool!

gus

Rubbish !! Very spectacular. How many people have a photo of that ?

Nikolai

Great shots!

troutstreaming wrote:

Nothing spectacular, as I needed some longer glass than the 135L that I had with me, but here are a few landscapes with comet -really, the little blurry thing is the comet... Different white balance and level of aggressiveness picking the blackpoint account for the diffences in the image appearances. Full gallery here: http://www.troutstreaming.com/gallery/2346355

I didn't know it was possible to see it THAT clearly!

I will look for it now:-)

Dee

Very nice!
You got some nice contrast going there!

troutstreaming

gus wrote:

Rubbish !! Very spectacular. How many people have a photo of that ?

Hi Gus,

Thanks for the kind words - the reason that I led with 'nothing spectacular' is that absent the description in the subject line that there is a comet in these sunset shots, I am not sure that a casual observer would see much but mountains at dusk - the next point of interest is likely to be the ferry or the shoreline lights (depending on the image) or in the case of a few that are in the gallery but not posted here- birds. With a smaller field of view I still could have kept most if the other elements and the comet, just by its increased size would have been more obvious.

I am not so much dissapointed with these pictures as I am in not having captured what is most likely a once in a lifetime scene to its full potential.

From what I read all of you southern hemisphere shooters should be ready, as after it reimerges from behind the sun it is done making appearances on this 'side' of the globe and these images were all done with a 20D and a 135L at 1/30 - 1/200, ISO 800, at F2 or 2.2 handheld or braced against a wall. So a clear evening, some longer glass, and a tripod should net some great comet images. I was hoping to be able to make a second trip down Friday evening with a tripod and the 70-200 with a 1.4 extender, but a front slipped in through the high pressure system and brought in low clouds to the west so I had only the one opportunity.

Andy

gus

troutstreaming wrote:

From what I read all of you southern hemisphere shooters should be ready, as after it reimerges from behind the sun it is done making appearances on this 'side' of the globe

People are shooting it here now (in other areas) however for the first time in years & i mean years we are looking at about day 10 in almost full overcast in Brisbane ! Lets hope the cloud is gone in a few days & that the comet survives the trip around the sun.

mmroden

so wait, where were these taken? They're very cool. Would it be possible to take something like this in the LA area, maybe up on Mulholland or the like?

troutstreaming

mmroden wrote:

so wait, where were these taken? They're very cool. Would it be possible to take something like this in the LA area, maybe up on Mulholland or the like?

These were taken from sea levvel (a fishing pier) about 10 miles north of Seattle and are looking west across Puget Sound at the Kitsap Penninsula (close) and the Olympic Mountains.

Andy

Nikolai

McNaught Comet, SoCal edition

mmroden wrote:

so wait, where were these taken? They're very cool. Would it be possible to take something like this in the LA area, maybe up on Mulholland or the like?

I think it possible, since I just did it:-) :ivar



Few more shots are here: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/2349848

I must say, this shoot was probably the coldest one I expereince in this area (44F=6.7C, and windy) - what's wrong with this place?

Enjoy!