San Juan River Newspaper article
On March 2, Dave Lavender of the Herald-Dispatch published his article "Nature's Handiwork" which provided some insight into my San Juan Portfolio Grand Opening that same night. Dave did a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of the portfolio and I now have a digital PDF version of the article for your review. The article may be viewed at this link. I do not have a version with the photographs embedded. The article looked wonderful and I am very thankful to Dave for doing such a nice job. He is a self-proclaimed "river rat" himself, and so he has a very strong passion for the beauty of our rivers. Enjoy the article and have a great day.
Horseshoe Bend 2006 Image and articles
Horseshoe Bend is a fascinating location for creative photography. An early view for those who read my blog is now available of my latest print from Horseshoe Bend. The image is a first in two ways. It is my first near-far composition captured utilizing the tilt/shift lens with panoramic movement. It is also my first experience with the stitching plugin in Photoshop PS3 beta. I am very happy with the new PS3 stitching plugin and I am very excited about future efforts with this lens/software combination. The image has stimulated me to write about two topics related to the image. One article is titled "Two and three-quarter years" and discusses the importance of returning to locations in order to fully explore the creative potential that is there. The other article is titled "What do you do?" This article is an attempt to provide a very brief overview of how I take a RAW image and develop the image into a fully optimized print. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you enjoy the new material.
Astro-Physics to be featured on "Made in America"
I have had the fortunate pleasure of owning and operating Astro-Physics telescopes and mounts over the years. Their equipment is top of the line and I can't speak highly enough of them. I just read on their website that John Ratzenberger's "Made in America" has filmed a segment on AP and it will air this coming Tuesday night at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The show is on the Travel Channel and please double check the listings for the correct time. I have scheduled it on the DVR and I am sure it will be a very interesting segment.
We're back in the game!
I just placed my order for a modified Canon 350D with Hap Griffin. The camera will have the UV/IR Baader filter in place. I am very excited about re-entering astrophotography. I am excited to bring what I have learned over the past 3 years to image optimization and composition. There are at least 8 compositions I find interesting with the 135mm f2 lens and I hope to begin imaging in June. Some testing will take place before then with the first images coming on-line later in the summer. So, here we go, it is definitely not as intense as when I was imaging 3 years ago, but it will be fun and I believe very capable of producing portfolio quality images.
First Look at PS3 beta
Adobe has released a beta version of Photoshop PS3. I have been reading some remarkable stories of the enhanced Photomerge function with PS3 over PS2. I have recently gone to utilizing tilt/shift lenses as well as panoramic gear to aid in the quality of digital stitching. While at the Fine Art Digital Summit I captured a 3 pane image with the 24mm tilt/shift from Horseshoe Bend. I had played around with PS2 Photomerge and the results were not that impressive. Now my core program for stitching had been PTAssembler, so I was not concerned, it was simply an act of experimentation more than anything. Well I have been quite busy with the San Juan work and finally had a chance to take a look at PS3 Photomerge with the same 3 Horseshoe Bend images. I must say that the first impression is extremely positive. The blend was seamless and dead-on with alignment as well as tonal transitions in the sky. This is really impressive for an automatic setting. Now I just went through the paces rather quickly tonight and hope to really give the image a thorough workup over the next few weeks, but I must say that the initial impression is very favorable and I am relieved to now have a very high quality stitching solution with a very simple user interface. Stay tuned for more.
The Herschel 400 Astronomical League Project is underway
It’s not too late to join. We are about 30 objects into the Herschel 400. Hope to get another session in soon. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel so you get notifications on LIVE STREAMS.
Angels in Monoceros: The Monoceros M2 Complex
The Monoceros R2 molecular complex (often shortened to Mon R2) is a massive giant molecular cloud and one of the nearest active star-forming regions to Earth. It's a dynamic stellar nursery embedded in dense gas and dust, where new stars—particularly massive ones—are actively being born.
Key Facts
Location: Southwestern part of the constellation Monoceros (the Unicorn), near the border with Orion. It's part of the larger Orion-Monoceros cloud complex.
Distance: Approximately 2,400–2,700 light-years (around 830 parsecs).
Size and Structure: The main dense core is relatively compact (a few light-years across), but the overall molecular cloud and associated nebulae span a wide area—reflection nebulae alone stretch up to about 2° in the sky. It's situated well below the galactic plane, which makes it stand out in certain observations.
Age and Activity: Star formation here began roughly 6–10 million years ago. It hosts an OB association (young, hot, massive B- and A-type stars) that illuminates surrounding dust, creating prominent reflection nebulae with bluish hues. There's also significant emission from ionized gas (red glows) and dark nebulae that appear as shadowy silhouettes blocking background light.
Notable Features:
A central hub of massive star formation with embedded clusters, molecular outflows, and HII regions.
Infrared observations (like those from VISTA or 2MASS) penetrate the dust to reveal hidden young stars and protoplanetary disks.
It's a key site for studying early stellar evolution, variability in young stellar objects (YSOs), and the interplay between massive stars and their natal clouds.
The most famous and photogenic part of Mon R2 is the region around NGC 2170 (the Angel Nebula), a striking reflection nebula with wing-like dust structures, glowing blue from scattered starlight, mixed with red emission and dark lanes. Wider views of the complex reveal a richer tapestry of colorful gas, dust filaments, and star clusters.
Credit: GROK 2/28/26
Click on image for larger view.
New Astro Camera: OM-3
Join me for a LIVE conversation about this new astro camera coming to the market. Is this the best option for you? How does it compare to other options? https://www.earthandskyphoto.com Correction: when discussing Bulb mode with Canon, I incorrectly said it had a limit of 30”. I meant to say manual exposure has a max of 30”. In bulb, you need to use a remote control or app for exposure time control. The problem is you can’t set exposure time for stills in the camera menu. I was made aware that Olympus no longer owns the OM system. It is owned by Japanese industrial Partners, a private equity firm. For content on the OM-3 for astrophotography, please see Ben Chapell’s Narrow Band channel. https://youtube.com/@TheNarrowbandChannel?si=GcWY-BM9skG9LPhY
Jeff's Blog
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