I hauled my camera and tripod down to the cemetary behind
our house the other night and took these shots with the
astrophotography settings. This kind of photography is
addicting :0)


Pretty, yet kind of creepy! The temperature was in the low 30's
and by the time I got back up to the house, my fingers and toes
were numb :0) Was worth it to get these pictures.

December 28, 2011.

More night time shots taken using the settings in my previous
post. I took both of these pictures well after dark. I had my
camera and tripod set up in our back yard looking toward the
back of our house. I love the surreal look of these pictures.


Sky and stars above the arbor in our garden. The streak toward
the top right of the photo is a jet flying over. The skies will be clear
tonight and I'm looking forward to taking more pictures. It's
amazing what the camera sees that the human eye can't see at
night.

Astrophotography

This is one of my first attempts at astrophotography. Terry sent
me a link to a webpage about this type of photography because
he thought it might be something I would be interested in, and
he was right. I was surprised at how easy this is to do. The
following are the camera settings I used to capture these stars
in the night sky on December 2nd.

Camera settings

• Program Mode - Set to Manual.

• Autofocus - Turn off, or set to Manual.

• White Balance - Set to Daylight or use a
• custom white balance (especially if your
  
• camera is modified).

• Drive - Set to One Shot.

• ISO - This is discussed in detail in a following section,
  
• but generally should be set to 1600 or 800 for long
  
• exposure deep-sky astrophotos.

• Metering - Generally doesn't matter, but you can try
  
• setting it to Spot if you are shooting the Moon or Sun
  
• (with proper filtration)

• Exposure Compensation - Set to Zero, no exposure
  
• compensation. Doesn't really matter because you are
  
• not using autoexposure.

• Shutter Speed - Set to the exposure you want, up to
  
• 30 seconds can usually be dialed in directly. For longer
  
• than 30 seconds, set to Bulb. On some cameras, Bulb
  
• may be a separate exposure mode setting, or it may be
  
• accessed on the shutter speed dial past the 30 second
  
• setting.

• Self Timer - If you don't have a remote release, you
  
• can use the camera's self-timer to trip the shutter so
  
• you don't have to touch the camera, which will help
  
• reduce vibrations and possible star trailing.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time!

My family...Christmas 2011.


My mom and her younguns! :0) Let's do it again next year guys!

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! My blog will be back on the 26th.

Happy Birthday, T!

Happy 55th birthday to my hubby, Terry! Born
this day, December 21st, 1956 in Manchester,
Tennessee. I loves you so much!

I wanted to share this freaky picture of tsunami shaped clouds in
Alabama. Click on this link for the story.

I wish I had a creek running through my backyard. So peaceful!
I could've stayed here all day.

“Water does not resist. Water flows. When you plunge your
hand into it, all you feel is a caress. Water is not a solid wall,
it will not stop you. But water always goes where it wants
to go, and nothing in the end can stand against it. Water is
patient. Dripping water wears away a stone. Remember
that, my child. Remember you are half water. If you can't
go through an obstacle, go around it. Water does.”
~ Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad

Country Creek

Just had to have a picture of this road sign :0)


Tightfit road indeed!

Tobacco Road

Tobacco barn in rural Smith county TN. Buffalo Valley community.

Oh Christmas Tree 2011

We found our perfect tree at Savage Tree
Farm. We've been going there for the past 4
years. It's kind of fun cutting down your own
tree. We got it up and decorated last weekend
much to the delight of our cat, Bullet, who
loves to lay under the tree and gaze up at all
the lights. You can see him in this picture. So
far he's been pretty good around the tree. He
will occasionally bat one or two ornaments down,
but that isn't a problem because they're plastic :0)

Red Barn, Blue Sky

Love that gorgeous blue sky!


Looks like someone started to paint this barn, but didn't finish
the job :0)

This Old House

We found this dilapidated house in the woods on our recent road
trip through Buffalo Valley. I wonder who lived there?


Close up shot.

Rin Tin Tin

I snapped this action shot of a pretty German Shephard as he
ran alongside the Jeep on our road trip :0)

I took this picture on "Happy Valley" road in the Buffalo Valley
community. Old barn, dry creek bed and country road :0) I
love rural Tennessee!

I love the colors of this old barn!

Garden Sunset

Dec. 1st sunset~

Freezing Fog

We had an amazing freezing fog on the morning of
Dec. 1st. I took these pictures around our yard.




You could hardly see our garden for the thick fog.

Bullet Drinking Out of The Bathroom Faucet - YouTube

Bullet Drinking Out of The Bathroom Faucet - YouTube

One of the many pretty backroads in the
Buffalo Valley area of Smith County.

Happy Birthday, Knox!

My niece, Kelly and her hubby Kerry welcomed Knox William
Kimbrough into the world at 4:07 am this morning. He weighed
in at 7lb 15 ounces. Congratulations guys!!!! You done good :0)
Here he is sporting his cute Santa hat.


I'm looking forward to meeting my new great nephew!

Backroad barn.

"And there is the headlight, shining far down
the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like
all parallel lines, will meet in infinity, which
is after all where this train is going." ~ Bruce Catton

Huge tree in Buffalo Valley. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Me and Terry took a road trip the day after Thanksgiving. We
found some really beautiful backroads in the Buffalo Valley area.
This is one of the many barns we found on our journey.

Kayakers on the Caney Fork.

Squirrel!!!

Yesterday, after our Thanksgiving meal at my sister's house, I
went outside and took some pictures of the little squirrel that
frequents her bird feeders :0)

Buddies

Our cats, Bullet and Jessica enjoying one of the warm and beautiful
November days last week.

The Butterfly Nebula from Hubble

APOD: 2011 November 13 - The Butterfly Nebula from Hubble

I didn't have a picture for today, but wanted to share this beautiful
shot from the Hubble telescope!

Attack Cat!

Our cat, Bullet has this really annoying habit. He likes to bite!
He loves to attack feet and legs. I have read that kittens bite
as a form of play. It's called "play aggression". Kitten and cat
play is replicating hunting behaviors, which are instinctive. I
hope as he gets older, he'll outgrow it.

Big orange moon rising behind a tree in our backyard. This
shot was taken on 11-11-11.

Hello Kitty!

I took this photo at night with my flash and the night portrait
setting. Can't believe my roses are still blooming in November.

Red Barns

On our recent road trip in rural Smith County, we came across
this huge farm with all these awesome red barns. I love old barns
and enjoy taking pictures of them.






Hubby Terry was talking about how he would love to turn this
barn into a house :0)