Sunday, May 29, 2016

My New Domain



Hello :)

As mentioned before here, change has come to the Yellow House. From now on you will be able to find me at www.fromayellowhouse.com , so please update any bookmarks or links that you have to my blog.

I'm excited to be embarking upon a new era for the Yellow House, so I hope that you'll continue to visit me here as I go forward.

Have a wonderful day!

Friday, May 20, 2016

Another View Just Above The Rock


I thought that I'd share another photo today. This one was also taken on Good Friday. I took quite a few pics that day :) I realized after posting the photo yesterday that the rock was right below the frame of today's photo.

The tiny black flecks above the trees are birds. They were having a good time that day and so was I!

Happy weekend wherever you are!

Mars at Opposition This Weekend



I'm a bit of a stargazer, so I love taking a look at the heavens on the nights when we have a clear view here in the UK. I've been like this since I was a little girl. I've always been intrigued by the beauty and the majesty of the night sky. When I look up I feel small next the the vastness, but I also feel something great within because I know that the corner of the night sky that I can see is a part of something greater.

I get extra excited when there are events happening in the night sky and this weekend, in the early morning hours of Sunday, May 22nd, the planet Mars reaches opposition in the constellation Scorpius. This is a great time for osbservation. The magnificent red planet will be visible on the southern horizon. It'll reach its highest point in the sky at around midnight BST, but it'll be visible for much of the night. I don't know how clear the view will be here on Sunday morning, but I'm going to give it a go and see what I can see.

Ian Savage, Head of the Jessops Training Academy has said, “For those wanting to get a clearer view, this is the ideal occasion to look up into the sky and delve into the curiosity of our universe. With the right kit, you’ll be amazed at what you can see.”

I'm always interested in learning more about the night sky and I'm increasingly interested in learning what I can about capturing what I see on camera.

Here are some tips for capturing Mars from the Jessops Training Academy:

  • Mars will be visible for much of the night, reaching its highest point in the sky at around midnight in the UK. However, make sure you are positioned somewhere where the air is clear to ensure better visibility. Travelling out to a country location will be of a huge benefit as you’ll have less light pollution ruining your view.

  • Once night falls, give your eyes a chance to adjust to the darkened environment. It takes around an hour for your eyes to get adjusted to seeing in the dark, and letting them adjust will give you the best views through the telescope.

  • Shooting Mars will be different to capturing a regular night sky. First of all, you’ll want to use a longer lens. As you’re capturing a specific part of the night sky, not the whole thing, this will allow you to hone in on the planet. A lens with a minimum focal length of at least 200mm is ideal, if not then a decent optical zoom will suffice.

  • Lens-wise you want to follow two simple rules – wide angle and fast aperture. A wide angle will allow you to capture an expansive view of the sky, while a fast maximum aperture will allow your camera to gather in as much light as possible. You can think of a telescope as a funnel to collect lots of light and concentrate it into a tiny beam that will fit inside your eye, this means you will be able to see objects fainter than your eye alone can detect.

  • Deciding which telescope to choose amongst the multitude of different options is a challenge even for the experienced observer. For the newcomer, there are some great, affordable options such as the Skywatcher Capricorn 70 TQ1 Telescope. The 900mm focal length on this telescope, combined with the sub-£100 price makes it a good choice for starter users to get their bearings. It also comes equipped with an equatorial mount, a feature you’ll see on all high-end telescopes that allows it to track objects as they traverse the night sky.

  • If you find that you are getting an obscured view through the telescope you might want to check the collimation – or alignment – of the optics. Reflecting telescopes are the most susceptible to this so you will need to refer to the instruction manual for details of how to collimate your particular telescope.

  • Once you start to spend a little more money you start to see the real jump in quality. Celestron’s computerised telescope is a more serious tool, with which you’ll be able to glimpse the rings of Saturn or the surface of Jupiter. Take it somewhere darker and you’ll be able to see distant galaxies, and its database of celestial objects will make this easy for you. It’s an incredibly lightweight and transportable piece of kit.

  • If you’re really committed to night photography and think it’s going to heavily contribute to your portfolio then you may want to look at a camera that specialises in low light. Investigate mirrorless systems as there are some great, low-light mirrorless cameras out there that are multi-purpose, such as the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II. 
These are great tips! I'll be referring back to these as I step further into photographing the night sky. Hopefully one day I'll be able to share something wonderful here. Until then I'll be out there this weekend hoping to get a glimpse of beautiful Mars. Happy Weekend!

*Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way. I just thought that I'd share these tips.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Simple and Random Rocks


Hello :)

I was scrolling through my photos earlier and had fun looking at what's there. I've been lucky enough to capture some beautiful bits of scenery here and there, but sometimes I've taken random pics just because. I love being out in nature so much, so when I'm out walking around the Wiltshire countryside pretty much everything that I see is fair game :)

Here's a perfect example above of my anything goes mentality...I took a picture of a rock! Hey, who knows what was going through my mind, but in the end it gives me a chuckle so it did its job even though it's simply a picture of a rock. I remember this day...Good Friday...and I remember how gloriously beautiful the day was. This simple, random photo takes me back and it brings to mind the joy that I felt on that day, so random is good :)

Just thought I'd share ;-)

Have a great day wherever you are!

Monday, May 09, 2016

Lines of Trees and Mondays


Happy Monday! :)

I know that sometimes we cringe when we hear this greeting because Mondays can be rough sometimes. But, sometimes Mondays can be great! Everyone has their feelings about this day. I have had my share of bad Mondays, but I've also had rough Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, etc. These days I just think of Monday as a new beginning. It's a new week and a new day and you get another chance at things, so I'm good with that. It's great to be alive :)

Anyway, I thought that I'd just share a photo today to get the week off to its start here at the Yellow House. I took this photo back on Good Friday when hubby and I took a walk that morning. It was a cold, but gorgeous morning. Here's the other photo that I shared from that day. The other one was more picturesque, but I like this one too. I have a thing for trees and especially lines of trees :) These trees are along a fence and are sort of a dividing line between the fields.

At that point when I took the photo, there weren't any leaves on the trees because it's been so cold here in England. We finally had some beautiful warm weather here over the weekend though and I wondered if the leaves had finally shown up on those trees. Everything seemed to come to life this weekend so I hope that the trees are finally cloaked in green.

I think that we'll just have to take another trip out there to check things out again, now that it's not as cold as it was on Good Friday. I look forward to it. I'll have to snap a few photos again and share them here.

Have a great week wherever you are!