Geminid Meteor Shower

Enjoy your holiday Sumitra...somewhere warmer I hope!

I've been counting the meteors and I realise they are spread out in the different camera positions. Out of the 17 meteors, 6 are bright ones, the rest little dinky ones. Therefore, I dont think its worthwhile to merge layer them. You'll see what I mean when I post up my timelapse vide which I am currently learning all workflow steps.

One thing I discovered is that Adobe Bridge is pretty awesome for organising timelapses and my whole libraries of images for that matter. I never used it before. I like how I can preview my timelapse by grouping the images, adjusting the slider on the thumbnail for an instant timelapse to spot jerky images or what have you. I also like how I can easily resize the thumbnails to any size. Bridge will most definitely be my new imaging home from here on and its time to shake off my decades old Windows Explorer mindset.

Enjoy your holiday Sumitra…somewhere warmer I hope!

I'm in Brighton 🙂 I just meant I took all my leaves on handing in my resignation. I'm off to Nice next Monday though.

I’ve been counting the meteors and I realise they are spread out in the different camera positions. Out of the 17 meteors, 6 are bright ones, the rest little dinky ones. Therefore, I dont think its worthwhile to merge layer them. You’ll see what I mean when I post up my timelapse vide which I am currently learning all workflow steps.

Ah, shame they are spread out in different positions, I got all excited to make one of those pictures busy with a dozens of meteors!
Having said that, if you have 6+ on the same position, still happy to do the composite. It's quite impressive with such a large number.

Up to you!

I use photolapse for timelapses. I guess it enables something similar where you can tick and untick images.

Look forward to seeing it, I haven't got around to making mine yet 🙂

So you know, when you tell yourself you won't get affected by what people say about something you're proud of? Well, I was determined not to, but in the end I did not manage.

So last Saturday, I decided to go out to catch some Geminids, hopeful to capture at least just one, print it and frame it for my dad who had just been admitted at hospital in critical condition, diagnosed with something incurable so unexpectedly...

I was so delighted to find one bright one when I got home and emailed it to an astro friend saying how happy I was that I would be able to send it to my dad at hospital. And then it also got picked to get on the news that same night, which was a welcome distractions from the worrying events.

Short lived fun, when I receive a mail from the astro guy only to inform me that my photo was on "evil sky news!", and nothing else.
I thought I'd ignore it, until the next day, I got a similar reaction when it got on ITV news. Apparently, it was not really a big deal, journalists are after 'nice free pictures' and mine is 'nice' and ITV also belongs to R Murdoch, whom I'm just making richer with giving pictures for free. Well, an assumption… Tasco Dave told me he would arrange payment for us all.

I decide (not effortlessly) to brush it off and call it… well you know what. After all, I got so many kind and grateful comments from everyone, twitter people and real friends. And most people at the camera club as well who seemed proud to have me as a new member. The president made jokes that he had obviously immediately realised (with his considerable expertise in astrophotography) that my picture should have been on the Telegraph and not the IOW one when he announced it at start of yesterday's talk. 😉 And before wishing me a happy Christmas break, also told me be careful all alone in the downs and in the cold which I thought was so sweet.

But then, yesterday was a competition evening at the club, where we have a judge comment on pictures, give feedback then gives you a grade taking the form of a Gold, Silver or Bronze.
So I entered my composite picture with 4 Geminids. I got a Silver for it because "it does not look quite right, with the Windmill not being positioned at the 1/3rd, well it kind of is, but not quite at the 1/3rd".
My picture was judged last of a 2 hour session and I had already stopped listening half way through the evening. This judge IMHO focussed too heavily on the negative criticism. Even though they were fair and helpful comments, she irritated me. I believe anyone (in particular a judge) should also show respect for someone's work and point out the positives in it. That also ensures your comments are heard as constructive.

So in my case, I think she was not sure what to say, she looked at it and said vaguely "makes you wonder what happens up there", mentioned that I had done well with not over exposing the town lights but made no mention of the 4 meteors in the sky whatsoever (or the stars for that matter), in a relatively still light polluted sky. She found the windmill much too dark (on a moonless part of the night). I suppose that I could have used layers to adjust the exposure on the light polluted sky only and have a layer for the windmill looking brighter. I didn’t bother for two reasons: 1. I am not that good in photoshop, 2. More importantly, wouldn't that have taken the attention away from wanted to show: 4 shooting stars? She did not even seem to see them, I assume the dark windmill not positioned at 1/3rd was too much of a distraction, lit or not lit. 😉

Granted a street photographer may not know about this type of photography so they may not be that aware of some of the points I mentioned above, so thought I’d discuss with her at the pub afterwards, not for her to change my medal, but to explain more about this type of photography.

I explained that I used the windmill as a prop to hide the road, where the lights from the cars would flash into the sensor, and also positioning it between Gemini and Orion, all the while making sure I had the radiant in my frame to make the composite. Otherwise I’d have just pointed at the Sea and not had to bother with the light pollution, easy peasy! I also mentioned that it took me 45 min out of a 3 hour shoot at -1 degrees in a frosted field, to decide on where to place the camera for the rest of the night, which I believe must be acknowledged.

But it seemed a lost cause to discuss with this person though, who seemingly believes I have everything to learn from her and she has nothing to learn from me. It disappointed me because I joined the club as I wanted to learn more, but also share what I know. I think I can contribute as well despite my short experience with a camera compared to them.

Firstly, she made the comment “I don’t know your constellations!”. *MY* constellations?!? And fair enough she doesn’t know them, but why not listen then when I try to tell her about them? (I wonder what she would think if I told her “I don’t know these random people whom you photograph in streets I wouldn’t know where to locate on a map”)
Then she shrugged about the light pollution – showing she does not know a thing about doing this type of photography.
And finally, she started replying to the rest of my comments by addressing herself to someone else saying “I meet so many people who get so attached to their work because of how long it took them and how hard it was.” But apparently, this doesn’t come across in a photo, and the windmill’s position was simply not pleasing. She’s a designer, so it’s her job and she knows.

Of course I’ll get attached to my work, I am not sure what that is supposed to mean? If I didn't, then where would I find the will to go out in a frosted field in the middle of the night, and I don’t even have a car?? Even if I'm attached to my work, that doesn’t mean I can’t take criticism and I find it ironic to be told that I am too attached to my picture coming from someone who does not seem capable of taking enough distance from her numerous awards to be able to discuss with me later and being so defensive as if I was attacking her when I was merely after a dialogue.

She was so defensive that at some point, that I told her I had no problem with her comments because I also knew what my picture was worth, judging from my flooded twitter feed, and my picture being specifically asked for by several media. Funnily enough, everyone had congratulated me for it the previous day, except her, even though she was standing right there when others were doing it. I don’t even think she has ever ‘liked’ or commented on single picture I posted on the club’s Facebook group.

I find the above two attitudes a little sad and ruins the atmosphere. I’m assuming this is all due to insecurity and competitiveness. In the case of the camera club person, it makes no logical sense: she’s a street photographer, so what “threat” am I to her?

So that’s my little rant. The downside of being on leave is having too much time to think about pointless attitudes! I should focus on all the other people with positive comments and asking to join me the nights I go take photos.

A difficult situation Sumitra, but photographic criticism is fraught with difficulties. I prefer to give constructive feedback to images, but I don't consider myself to be an expert to any degree.

To play devil's advocate here... often "polite" criticism does nothing to improve your photography. Personally, I'm always suspicious of praise! Good photography critics will give you constructive feedback, but they should also focus on the little details that would help to improve an image. I suspect that will often come across as being picky about small details... but it's often those details which separate a good image from an outstanding one.

I wasn't in the room with you, so can't judge.

I've often thought about going through the RPS distinction process, but haven't had the time yet. It's a tough ride, and your images can literally be torn to bits if the judges don't like them! But if you want to improve as a photographer, I think you need to take it on the chin. It doesn't mean that the judge is right... you're perfectly entitled to hold another opinion... but it should make you reassess what you've produced, so that you can satisfy yourself that you've produced the best image possible.

Thanks for your reply, Mike.
I agree that polite criticism doesn't always help with improving. But this was the 4th competition evening, and it was the one that left me most uncomfortable of all. That is not to say that the other judges were all polite, but when commentating on the pictures, they also spent time pointing out the good aspects in them and how they felt the picture conveyed this or that.

Now, I would not say they would point out these things for the sake of politeness or stroking someone's ego before giving the 'areas for improvement'. Rather, this is helpful for everyone else who is listening to comments on others' photos. For instance, I have only done street photography once in my life, and therefore have no idea what constitute a 'good' image, or good practice. If a commentator just spends time telling what's wrong in images, I'll certainly know what not to do, but what about what's good to do? With other judges I came out knowing what was good to try and do as well as what not to do. All the previous judges gave me both 'things to think of doing' and 'things to avoid doing' and that is what I used when I went out and tried some street photography of my own. I do not feel these 2 hours were of any use to me.

I don't have an issue with the feedback per say, I took issue with the delivery, and then later the unwillingness to discuss over a drink.
Being an academic is a constant tough ride and taking it on the chin is routine. It is daunting to receive comments during peer review process for publishing articles, or presenting at a conference itself.

Anyway, one person asked me if I was Okay at the end, and mentioned that it was her style to be abrupt and that he'd found it difficult to comment on her photos with his comments being taken out of context.

Regarding the RPS process, I am quite interested in it too!
I have had 10 pictures (for the L panel) ready for a couple of weeks and have not yet had a chance to choose a date. I also do need to print in larger format and mount the pictures. If you are interested and have the time, we could pick a date to go together if you wanted?

Regarding the RPS process, I am quite interested in it too! ...
If you are interested and have the time, we could pick a date to go together if you wanted?

That would be lovely, but not a chance at the moment I'm afraid. It's going to be another 6 months before my time is planned to free up again. Much as I'd love to do this, it just isn't practical at the moment.

That would be lovely, but not a chance at the moment I’m afraid. It’s going to be another 6 months before my time is planned to free up again. Much as I’d love to do this, it just isn’t practical at the moment.

Ah well, perhaps for the A Panel later 🙂 Although who knows, they dates book up so quickly that I may only end up booking it in several months time. I may also switch some of the photos for other ones.
It does take time to do these things and if rushed, they are not enjoyable!

Glorious photos, Tej and Sumitra!

Sumitra, I'm still just astonished you didn't actually set fire to the windmill with that burning steel wool/egg whisk trick!

Tej: What have you done to the earlier photo? Have you deleted it? They may not have been Geminids but let's be having a look anyway!

Good to know we've already got new photographs for the January lecture video! High res links as soon as you like, please, folks!

Sumitra, I’m still just astonished you didn’t actually set fire to the windmill with that burning steel wool/egg whisk trick!

Burn my windmill? Ha!!! Never!
🙂

I'm working on a timelapse, I will send it when it is done 🙂
I'll put everything on drop box as usual.

So that’s my little rant.

Sumitra, as a journalist and editor I have plenty of personal experience of judges who are fools, idiots and probably corrupt ne'er-do-wells. Only a small handful of judges demonstrate clarity of thought, wisdom and good old fashioned common sense and award first prize where it belongs - on my shelf.

So console yourself with the fact that the judge was simply not of the right calibre to recognise true talent and genius. Next time, however, a wise and knowledgeable judge will be deciding...

Only a small handful of judges demonstrate clarity of thought, wisdom and good old fashioned common sense and award first prize where it belongs – on my shelf.

😉
That made me laugh!!

But don't get me wrong, it's not that I wanted a gold medal or disagree with the comments. I disagree with the delivery and the complete unwillingness to discuss especially from someone who has rarely done night time photography and so I doubt any astrophotography.

I know its Christmas Day but I had to finish this!

So much dewed up footage! I had to use fade in fade out transitions to cover as many up but there are sequences of dew that make an interesting nice effect on the bright stars if only it could be consistent, lol. I know there is a lot wrong with it but I tried to heed all your points about framing etc with my still images and I feel I have learnt a lot with the process to do better at my next attempt. Also, all the frames that I think are meteors, I made sure were isolated frames (otherwise I know they would not be meteors but satellites or planes). But let me know if any doesnt seem like it to you. Sorry some of them are greenish, its because of the dew I had to do some funky colour processing to camouflage it...albeit not very well in many cases. The last segment of the timelapse has a nice horizontal milky way but it was around 3am-4am and by then I was too sleepy watching the skies to bother clear the dew off the lens.

Do give me feedback for me to improve on, I learnt so much from you guys this year.

I slowed the framerate to 12fps so we can catch some of the meteors

http://youtu.be/5sZLhonFyXQ

Glorious photos, Tej and Sumitra!

Tej: What have you done to the earlier photo? Have you deleted it? They may not have been Geminids but let’s be having a look anyway!

Oh sorry Andy, I didnt realise by making the images on my flick private will come off the forum too. See, I like to keep my gallery to a minimum with my best efforts. But here on the forum, its important to see our progression, I totally agree. So here was the image I posted initially which I thought were meteorites and ruthless Mike pointed out were all satellites 😉

I really like this, Tej.

The dewing, as you say, can be quite effective... the stars slowly being extinguished by dew on the lens. May not have been intentional, but it looks good!

Thanks Mike. I realise I made that video too long with the meteor photos at the end. I think getting a proper image or timelapse of our Milky Way in all its true colours is now my biggest desire. I have to go somewhere even darker than East Sussex methinks. I might go down to Cornwall within the next couple of weeks to have a go at it.

We are supposed to be reaching the peak of another significant Meteor shower called the Quadrantids but sadly the moon is out in force so I wont bother chasing this one. Pity though 🙁