Sky at Night

12/13 Aug 2013. Perseid watch. Clear skies for the Perseid meteor shower. This Star Trail caught approx 12 or so Perseids, although you have to look closely due to wide angle. Orange glow is City (Leicester) pollution reflecting off clouds and morning sunrise bottom right (light blue sky) This image comprises over 2000 10s exposures taken last night/early this morning (12/13th Aug) over the skies in East Midlands (Nr Lutterworth). The 2000 images have been stacked in software to produce this composite. What you are seeing is the effect of Earths rotation over 4/5 hrs made visible by the startrail. Captured with Oly OM-D, 12mm, f2, ISO250, 10s (x2000).

StarTrail from 17/18 July 2013. Very pleased with this shot as it was the first real lengthy trail I have managed to capture with the OM-D. New moon phase (almost) and clear skies all night allowed a good opportunity. Captured with the Oly OM-D & 12mm. I set the camera low on tripod at 2300hrs and on 10s exposures, F2, ISO 250 shot continuous until 0400 the next morning. There is about 4-5 hrs worth of exposures in this shot. The trees in foreground were lit with a few flash bursts. Framed around Polaris (north star) to get the nice swirly effect. Great depth from this 12mm prime lens. It is superb for low light work. The final multi thousand exposure was put together in StarStax software.

19 July 2013 waxing moon. Captured with Olympus OM-D & 75-300mm lens at full focal length. The technical facilities of this camera bring smartphone technology together with dslr. F6.7 (max) @ 1/250s and ISO 200. Focusing was as simple as touching the lcd on the appropriate moon crater and hitting the shutter release. Whilst a relatively slow lens (f4.8 at best) the sharpness of the moon is the best I have achieved & surpassed the E5 & 90-250mm. Btw thats a £5k lens....