Cloud photography tutorials

[gajjer]

After a prolonged period of exposure to clouds I am beginning to see an attractive quality to them.

After all, with cloud photography there is no polar alignment, no guiding, no massive exposures at stupid

ASA settings. You can do it on pretty much any day in the UK. You don't have to stand outside freezing

to death, getting odd looks from the neighbours and visits from the police - but that was a one off and

the scope must have slipped.

Anyhow, I can now see the error of my ways and that we should be paying homage to the clouds not cursing them.

So does anyone know of some tutorials on cloud photography?

The sort of things I am looking for are

Cloud stacking to remove unsightly blue sky.

Image de-stretchifying to compress all that tonal range.

How to remove colour casts - after all we don't want the beautiful colours you can tease out of a fine nebula,

its wispy details tantalisingly visible but - - - - Oh its no use. Please come back clear skies. Its not the

same without you. I know you've been seen by others but it doesn't matter anymore. Later tonight I will be out

in the church yard dressed only in wode paint waving my Newt - if you could spare the time to join me . .

Hang on there's a knock at the door. - - - - - two nice men want me to go to the hospital with them

. . I think its going to be ok.

bye

gajjer

[JB80]

Well, I don't have all the answers you are looking for but maybe these chaps can help.

http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

[Gina]

Many who are interested in weather stations are also interested in cloud patterns and use webcams to take time-lapse videos of the clouds. Maybe I should go back to studying and mearuring weather and knock this ridiculously expensive and frustrating AP business on the head

Nah... I'm well and truly hooked - it just ain't gonna happen!

[gajjer]

Gina

when I bought my NexStar 4SE on a whim, I very quickly got the bits to fit my then DSLR the EOS300D. I remember my first 30sec 'snap' of M42 and thinking 'Hmm not a bad start all I need is a longer exposure.'

You're having a laugh aren't you! Like a moth flitting round a black hole I'm being sucked in. First a 6" Newt, then an 8", then the guiding stuff - ooh yes and an EOS 60D and a DMK41 and a DMK 21 and a pier for Gods sake!

All for that elusive shot of a nebula or galaxy that people tell me can be got off the Hubble website. And my old bones ache in the cold and after I spend a night out photographing a new target to get the results and find I

didn't quite focus right, but hey next time I'll nail that sucker. And you just get set up for the night , when you see the clouds massing on the horizon and coming your way and just like Basil Fawlty thrashing his car because

it wont start , you feel like jumping up and down on your kit. But you don't, you sigh and take it all back in again and don't even look back because you know just as you are covering the mount up, it looks like in the far

distance there might be a clear patch coming.

Then, one night, quite unexpected, you step outside to find its really clear and actually its quite mild. And you set up and everything goes to plan. And you see your results on the big screen and you could cry. Not quite there yet but

a result that you are happy to show your mates at work and you know you could do better if only you had a . . . . .

And that my friends is why I love it.

Like JFK said 'we choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.'

And the forecast tonight is for a clear sky . . . . . but don't hold your breath . . . . and have something at hand that you don't mind smashing up!!

cheers

gaj

[Gina]

We keep getting a forecast of a clear night or at least several hours but it clouds up well before then and sometimes snows. Tonight it's forecast to be cloudy with possible snow showers. My kit is all in bits for a nice tidy up. So what's the betting we get some clear sky tonight!!

[northcanadian]

Very funny indeed! Thanks

Cheers

Roger

[gajjer]

Ok perhaps I was a little hasty in saying the forecast for tonight is for clear skies.

After all it was mid day when I looked at the forecast and in the last few hours the weather has conspired to herd a few of its finest cumulonimbus in my direction.

I am not amused but nay neither am I disheartened by this turn of events. After all, this gives me more time to finish of the secondary mirror heater I have been

working on. No, another try at guiding can wait for a more suitable time. Albeit that I have only had two attempts, one that went well and one that did not go well at all

and nearly resulted in a laptop being reverted to its component parts and being distributed in a crop circle pattern across what I laughingly call 'the lawn'. Fortunately I maintained my cool

and the tantrum was limited to a muttering of expletives and a bruising of digits on the keyboard. And let that be a lesson to you computer! Don't mess with old folk!

I keep reminding myself that the 'weathermen' do not make the weather - they just report it. Still, grrrrrrrrr.

I'm just popping out to the garage to see if I can find something to jump on.

see ya

gaj

[Gina]

Ooh I like someone with a sense of humour Good for you I'm an oldie too

[Gina]

Yep! As I predicted the sky is clear ATM and I'm not ready for imaging I think the pier-top gear is good to go but I've got a bit more work to do on the warm room side control box. Now having a short break - might just be going a bit later

[gajjer]

Yep here too. Wish I hadn't quaffed that last Horlicks now. They're up there winking at me mockingly. Quite mild out there too - not too much wind.

Damn you twinkling demons!!

Stands in doorway shaking walking stick up at the night sky. Hang on - I don't have a walking stick. Rants at clouds 'Yeh and don't you come back you . . . big . . . . blooming . . . . fluffy . . . . . .white . . . . . things'

That told them . . right now one more milky drink and its off to bed.

cheers

gaj

[Gina]

The clouds are back here so I won't be having a late night either. Good night Gaj