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June 18, 2007. Nearly at the beginning of my astrophotography journey, I witnessed a breathtaking phenomenon. Planet Venus disappeared for a while behind our closest celestial neighbour. During the lunar occultation of Venus, the Moon passes in front of the planet, obstructing it from view. It is a rare, infrequent phenomenon. Not as rare as a solar eclipse but still you may need to wait for several years until the next one. Today, on November 11, 2023, after the usual… Read More »Tinkering Story #15 – Lunar occultation

I always had a fascination with the sky. Mesmerising clouds, colourful rainbows, the night sky and of course lightning! The safest way to enjoy them is from behind a closed window inside your home or from inside your car (assuming that there are no metallic surfaces in your car’s interior). If you MUST go outside and capture them, these are a few pieces of advice: This is a timelapse video showcasing most of my lightning photos and a few of… Read More »Tinkering Story #14 – Lightning photography

Photographing constellations is a great introduction to astrophotography and a fun way to start learning the night sky. All you need is a camera, a lens and a tripod to start with. Constellation photography in its simplest form, only requires placing the camera on a tripod, setting the camera on Manual mode and taking the picture using the camera timer or a remote control to avoid camera shake. Don’t forget to always shoot in RAW format (Nikon: NEF). Hover over… Read More »Tinkering Story #13 – Constellation photography

The Rho Ophiuchi is a complex of interstellar clouds with several different nebulae. Rho Ophiuchi is located in the constellation Scorpius and is best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere.At the time of the shooting, in Parnonas mountain, Greece, the nebula was only about 15° above the horizon, making it a challenging target to capture and process.Photo info: NGC 7000. North America and the Pelican Nebula. In one of my Tinkering Stories, I mentioned a portable deep sky astrophotography setup. The… Read More »Tinkering Story #12 – Deep Sky Astrophotography at 135mm

I always had a fascination with the smallest creatures. The smaller, the better! I remember watching a groundbreaking film called Microcosmos, years ago wondering what kind of equipment was required to capture the inhabitants of the invisible world. I have tried macro photography before. Initially with a Canon 100mm macro lens and more recently with an extension tube and a 50mm reversed lens. A few of my macro photos are available on my greeksky and spacetinkerer pages. This time I… Read More »Tinkering Story #11 – Extreme Macro Photography

What is Infrared (IR) Photography? Have you seen these ghostly, out-of-this-world images where the trees and grass appear white or pink instead of green? Well, that’s it! All you need is a filter that only allows infrared light to pass, blocking all the other light wavelengths. Different IR filters and/or different post-process techniques achieve interesting variations. An IR photo can be colourful or high-contrast black and white. Any camera is capable of capturing IR photos but there is a hack… Read More »Tinkering Story #10 – Comparing IR Canon clip filters. Hoya R72 720nm vs Green.L 720nm

The Temple of Poseidon is one of Greece’s most well-known archaeological sites. I’ve been there so many times that I have lost count of them. I have visited and photographed the ancient temple by night and day from nearly all possible angles. I recall a shooting, years ago. A group of astrophotographers, chasing a partial solar eclipse, over the Temple of Poseidon, from a 2-kilometre distance. We were waiting at the top of a hill with our telescopes and cameras.… Read More »Tinkering Story #09 – Ancient Light

This is my favourite windmill in England! I have been there a few times and taken a couple of shots I would like to share. I will keep updating this page, with more Wilton Windmill nightscapes. No matter how well-planned a shooting is, there is always the possibility that something goes wrong.But not this time! Tonight everything was on my side. The weather was fine, the view to the Windmill was unobstructed, thin clouds created a nice halo around the… Read More »Tinkering Story #08 – Night Sky and Wilton Windmill

One of the most exciting aspects of astrophotography is the number of challenges, one must face in an effort to capture the elusive twinkling stars. Star Trails are relatively simple. You just put a camera and a wide lens on a tripod and take continuous shots for a couple of hours. After stacking the photos you get the apparent motion of stars in a single frame. But what about capturing all-night star trails during the longest night of the year?… Read More »Tinkering Story #07 – 12 hour Star Trails

The day is December 11, 2022. After a night in thick fog and below-zero temperatures, my neighbourhood in Caversham, Reading was transformed into a World of tiny crystals! I knew I had to do something about it (!) so I grabbed my faithful Nikon D600 camera, put on a reversed lens for macro photography, and stormed towards View Island to capture the tiny crystals on frozen spider webs. My favourite photo is the first one. Small, delicate and ephemeral. A… Read More »Tinkering Story #06 – Frozen Caversham, Reading UK