I'm primarily a ghost town and mining camp explorer but I I’ve added a few other hobbies to the list when I'm out doing my thing. One is photography and the other is astronomy. Taking time-lapsed photos is rather fun and not always as easy as it looks. I enjoy it around where I live but especially when I'm traveling.
EQUIPMENT:
My photography and astronomy equipment has varied over the years. My current camera is a Canon 60D. Stock lens is a 18-135mm plus a wide angle. Of course I use a tripod and sometimes a flashlight for added light when the full moon isn't around or any source of ambient light. Using a flashlight instead of a camera flash can be rather fun and can make for some unique results by providing increased shadows- more like natural lighting. Colored lighting is something I won’t use because I am primarily documenting my subjects not trying to make art or a weird image. HDR is’nt my bag either.
My primary telescope which is sitting idle currently is a 10" Newtonian reflector. I've used it for it's equatorial drive and have mounted my camera, piggy-back for wide angle photographs.
I’ve also constructed what is called an Isosceles Barn Door Tracker for sky photos. Since I’ve been involved with astronomy, I prefer to take photos of the night sky where no star trailing is visible. It’s also easier to identify constellations, stars or visible deep sky objects such as nebulae and galaxies. It’s not always easy to do but it’s fun to try. I’ve posted a photo of the tracker below for reference.
Trying out a little mining camp night photography.
Isosceles Mount, Manually Driven Barn Door Tracker for
extended exposures of the night sky without star trailing.