April, May & June 2020 is the best time to film the Night Sky on the Eastern Shore- and here is why.

During 2019 JBOTV used satellite maps to determine where there may be possibly some dark skies ranging from Bortle Class 1-4. We successfully located several spots along the Eastern Shore and due to filming from March-September Milky Way timelapse, we have determined that April, May, & June are without a doubt the best times for photographing the Milky Way from the Eastern Shore.

The summer months of July and August are great times for tourist to view the Milky Way mainly because as soon as it is dark, the Milky Way is already visible. This is convenient and wonderful to witness however it is not the opportune time for photographing the Milky Way. The reason is simple. The position of the Milky Way during these months is South/South West putting the galactic center above Virginia Beach. This does look pretty cool, however the light pollution radiating from Virginia Beach is a bit much. So if you intention is to photograph the Milky Way with the best conditions, then April, May, and June is what you want to aim for.

Yes it is true that the Milky Way is visible above the horizon in March, but not by much. Plus the window for photographing is very narrow. All one will have is approx. between 3:30am and 4:15am. Only about 45 minutes. Plus this time of year you will be combating heavy condensation, weather fronts that are also prevalent on the Shore this time of year, etc. So, if you are making a special trip, plan on April-June for photographing and the summer just for enjoyable stargazing.

To best show you how and where to set up your overnight camera we have pulled these graphs from Photopills. They are all of the same night and same time. The white dots that create an arch represent the Milky Way and upon inspection of these graphics, you can clearly see where the darkest sky will be, and that is Wachapreague Virginia.

To be clear

The below charts are all of the same date and time. The only difference is the location of where you are on the Shore. Your location will determine how dark the sky will be from class 1-4 bortle sky.

The reason why this area is so good is because this time of year the galactic center is over the Atlantic Ocean. The light pollution from Virginia Beach is pretty far away and it is also south west, where the galactic center is south east. So really the light pollution is not even really in the frame, all you have is dark sky.

The light pouloution of Virginaia Beach is not in the shot.

The skies are so dark at Wachapreague that in the timelapse we filmed there you can see the shadow of Saturn being cast against Cedar Island. That’s a dark Sky!

There are many places to set up in that area and I also recommend contacting a guide. You may be able to charter a boat for several hours (with licensed captain) and photograph the Milky Way from a desolate island like Cedar Island. But you do need to talk to the local folks and check rules and regs pertainling to the Island. However most anywhere in a five-mile radius of Wachapreague should be excellent viewing.

As you move south down the Eastern Shore you can see on the chart how that effects where the galactic center will be. The further south means the closer the Virginia Beach light pollution.

The Cape Charles graphic you can see the galactic center is already about over Virginia Beach (or close). This is why we will photograph the Milky Way from Cape Charles during the new moon of April. Then in May Red Bank, then in June Wachapreague. That is our schedule for 2020.

Red Bank, closer to light poloution but still an excellent location. Galactic Center still over the ocean

Lastly, if you are into astrophotography/nightscapes, etc, here on the Shore provides a very unique situation for photographers. There just is not many places on the East Coast that has skies this dark and the view of the stars overlooking the Atlantic Ocean is incredible.

Galactic Center now over Va Beach

There is also a LOT of subjects for foreground images. Anything from boats, houses, crap pots, trees, etc.

A few quick tips.

·         Plan your time for prime viewing, we use photopills and it is a great planner.

·         Just take it as a fact that you will experience condensation. The Shore is a small strip of land with the Chesapeake Bay on one side and the ocean on the other. During the 3 months of spring, you are going to get dew. Just plan on it. We use 3\4 heat packs and attach to the lens with runner bands. It is cheap and most importantly it works.

·         Make reservations for lodging early and plan on several days if you can. Clouds are an issue on the Shore and to target just one night would be hard to do, the odds won’t be with you.

·         Be respectful at night while light painting.

·         If you are photographing in June on the Shore, have at least a 3 stage bug repellent system for you and your gear. We use bug bombs, spray on deet, and an OFF disbursement fogger.

If you are planning on photographing all night, your shoot will end just prior to Astronomical Twilight, but remember the sun will be rising over the ocean in a little over an hour. This is a perfect opportunity to film the sunrise over the Atlantic. Great shots.

For more teck info and to read our shoot log from our 2019 award winning Milky Way film click the link below.

https://jimbaughoutdoors.blogspot.com/2019/03/milky-way-madness-2019.html

Clear Skies and tight lines.

Jim Baugh

JBOTV

JBOTV Nightscape Gear 2020

Cannon 200d/SL2 Toniks 11-16mm, Cannon 50mmPrime, Cannon 24mm Prime, Tammeron 18-200mm, ioptron sky tracker equatorial mount, ioptron ballead, 2 monfrotto tripods.

Wachapreague Eastern Shore Virginia

Milky Way & Nightscapes by Astrophotographer, Cinematographer, Jim Baugh JBOTV Updated 8/24/2021

Announcement: We now offer High Gloss Metal Prints of our selected nightscapes. Click Here to go to our Gallery for all the easy order info. Cheers JB 

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8/24/21

World renowned very talented Nightscape Astrophotographer from Australia Richard Tatti recently included my Nightscape “Philadelphia Star” on his channel for viewing. I filmed this last fall in Cape Charles Virginia. You can see this on our Gallery Page and if you are on the Shore in Cape Charles, the CC Brewery has a metal print of this Nightscape hanging in the restaurant. Enjoy folks, more Nightscapes to come and be sure to check out Richards Nightscape Channel (you Tube), beautiful stuff!!

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Hi Folks! Here JBOTV will be posting various astrophotography and nightscapes. We will also post our settings and other info pertaining to the shoot.  Below is our basic set up that is fairly standard for each shoot however exposures time and lighting vary depending on a number of factors.

Also we would like to thank legendary photographer Kevin Adams for sending us one of his Lens Muffs that he designed and sells. If you shoot astrophotography or simply need an inexpensive easy and sure what to combat lens condensation, then the Lens Muff is your ticket! This is a piece of gear that folds smaller than a wallet and should be in EVERY photographers Kit.

The benefits are simple, you don’t need any power source, it is small, light, it is inexpensive, very well made and most importantly it works!!!

For our Tonika 11-16 F2.8 on a Cannon 200D/SL2 I use 3 hand warmers. While filming during spring here on the Eastern Shore of Virginia surrounded by water, everything will dew up and badly. The car, the tripod, all gear will be covered with Dew, except the lens. It stays perfectly dry with “0” condensation. I will film all night long, many hours and the heat packs last, have never had to change them out during long timelapse. Most any regular hand warmer heat packs will work, I buy them in bulk by the bag.

It only took me one overnight timelapse shoot where we got busted with dew only about an hour into filming. After that, I swore I would never have a busted night again due to condensation on the lens. Since strapping heat packs to the lens, have never had a problem.

You can order the Lens Muff online and is a very easy order right from Kevin’s website link below.

https://www.kadamsphoto.com/product/digital-after-dark-lensmuff/

Image capture in the field:

Cannon 200D\SL2, Tonika 11-16 F 2.8 ISO usually 400-1600. While composing shots we will use an ISO of over 6000, but all our takes will be under 1600 RAW + Jpeg. Monfrotto tripods, Ioptron equatorial mount and ball head, Vello Intervalometer, Cannon 50mm prime F 1,8 and 24mm prime F2.8, Tameron 18-200mm &Green Lazer Pointer.

UPDATE: Quite a few shoots now with the sky tracker. Basic polar alighment we are shooting exposures from 5 to 10 minutes each, no star trails. At 10 minutes ISO is set to 100. At 5 minutes, ISO 200. Around 3 minutes, ISO 400.

Lighting:

* GVM RGB 7S LED Camera Light Full Color Mini Video Light Kit Dimmable 2000K-5600K Bi-Color Panel Light.

* Moman On Camera Video Light for DSLR, 4.5 Inch 96 LED Panel CRI 96 Megnetic Bi-Color 3000K-6500K Brightness Dimmable OLED Display.

* YIWER Flameless Candles, 4" 5" 6" 

* 4 flashlights. One large beam, one spot, one red,one flood.

GVM RGB LED

Post processing and planning:

Photoshop CC, lightroom, and Deep Sky Stacker, Stellarium for PC, Dew Point.

Apps:

My Radar, Photo Pills, Polar Finder Pro, Polar Alignment, Sky Map, and Sun Position.

Other gear for the field:

Gaffers tape, Hot Hands heat packs to combat dew, Opolar Fan for condensation and bugs, Off insect fan, 1 black sock and 5 rubber bands used to wrap the lens.

2019 was a busy year for JBOTV producing the Short Film “The Milky Way Galaxy our Home” As seen from the Eastern Shore. The principle production lasted 4 months and the B Roll timelapse took 4 years to produce. The film so far has been selected for 7 festivals and has one 4 awards for Cinematography, Editing, Music and best experimental film at the Madras Film Festival in India. I attended two of the festivals and we really had a blast, met a ton of new friends and screen a lot of films. It is great to see all the talent out there! If you have not seen our film yet check it out below.

Wishing you clear skies, tight lines, and good eats!

Godspeed,

Jim Baugh

Founder

Jim Baugh Outdoors TV

 A tip from Jim:

ALWAYS get permission to film if not on public property, Always. So far a lot of people have been incredibly gracious in letting me film nightscapes, and it has always been enjoyable to meet the land/property owners. Never trespass, and scout out your locations during the day.

~JB

68 12/21 New Nightscape: “Milky Way and Ice”

New Nightscape! Location Chincoteague Island. Get your ice blocks and Milky Way Here! Last night finished wrapping up a total of six days production on the Island for Seaside Vacations, great shoot! Had a small window last night to try for the Milky Way, had storms approaching and the lighthouse was in full swing so did not get the longest exposure like I wanted, but got away with several 1 and 2 minute exposures. The August haze did not help much, but it is a great view of the Milky Way right over Assateague Island.

Foreground: 80 exposures f2.8 to f11, shutter 2-15 seconds, 11mm, GVM RGB Light.

Astro: Single 1 minute exposure, 11mm f2.8, tracked with Sky Tracker Pro.

JB

Two New Nightscapes! “Mimosa Barn” and “Corn Shed” 

Both at the same location on the Eastern Shore, Mimosa Barn, which is a beautiful event center. Both images were commissioned works and will be seen on our blog, however not for sale. Info: https://www.wedding-spot.com/venue/14119/Mimosa-Barn/

Last night was a wonderful July evening for filming and the weather was perfect. I filmed at three locations last night until around two am, had a great time under the stars. New moon is I think Friday, so all this week is good for Milky Way stargazing as long as skies are clear. Photo info below:

“Mimosa Even Center” 60 foreground RAW exposures, f 2.8 filmed at 11mm iso ranging from 100 to 400 with shutter ranging from 4 sec to 8 sec. Light, GVN RGM 7s and a spot. Monfrotto tripod, Vello intervalometer, lens muff with 3 heat packs, all exposures controlled through wifi.

Milky Way: Ioptron sky tracker, 7-minute exposure, f 2.8, 11mm, iso 200, lens muff with 3 heat packs. trigger was the intervalometer with a 2 second drive off the camera.

“Corn Shed” 24 foreground exposures ISO ranging from 100 to 400 and shutter ranging 4 to 8 seconds. F2.8, 11mm. Light, GVM RGB 7s. Moon was filmed with around 40 exposures. The Astro was a composite with the foreground stacked in Photoshop. The moon exposures were filmed on a separate night and were not tracked but fired off individually.

Camera / Cannon 200d/SL2. Images script/stacked in photoshop and some processing on the Milky Way was done in Lightroom Classic.

Mimosa Barn

Corn Shed

Behind the sceens filming "Corn Shed"

6/ 14/21 New Nightscape: “Milky Way over Chincoteague Bay Eastern Shore Virginia”

This is one of two Nightscapes I filmed while on the road doing the Nightscape workshop and also filming the new Tuna Show. The window for filming the Milky Way was about an hour in Wachapreague, skies covered again, then broke quickly once I got to Chincoteague. Finished filming this at around 3am in the morning. The boat was a bit of a bear to film because, well it’s a boat, it floats, and it moves. So it took some work in post to align the right images to make it work. After filming the folks got there around 5am and then we headed offshore for probably our best Tuna show. Great day, and night. Thanks to Seaside Vacations for hosting Jim Baugh Outdoors TV for this trip, if you want to go do some stargazing AND catch yellowfin Tuna, here is the number for places to stay 757.336.7070 (Seaside Vacations)

Photo Info Below:

Milky Way: Cannon 200D/Sl2, Tokina 11-16mm, Lens Muff 3 heat warmers, Monfrotto Tripod, Ioptron Sky Tracker, Velo Intervalometer. I took about 15 exposures, this is a single 5-minute exposure, F2.8, Iso 400. Processing lightroom and photoshop.

Foreground: Around 40 exposures takin however used about 10. Stacked/script import into Photoshop, blend/Lighten. light, GVM RGS 7s and a small spot. All other gear the same as above, the boat was shot at 11mm, very close.

Godspeed,

JB

Same night filmng in Wachapreague. Many thanks for the Wachapreague Inn for hosting JBOTV during this shoot. The place to stay wheather you are fishing or stargazing. Give them a call!

5/11/21 “Cape Charles Brewery”

New Nightscape: Cape Charles Brewery in Cape Charles Virginia. Well it finally happened, my favorite Astro weather service failed me. What was supposed to be 100% clear night had me chasing a clear patch of sky all night long. Sometimes 5am comes sooner than you think. So for the Astro this meant cranking down the exposures way shorter than I usually film, like 1 minute as apposed to 30minute exposures. Always enjoyable though, and it was a beautiful Monday evening in Cape Charles. The Brewery itself was a joy to film, the place is really cool. And if you have not been there yet, the food is excellent and of course they have plenty of their award-winning brew. They also smoke their own BBQ right on the lot. Plenty of outside seating, firepits, cornhole, the works. Great place.

Now for the Milky Way, if you don’t get a chance to catch it this week during the new moon, June is a fantastic month to view the night sky here in the Mid Atlantic. I should be in Wachapreague for the new moon of June filming, bortle 1 sky, can’t beat it!

Godspeed,

JB

Photo info: Foreground, 65 RAW exposures, ISO 100-200, Shutter, 2-8 seconds, Apeture-F11 down to 2.8. Cannon 200d/SL2, Tokina 11-16mm, Lens muff with 2 heat packs, manfrotto tripod, GVM RGB 7s Light, plus a small spot. Light stand. Camera was controlled with WIFI. Astro: 1-2 minute exposures. ISO 200-1600, aperture 2.8, Ioptron Sky tracker, Lens Muff, Tokina 11-16,, shot at 11. Script was stacked in Photoshop 2021

4/27/21 “Neptune Supermoon”

Wow, the folks were out tonight on the boardwalk to check out the Supermoon, great show. This was a bit of a bear to Shadowpaint, but got her done. Really great to see all the folks out there and lots of photographers. Great night.

Had been planning this shoot for a while, and scouted it twice to plot out how to film it. The crowd on the boardwalk while scouting was huge, no way to film it on a weekend. Fortunatley the supermoon landed on a Monday,  less people (but plenty still) with clear skies, so it worked out.

Really enjoyed filming this. Gave me a chance to do some "People Watching" which is not something that usually happens on an Astro Shoot. 🙂

Photo Info Below:

Cannon 200D/SL2 Lens Tokina 11-16 and Tameron 18-200

Foreground: Neptune 75 RAW exposures, 11mm, f5 to f11, Iso 100, Shutter .5 to 2 seconds. Light painted with GVM RGB S Light plus a small spot light. Monfrotto Fluid Head Tripod. All exposures and camera controlled with WIFI. Due to the constant changing light conditions, F Stop and Shutter were constantly changed with wifi while filming. The Moonrise happened 20 minutes before actual sunset. Plus Neptune was "Lit" once it was dark enough, about 4 spots that I counted. To compensate, higher F stop and a shutter of .5 to 2 seconds allowed enough for light painting to "Stick" to the subject.

ASTRO: Supermoon. Shot at 320mm. F7, Iso 200. 45 exposures

Stacking and Script, Photoshop 2021

Godspeed.

JB

Couple of behind the scenes shots on location

3/30/21 “Canoe Moon”

 New Nightscape: “Canoe Moon” At the Lesner Bridge Virginia Beach Virginia. USA

Took about 3 months of planning on this one, and tonight was the night, clear skies and almost full moon raising over the Lesner Bridge. I had wanted to light paint the Lesner Bridge for a while now and I knew it was gonna be a challenge, also a good little hike with gear. But talk about a gorgeous evening, and this is what it looks like, well, with almost 100 exposures. This is a beautiful bridge at night, yall come check it out!

Photo info below.

Foreground: Shadowpainting with a GVM RGB S7 light moded, 13 ft light pole, 48 RAW exposures, 4 sec shutter speed, F5, Lens muff with heat packs, Tokina 11- 16, Cannon 200d/sl2. Processing Photoshop.

Astro/Moon. A total of 50 RAW exposures were taken on a 18-200/320 equivalent Tameron.

* The astro was triggered manually, the foreground was all filmed using wifi as the camera controller for all exposures

JB

Filmed a top the Lesner facing south east. The sculpture is called "The Canoes" by Donald Lipski.

This was shot from under the Lesner Bridge, moon 320m, bridge 18m.

A few behind the scenes shots filming.

3/11/21 “Cushmans Landing”

Left Chicks Beach around 2am started filming about 3am. Our first Milky Way 2021! What was supposed to be a clear night with only 10% clouds was a good forecast, but those 10% clouds were in front of the Milky Way for the most part. I filmed from 3am to 5am hoping for a clean cloud break, it never really came, this is about as close as I got. But it was a beautiful night, and a great sunrise. The clouds did help with the foreground composition. Magotha Bay is beautiful and offers some excellent wildlife photography and excellent stargazing. Photo info below

Foreground Cushmans Landing: 15 exposures ranging from 4 to 10 seconds, ISO 200, GVM RGB S7 light plus a small spot, 13-foot light pole, stacked and blended in photoshop 2021. All exposures triggered through wifi including ISO and F stop.

Milky Way: Took about 45 exposures, this image is a single 2-minute exposure no stacking. Tracker is a Sky Tracker from Ioptron, intervalometer, and tripod. Tokina 11-16 lens with a lens muff with 3 heat packs. Shot at F2.8

Dedicated to “Tina”

2/17/21 “The New Lesner Bridge”

NEW NIGHTSCAPE : “The New Lesner Bridge 2021” If you have not seen the Lesner bridge at night, it is really quite something to see. With mostly rain and clouds for the month of Feb, I had a brief window overnight to film a nightscape. Biking yesterday in 70 degree weather, only hours later filming overnight in 30 degrees with a 20knot blow, no idea what the wind chill was, but I know it was bad! Seriously like to froze my &%# off! Don’t think have ever been that cold. Got the shots between 4 - 5:30am this morning. Even after hot shower, still cold. May skip biking today. Here is photo info. Cheers! JB

Foreground Lesner Bridge: 10 exposures ranging from F2-8 to F 4, 8 to 10 second exposures. Stacked and blended. Tokina 11-16mm, with lens muff and 3 heat packs.

Background Astro: 5-minute exposure, Ioptron Sky Tracker, Tokina 11-16, lens muff with 2 heat packs. Processing lightroom and photoshop. Foreground and Astro were filmed on separate nights. Astro was in Townsend, shot prior same elevation etc.

2/17/21 “Chicks Beach”

NEW NIGHTSCAPE : “Chicks Beach” This is the second Nightscape filmed last night, just before my fingers froze off. The foreground is located at the Chicks Beach access right next to Buoy 44 restaurant. Took quite a few exposures to light the scene, more than I thought.

Foreground Chicks Beach: 25 exposures ranging from F2-8 to F 4, 8 to 15 second exposures. Stacked and blended. Tokina 11-16mm, with lens muff and 3 heat packs.

All exposures triggered remotly with wifi.

Background Astro: Harvest Moon, shot on a Tameron 18-200 mm. Processing / compositing done in  lightroom and photoshop. Foreground and Astro were filmed on separate nights. The Harvest Moon was filmed in Oyster on Halloween Oct 2020, Single RAW exposure.

12/22/20 “Great Conjunction”

Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn referred to by some as the “Christmas Star” filmed tonight next to the “Star of Roanoke Virginia”. Clear night but the planets are pretty low on the horizon, lots of atmosphere to look through. But if you look you can see the moons of Jupiter. (some at least)Tip, check out Orion tonight, really awesome sight. Cheers and Merry Christmas. JB

Photo Info: Tameron 200mm/320Eq. Sky tracker, 2-8 second exposures. Variable ISO. 10 images stacked. Foreground, Roanoke Star Shot at18mm ISO 100

Next Night Orions Belt, sword & nebula shot at 200mm

12/21/20 “Biking Mill Mountain”

New Nightscape! “Biking on Mill Mountain” Last night we cruised the Parkway around Roanoke and Vinton hoping for some clear skies, no luck. Soooo, looked for a potential nightscape. Slammed on the brakes when we saw this up on Mill Mountain just beneath the Roanoke Star. Fun shoot and a cool subject. Photo Info Below

Cannon 200D/SL2 tameron 18-200mm, ISO 400 8-10 second exposures. Total 35 exposures stacked in photoshop. GVM RGB 7s light plus a small spot and light stand.

Tonight, will film Orion and the second day of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, clear skies tonight looking forward to it. JB

Lighting

12/3/20 “18 Days to the Giant Jupiter Saturn Conjunction Dec 21 2020”

New Nightscape: “18 Days to the Giant Jupiter Saturn Conjunction Dec 21 2020”

Wanted to get out and try to film this before the conjunction, had a very clear night, fantastic actually. This is one of the few images with our 200mm that we captured some of Jupiter’s moons and can be seen in this shot. This was filmed in Cape Charles on the Waterfront/beach, both the foreground and the planets. Good place to do some stargazing! Photo info below.

Foreground: 64 Exposures. 24mm 1.8 prime cannon lens with two heat packs. Variable aperture from 22 to 3, with shutter starting at 2 seconds, moving down to 8.

Astro: Sky Tracker, exposures were at 1 minute each, shot 10, used only two. Stacked in photoshop. Shot at 200mm APSC

Lights: GVM RGB 7s plus a small spot.

Will be filming the conjunction over the Christmas Holiday in the Mountains. Looking forward to it. Godspeed, JB

Lighting

11/29/20 “The Gambeler”

New Nightscape! “The Gambler” filmed tonight in Cape Charles. Photo info below but just a quick note, this is an interesting technical shot. The astro (cygnus region Milky Way) was a 20-minute exposure, the foreground was 65 exposures with a constant change of F stop and shutter speed with almost every exposure. I had been looking at this shot for quite a while figuring out how to make it work while the boat was still high and dry. Happy Thanksgiving weekend folks detailed info below for photo buffs.

Foreground: 65 exposures with a constant change in F stop and Shutter speed. This was triggered remotely by wifi. Starting shooting at Nautical twilight and had the F stop and F 11. Shutter 4 seconds, as light diminished by the minute, lowered the f stop and decreased the shutter from 4 to down to 20 seconds. Reached F 2.8 towards the end of the shoot. Tokina 11-16mm shot at 11mm. Lens muff with 2 heat packs, Cannon 200D/SL2 Monfrotto tripod.

Astro/ Milky Way-Cygnus region : 5 exposures five min each at 100 ISO, f 2.8, 11mm, Ioptron Sky Tracker, processing, Deep Sky Stacker, then photoshop and lightroom.

Filming on location

11/18/20 “Cape Charles Harbor”

New Nightscape: Cape Charles Harbor November Milky Way.

Been wanting to shoot this for a while. Nice evening but cold windy night.

Photo Info: Milky Way Tracked 5-minute exposure. F2.8 11mm. Sky tracker mount.100 ISO. Foreground 75 exposures ranging from 1 to 10 seconds. ISO 100, F2.8. All exposures triggered remotely WIFI including all camera exposure adjustments. Stacked in Photoshop. Shadowpainting with a GVM RGB 7s and a small spotlight. Foreground also shot at 11mm, Tokina 11-16. Lens protected by Lens Muff with two heat packs. No condensation formed at all.

Jazz and I had a great time shooting this.

Cheers. JB

A few behind the scenes shots

11/9/20 “Tangier Island November Sky”

WOW, filmed in Tangier for 3 days and talk about some dark skies! Pretty incredible stargazing on that Island. Fascinating place, great seafood and awesome people. I light painted down on the waterfront this scene then broke out the sky tracker an got several 5 minute exposures. Also saw a lot of the Taurids Meteors, beautiful night. Foreground was 35 images, second image is a composite of all the lights. great shoot!  As soon as we finish this short film promo and turn it over to ESVA Tourism for release, we will post when it is ready. Godspeed. JB

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Photo Info: Foreground/ Cannon 200D/SL2, 35 exposures shutter speed 4-20 seconds, filming was done during astronomical twilight and night.  Lens Tokina 11-16. F2.8, ISO 100 to 400. Lights-GVM RGB 7s with light stands. No filters were used.

Controller/ WIFI connected to the SL2 using a Samsung S10 for preview, trigger, and adjustments per exposure for ISO and Shutter.

Milky Way/ Used 1, 5-minute exposure and a total of 10 exposures were taken in the field. 11mm, f2.8, ISO 200. Tracking was done with an Ioptron Sky Tracker Pro on a monfroto tripod.

Dew Proctor/ Lens Muff with three hot hands heat packs (hand warmers). Using this system for two years now in massive dew, has not failed on single shoot. The camera can be drenched in dew, the lens perfectly dry. You cant film in Nov on the Chesapeake without something to combat condensation. This works.

Processing/ for the Milky Way was done in Lightroom, the foreground was processed in Photoshop. All 35 images were imported as a script, stacked and blended in lighten mode. Original master of this image is 6000X4000 resolution and is output in both RGB and CYMK. The photo online is a medium res jpeg at around 1200.

A few behind the scenes below

11/4/20 “Missouri WW2 Gun Barrell”

This is the Gun Barrel that was used on the U.S.S. Missouri and now has been on display at the Eastern Shore of Virginia Wildlife Refuge located just as you get on the Shore heading North from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This is where I bike to about two or three times per week, real pretty place to hike and bike.

I had thought about this for a long time and finally met with the folks at the Refuge to get permission to film. Thing is the refuge closes ½ hour after sunset. Normally this would not be possible to shoot, and not sure it was. Thing is it is very dark early now, this area is a bunker so it is dark anyway, plus now controlling the camera wireless, I film so fast I thought I might pull it off. Well it worked. Here is the photo info, and the most exposures yet for a NightScape. Great fun to shoot. If you have not visited the Refuge, it is a must when you come to the Shore. Cheers. JB

Photoinfo: 74 exposures shutter between 3-20 seconds. F2.8 to F4. I started at F4 or 5 because there still was some light in the sky so stopping up the aperture helped for the first 10 or so exposures Tokina 11mm. Remote control wireless with the smartphone to preview and trigger, and change ISO and shutter. Light, two flashlights and the GVM RGB 7s. Stacked in PhotoshopCC21. Cannon SL2/200D

Behind the scenes

10/31/20 "Oyster"

New Nightscape! “Halloween at Oyster”

What an incredible filming experience tonight. Conditions perfect, and there was even a crowd of cars lined up in Oyster to watch this amazing full moon rise over the Atlantic. Although this is the Blue Moon, rising over the horizon it is a beautiful burnt orange. What a sight. Tonight, the skies even cleared enough for a quick Milky Way Peak. Loads of fun. This wrecked fishing boat I have filmed during the day, but always wanted to light paint it. Bit of a high tide, got wet, but all gear stayed dry. Happy Halloween!

Photo Info: Moon / 18 to 200mm shot at 200 APSC/320 EQ ISO 100 Total exposures 25. Used three for the background image.

Wrecked Boat / 45 exposures f2.8 shot at 11mm. Shutter ranged from 6 to 20 seconds depending on the shot. Light painting shadows used GVM RGB 7s light and a small warm torch.

A few behind the scenes shots

10/24/20 Mermaid Bay October Milky Way

“Going Vertical”

Yes, this time of year that is what the Milky Way is doing just after the Sun sets. This is about the latest I have filmed the Milky Way during the end of the season, still an awesome sight. Filmed on location lower Eastern Shore south of Cape Charles, Mermaid Bay. Looking southwest across the Chesapeake Bay.

Photo Info: Foreground / 68 Raw Exposures that were selected and used to stack. Exposures ranged from 4-20 seconds. F2.8 ISO 100. Light painted with GVM RGB 7s, a variable spotlight and remote-controlled candles. The filming was remotely controlled through WIFI. /// Milky Way: One single 5-minute exposure on an Ioptron Sky Tracker Mount, 200 ISO, F2.8. Post processing was done in the NEW Photoshop 2021!!! And boy what a thrill it is! Great job Adobe.

Lens Tokina 11-16, everything filmed at 11mm.

Godspeed,

JB

Note, First pic is the master, then a few behind the scenes shots while filming. Fun stuff!

10/20/20 Historic Scott Estate Ruins

Historic Ruins of The Scott Estate in Bay Creek /Cape Charles Virginia.

FIRST: Huge thanks to my new friend Ron Wrucke for contacting us and suggesting to film these historic ruins for a Nightscape. I was thrilled, and Ron provided the golf cart to make it happen AND “Cleared The Path” to enable our cameras to do what they needed to do. This was a great thrill to film, enjoyed it very much.

This Nightscape was all about the foreground. The site had overgrown so much there really was little to no sky, plus a fog bank moved in so no last-minute Milky Way. But that is ok, this shoot was all about the foreground subject. This site sits in Bay Creek in Cape Charles and you can get most of the history here https://sundayhistorical.com/blog/f/william-l-scott-estate-cape-charles-va-and-nypn-railroad

Really cool story and so enjoyed filming this. Thanks again Ron for contacting us and look forward to seeing yall again soon. You got one awesome golf cart!

Photo Info, 54 exposures from 4 to 15 second shutter, ISO 100, F2.8, Tokina 11mm, GVM RGB Lights 7s plus other flashlights. Sky tracker mount but not used. Remote Candles, Lens Muff with 3 heat packs, Monfrotto Tripod. All exposures were controlled remotely through WIFI.

Cheers, and thanks again Ron for making this happen.

Godspeed.

JB

Behind the Scenes

On location day of filming Fall 2020 /  Oct.

Late 1800's

10/14/20 Cape Charles Museum

New Nightscape!: Cape Charles History Museum, well , at least what is sitting by the entrance. We filmed this place for the ESVA Tourism Film and just thought it was a great museum, and these two objects in front, right by the road had always caught my eye. For a while I thought it would make an interesting Nightscape, so with permission, I filmed it tonight. This is an old tractor in the background, and in the foreground a horse drawn cultivator. Very cool, and whenever you go in and out of Cape Charles, you pass every time. Go check out the Museum sometime but do check for hours with the Covid thing going on, Worth the trip. Enjoyed this shoot, Cheers. JB

First image Master, second a quck behind the scenes shot of how it was filmed.

PHOTO INFO: Around 40 exposures, shutter ranged 4-15 seconds. 11mm F 2.8. 100 ISO, Camera WIFI controlled, Lights GVM RGB 7s, plus some flashlights. Processing Photoshop. 

Behind the scenes.

10/9/20 “Philadelphia Star”

New Nightscape! “Philadelphia Star” This train car is located behind the Cape Charles Brewery in Cape Charles Virginia USA. This old girl was a real treat back in the day carried such notable passengers as President Woodrow Wilson. She now sits at the CC Brewery behind the lovely outside seating. Also in the image is tonight’s Milky Way filmed right there by the train car. Big thanks to Ms Star and Bob for being so kind as to let me film inside this awesome train car, and also to Chris at the CC Brewery.

Photo Info: Foreground 40-45 images light painted with a modded GVM RGB Light. 4-15 sec exposure, f2.8 200 ISO. Milky Way was shot at 11mm, 3 minute single exposure 200 ISO on a sky tracker  by Ioptron. 11mm lens with lens Muff with three heat packs.

JB

Behind the scenes Light Painting the Philadelphia Star

 

 

10/6/20  Edgerton Seafood Warehouse Cape Charles VA Circa 1900

Edgerton Seafood Warehouse Cape Charles VA Circa 1900, New Nightscape! I had been looking for something unique and historical, found it, in Cape Charles. Filmed tonight under super clear sky. Really enjoyed this. Certainly, was a challenge, but great fun! JB

Foreground: Light Painted 33 exposures with various exposure times ranging from 4 to 15 seconds, ISO 200 to 400, F 2.8 11 MM. This shoot would not be possible without total remote control of most functions and preview of the camera. This was done through WIFI connection.

Lights: GVM RGB modded, 2 spotlights, 2 remote controlled battery operated candels

Lens Tokina 11-16mm Cannon SL2. Samsung Galxy10 smartphone used to trigger and preview all images using WIFI. The seond image, the moon was the Strawberry moon filmed on a Tammeron 18-200mm.

All images were stacked in Photoshop

Love old buildings like this, super cool. JB

PS: This night the Milky Way (cygnus region) was seen clearly and rose over the left side of the building. However I had planned on the design of the scene to have the moon over the building as it would occur naturally. The reason opted out of the Milky Way was because I did not bring the tracker on the shoot. But if you happen to see this place during the Fall, (Oct) the Milky Way appears right over the building, although you will not see the Galactic Center because it is below the horizon this time of year.

A couple of captures while filming this Nighscape

The scene with just two remote controlled candels

About half way through filming

10/3/20 Harvest Moon over Magothy Bay

Harvest Moon at Magothy Bay 2020 Eastern Shore of Virginia:

Had a fantastic time last night filming the Harvest Moon, met some really nice people who were also out checking out the moon rise, it really is something!

Photo Info: Foreground, 16 exposures light painted with GVM RGB Lights, 4 sec exposure at 18mm. Stacked in photoshop. In the field used the Cannon App to remotely control the camera during lighting, works great. The key on this shoot was using the WIFI camera app, it was very tricky setting up lights with all the rocks, water, etc. Being able to fire off the camera and monitor all the images and control all the settings was a life saver on this shoot.

Moon: Shot at 800 ISO at 200mm Tameron lens. Cannon 200d/SL2.

PS, Mars upper left hand corner

JB

Behind the sceens light painting

Here is something kind of cool. This image of some shadowy ghost, and a lot of them in the image is actually myself setting up lights all around Magothy Bay. I used a Pin Light filter to expose the image in Photoshop. I was able to set up the lights and control the camera remotely, without that WIFI capability would not have pulled off this shot. Lots of fun and awesome place. JB

9/11/20 Milky Over Shockley Farms Produce Stand

Had a brief window of opportunity during these last nights of the Milky Way which should still be visible (Galactic Center) for the next 6 nights however it will be low on the horizon so you will want an unobstructed few. I had a lot of fun with this one. Par for the course a sketchy and lucky night, only small windows of clear sky with storms all around, lots of lighting etc. The dew was very thick, the camera rig was wet in minutes. If we get another shot this coming week will try again, if not, this is it for 2020.

Photo Info Foreground: 30 exposures light painted with GVM RGB 7s. Exposure 4 seconds ISO 200, Tokina 11-16mm. Milky Way was tracked 5 min exposure f2.8 single ISO 200, SL2/200D

Behind the scenes

9/5/20 Milky Way on its way  Chesapeake Bay

Farewell Milky Way Sept 2020:

It has been a great Milky Way Season with this year providing us with twice as many clear skies as 2019. For the “Grand Finale” I wanted to celebrate the end of Milky Season and the coming of fall. So had the idea to light paint the entire beach with fall colors. Meaning, I had to walk that beach 50 times setting up 25 lights, all total foreground image was 25 exposures at 9 seconds totaling 225 seconds at 400 ISO, Tokina 11-16mm. No tracking.

The Milky Way last night was a very narrow window of about 10 minutes before the moon came up, so I fired off two 5-minute exposures and stacked them. Tracking mount was Ioptron Sky Tracker, Tokina 11-16, ISO 200, on a Cannon 200d/s JB

Lights/ GVM RGB 7s, Mowman, and a variety of flashights.

Wishing everyone clear skies and tight lines. JB

8/26/20 MoonScape Chesapeake Bay

OK! Last nights Astro late August Milky Way shoot turned into a Moon Beach Nightscape. The Moon was just to bright, totally washed out the Milky Way, as expected, but I thought there may have been a chance. So… since I was all set up thought up something that may be a cool shot. This took many test exposures, but here was the idea. To have the Moon (Sky) stationary and the foreground slightly blurred with the beach light painted. Pretty cool effect, and done in one exposure. If I had used the tracker on a real long exposure 1-5 or 10min), it would have been too blown out. So, I set the exposure to 30 seconds with the tracker on, then lighted painted the beach with flashlights during the 30 second exposure. Turned out to be a pretty nightscape. It was a beautiful night.

8/18/20 Milky Way Cape Charles VA

Clouds were thick and almost gave up  waiting for the clouds to clear but got a small break of maybe 8 to 10 minutes. Was able to fire off one single 5-minute exposure. The foreground was nine exposures. Nice August Milky Way that can be seen (if clear) right after dark with Jupiter and Saturn Beneath.

PHOTO INFO: Location Cape Charles, Eastern Shore VA USA. Cannon SL2/200D, Tokina 11-16, f2.8, Ioptron Sky Tracker, Monfrotto Tripod, Forground 9 exposures stacked, GVM RGB Light.

8/8/20 Milky Way Over The Oyster Farm Cape Charles VA

August Milky Way Over the Oyster Farm, Cape Charles VA USA:

Was great to talk with a bunch of folks at the docks last night and it was a great crowd at the Seafood Eatery, nice night. This is probably my most ambitious light painting foreground so far, it was a lot of area to cover, it took about 25 exposures to get all the lighting I wanted. The Milky Way was a single 5 minute exposure using Ioptron sky tracker shot on a Cannon 200d/sl2 with a Tokina 11-16 shot at 11mm. Light painting was done with a GVM RGB Light as well as a small spot light, 25 exposures stacked.

Plan on coming to the Oyster Farm for the last of the Summer Milky Way Season, after this, the Milky Way will be fading to the west until March 2021. Here are the dates to mark on your calendar.

August 16-22. The new moon will be on the 19^th

TONIGHT Saturday the 8^th Catch the Milky Way before the moonrises. So look south west above Jupiter for the Milky Way starting at 9:44pm to around 10:45 (Moon rises at 10:35) 

7/26/20 Neowise Last shoot

Need to remind myself not to bike 20mi on a beach cruiser in summer and try astrophotography in the same day. Something’s got to give. This sucker is headin out, and was pretty hard to image. Over the last two weeks maybe 8 or 10 tries at filming the comet, and had 3 clear nights. Last night took about 100 RAW images, could only use 8 because of clouds. Still a nice night, and Jazz got to chase foxes. Always entertaining. Cheers. JB

8 30sec exposures

7/18/20 Neowise and the Milky Way

Last night was rather epic stargazing, The Milky Way to my left, Neowise comet to the right. Had about two hours of filming in before almost total cloud cover, but very much enjoyed filming and watching Jazz chase critters on the beach. Beautiful night, and best imaging of the comet so far. It is not real easy for me to focus on an object 64 million miles away, but did a better job of it last night.

I also enjoyed all the calls and facebook messages last night, everyone was calling trying to find out where it was, or they had just spotted it, had folks drive over from the Beach as well, very exciting. We really do have awesome skies here on the Shore, among the best on the East Coast for stargazing.

Tonight is the New Moon, so if it is clear, you will get a show of a lifetime with the Milky Way and the comet. Both shots were taken about 2 miles south of Cape Charles by water. Very dark and clear skies, have fun folks.

Photo Info: Neowise / 200d/SL2 Tameron 18-200mm shot at 200, exposure 30 seconds each, 20 images stacked in DSS, tracked with Ioptron Sky Tracker. Foreground / 12 exposures, light painted with GVM RGB 4 sec exposures stacked in Photoshop.

Milky way, 5 minute exposure shot at 18mm, Forground 3 exposures stacked. Tracked with the Sky tracker.

All total filmed straight from 9pm to around 11.

A little tip if you are going to try and film the comet:

I wanted to tighten focus more on the comet so I went on the astro boards and ask some deep sky object dudes what is the best way to focus on the comet, and the answer was not to. What you do is pic a bright star, obtain the sharpest focus possible and check it by zooming in on the star during preview on the camera. Once focus is spot on, maintain of loc down the focus ring. Last night I started shooting by focusing on Jupiter. Once I got focus, then set in on the comet next never touching focus again, and so far it is the sharpest image I have taken of the comet. So, in this pic, I actually focused on Jupiter, in order to have clean focus on Neowise. Handy tip to know if you are going to try and capture the comet. Cheers. JB

Here is the third shot Saturday Night of Neowise over the Chesapeake Bay from the Eastern Shore. Tonight/tomorrow, the comet will be closest to Earth, but heading further away, who knows! But, will head out tonight and see if we can image it maybe for the last time. Sucker is moving fast but could be visible for several more days, possible to the very end of July.

Photo Info: 30 minute exposure. Here, I used all 61 mages in a stack to create one image. Exposures 30 seconds each using Ioptron Sky Tracker. Cannon 200/d, Tammeron 18-200/320eq mm. ISO 1600

And then.....

Well, tonight is a bust with the weather and astrophotography. Its July and triple digits, yes… we know. Tonight, I looked at the images from Saturday on the clear night, took a lot of exposures. Had a chance this evening to process these new ones, it is a selected stack of about 15 exposure at 30 second each, but I deleted any image that had any shake or distortion. So this is not perfect, but probably the cleanest so far. I hope to get another chance with a clear sky to photo this once in a lifetime event, but if not, extremely blessed with the experience that I have had. Incredible really. To much fun! Had Chills once finally got this thing in view after 4 or 5 busted shoots.

Photo Info: Sky tracker Ioptron, 200D/SL2, Tameron 18-200/320eqv, ISO 1600. Processing, Lightroom, Photoshop. Foreground Single Exposure 8 seconds ISO 200. Location, Eastern Shore of Virginia USA, Cape Charles.

7/16/20 Finally a clear night!

Comet Neowise 7/15/20 Over the Chesapeake Bay as seen from the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Cape Charles. I had been plagued with cloudy skies for several shoots this week and was filming and editing Jim Baugh Outdoors TV last week so this was the first opportunity to shoot the comet on a clear night. Well, the north west was clear at least, also tried to shoot the Milky Way but clouds were hovering south south east. For at least this location if you are planning on viewing the comet, I suggest binoculars, telescope, or best a dsler. It is hard to see with the naked eye until it gets night, and then the window is not that long. But WOW it is something, and if it last, will not be around for another 6000 + years. Jazz and I had another great nighttime adventure out filming, great dog.

Photo Info:

40 exposures, approx. 13 minutes exposure time. ISO 3600, lens 18 to 200 Tameron. Stacked in DSS. Cannon 200d/SL2. Location, Mermaid Bay Cape Charles Virginia.
Below approx 24mm

Neowise filmed at 200mm/320 equivalent 

This shot filmed just after sunset

Tried Neowise but only got ISS 7 /13/ 20

Went out last night to film Neowise Comet at Magothy Bay. First time in a long time the weather charts failed me. Sky was overcast big time. Waited until 6am, no sight of Neowise. Only real break in the sky was short, caught International Space Station. Will try Neowise again soon, maybe tonight

4th of July Full Moon

Red, White, and Blue! Happy fourth of July folks. Beautiful evening and the bugs showed their love! have a fantastic blessed Fourth holiday. Full moon on the 4th, really cool!

Photo Info: Foreground, 13 exposures, 11mm, 100 ISO at 8 sec exposure, f 2.8, light painted GVM RGB LED, Fireworks over the Oyster Farm, ISO 800 shot on a go pro time lapse 1080p. Great night and happy holiday! JB

Note: All images were filmed at Mermaid Bay Cape Charles VA, the fireworks I flmed at the Oyster farm previously and composited the images.

Mermaid Bay 6 25 20

Tonight’s Sunset and Nightscape. Found a huge tree stump sticking out from under the beach, just waiting to get light painted. Fun stuff. JB
Photo: 24 mm Prime for foreground at 8 sec exposure ISO 100. GVM RGB LED
Milky way 5 min exposure F2.8 ISO400 Tokina 11-16mm
 Wachapreague 6 22 20

I would like to give a big thanks to the Wachapreague Inn for hosting Jim Baugh Outdoors TV filming our last shoot for the 2020 Milky Way Prime Time Season. We love the Inn, great place and the rooms are wonderfull with everything you need, The Island House is also just across the street. If you visit the Eatern Shore do yourself a favor and stay a night or two at the Wachapreague Inn. You will love it. We do!

Jim Baugh

Producer  / Jim Baugh Outdoors TV

Wachapreague Inn Facebook

 (757) 787-2105

Thank You Wachapreague Inn for hosting Jim Baugh Outdoors TV for our June New Moon Milky Way shoot! 3 days and two nights of AMAZING filming conditions. Here are the first of 3 images of the Milky Way we filmed down on the waterfront and also around the beach near Locustville. Call the Wachapreague and book your fishing and stargazing trip now, conditions are fantastic, and it was great to meet a bunch of new friends and fans of JBOTV. We actually had Milky Way fans show up and watched us film the stars, it was a total hoot. While filming I broke out the star lazer pointer and showed the kids Saturn, Jupiter, etc, etc, they went nuts. Really a lot of fun. Cheers. JB

https://www.facebook.com/wachapreague.inn

Photo Info: Milky Way 3X5min exposure total 15 minutes F2.8 tokina 11-16mm 400ISO

Also shot 3x10 for a 30 minute exposure (house & Pier)

Foreground 8-13 exposures at 6 sec each ISO 100 Light painted GVM LED & Mowman.

Milky Way at Red Bank 6/14/20

Red Bank Milky Way 6/13/20: Last night had a window of maybe 3 hours before the moon rise and the sky was about the clearest, I have ever seen.  I was setting up taking test shots for mostly the horizon and on the first test shot I saw the Milky Way just peeping over the top of a low level cloud bank over the Atlantic, thought it was amazing, gave me chills. So hurriedly got the right position with the ball head and fired off the first 5-minute exposure hoping the cloud bank would not move to much. Was able to capture 3 exposures at 5 minute each so this image is a total of 15 minutes exposure. Then a few more clouds then fired off a 10 minute exposure. It truly was one of the nicest nights I have seen that I can remember. Now off to film spadefish and Drum, then Wachapreague for the New Moon of June. Cheers! JB

Photo Info:

Foreground: 13 exposures at 8 seconds each light painted with a GVM RGB and a couple of flashlights. F2.8 ISO 200

Milky Way: 3 exposures total 15 minutes, tracked, Fs2.8, ISO 400 Tonika 11-16mm Cannon 200D/SL2

Strawberry MoonSet 6/3/20

 Chesapeake Bay ESVA

Tonight’s Strawberry Moonset over the Chesapeake Bay. Filmed from 2- 4:15am. We will try and catch the Strawberry Moonrise over the Ocean later today as long as it stays clear. Pretty night but WINDY on the Shore.

Location: Mermaid Bay, Eastern Shore of Virginia. Condition was very windy 30+mph

Photo Info: Moon / filmed around 80 images, ISO 200 to 1600, Shutter 250, 200mm Tameron F6.2

Foreground: GVM RGB LED, Tameron at 18mm, 8 second exposure, light painted the dunes. F3.2 ISO 200

Late May Milky Way

Ok, will be honest. Jazz and I are having a little too much fun with this Milky Way stuff! Last night was awesome on the beach. RGB lights worked great. BUT, got to say, these new battery-operated remote control dimmable candles are AWESOME.  Well, if you are a photographer. Does anyone know how many times we have had to re light our light painting candle props, with the Eastern Shore Wind that does not know the word STOP.

Location: Mermaid Bay Cape Charles Virginia / Eastern Shore

PHOTO Milky Way: 15-minute exposure tracking mount polar aligned. F2.8 ISO 100 11-16mm Tonika

Foreground: GVM RGB LED, two YIEWER flameless remote control candles, a dimmable spot light, 8 second exposure f2.8 ISO 100

Below having some fun light painting the pier at Sunset prior to the shoot.

The Milky Way & Jazz May 24 2020

The Milky Way and Jazz: Last nights astro/nightscape shoot was really nice with maybe a 3 to 4 hour window of perfectly clear skies. I did not trust the astro weather charts this time, there were just too many clouds yesterday afternoon, so did not venture up north to Wachapreague. So Jazz and I stayed at Mermaid Bay and filmed here, it was a beautiful night. The clouds started in around the time Mars became visible. We are still around the new moon phase so if you get a clear night it is perfect time for a little star gazing. Enjoy, and everyone have a safe and enjoyable holiday. Now time to film some Drum!

Photo Info: Cannon 200D/SL2 Vello intervalometer, manfrotto tripod, Tonika 11 to 16mm, ioptron sky tracker polar aligned mount, moman LED light, Various flashlights, and 3 heat packs in a Lens Muff.

Milky Way Exposure / 2, 16 minutes total. F2.8 ISO 100 Tracked

Foreground Exposure / 2 at 8 seconds light painted with various flashlights, candlelight, and 1 moman LED that was in the crap basket.

Post processing. Photoshop CC and Lightroom. The MW exposures were stacked in Photoshop

Thanks to Jazz for yet another highly entertaining night of astrophotography. What a dog.

JB

Flower Supermoon May 2020

Last of the Supermoons for 2020. Filmed at Mermaid Bay Cape Charles Eastern Shore Virginia.

Photo Info:

Supermoon: Lens 18-200mm/320EQ f2.8 ISO 100

Milky Way: Lens Tonika 11-16. Equatorial Mount/Tracking 3 five-minute exposures stacked.

Foreground Flowers: Day for Night filter, ISO 100 Lens 50mm Prime.

Composited and stacked in Photoshop CC

April 28 the Milky Way Over Magothy Bay on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Magothy Bay Milky Way April 28^th Eastern Shore of Virginia: Finally, clear skies with no wind and no airplanes leaving vapor trails in the sky, less pollution and one crystal clear sky. It was amazing. Filmed from Midnight to around 4:30. This is a beautiful spot on the Eastern Shore, just incredible. Hope everyone is safe and well. The Drum are also here and the Shore Clams are the best! We put this image over on our gallery and it is a good size one, 24X16. If your looking for a good size print of the Milky Way, this is a goodin. This is one of our longer Milky Way exposures, 3 RAW images, 10-minute exposure for each. (30minutes) Yall enjoy. Cheers and Godspeed. Photo Info Below.

Location: Magothy Bay, Eastern Shore of Virginia only a minute or so off the CBBT when you come on to the Shore heading North.

Equipment: Monfrotto tripod, Vello Intervalometer, equatorial mount polar aligned, Cannon 200d/sl2, Tonika 11-16 with Lens Muff & 3 warming packs, various lighting from flashlight, candlelight and a wonderful Moman selectable Led. Post, Lightroom and Photoshop.

Exposures Milky Way: Probably had a total of over an hour or so exposures. After preview in post, we chose the three consecutive 10 minute each exposure then imported to stack in Photoshop. Tweaked a little in Lightroom, then composited in Photoshop. Camera setting ISO only at 100, Shutter 10 minutes, F2.8

Foreground Exposures: (2) One at ISO 800 at 8 seconds F2.8 light painted. The second exposure was at ISO 3200, 8 seconds light painted F2.8. Both exposures were composted in Photoshop.

April 19 the Milky Way Townsend  on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Townsend Eastern Shore of Virginia Milky Way filmed early Sunday. Photo Info: single 5-minute exposure, tracked with equatorial mount polar aligned but not spot on, Lens 11-16mm, 3 heat packs, Cannon 200d/sl2. Foreground 6 seconds at 400 ISO 2 exposures, one day for night in post, then blended with original. Shot takin just off rt 13 as you head into Townsend. This is on the way to go to Magothy Bay. Filmed this during our 5 hr window Sat-Sunday evening all total five location including 3 shoots in Cape Charles. We have a window coming up in a couple of days, probably shoot for Red Bank, then Wachapreague in May new moon week.

Also…The Drum are here.

April 19 th Milky Way in Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore of Virginia

Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore on Virginia Saturday night, What a SHOW! A somewhat rare perfectly clear no moon night with special guest the Milky Way Galactic Center, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Saturn, Jupiter and mars plus a bunch of other constellations and even some Lyrid meteor showers all from 1 to 4:30am. Great night! These next several days is around the new moon, so if skies are clear go check out our night sky!

NOTE: In the “LoveSign” image you can see the three planets just under the Milky Way, Jupiter, Saturn, then Mars. Takin around 3;30am (I think) This pic does not do it justice, seeing it span the sky was very cool. Check it out!

Photo Info: Milky Way-  40 Raw images totaling around 60 minutes of exposure. Files arranges in iso from 800 to 1600 but mostly used the 800iso images exposed at 4 min each. I also did several 5 minute exposures with no star trailing at all. Lens, tonika 11-16mm f 2.8, 200d/sl2, equatorial mount polar aligned, 3 heat packs for the lens (everything dewed up bad but no condensation on the lens at all)

Foreground: 400iso, f2.8, six second exposures light painted with flashlights and candlelight in sea glass containers.

Processing: Not much, the mages were extremely clean because of the long exposure, photoshopCC and lightroom for tweaking. I shot some dark frames but did not use them and simply stacked 3 images in photoshop as scripts, then converted to smart objects.

April 7th SuperMoon over Magothy Bay

Got down quickly to Magothy Bay set up for the Super Moon and had reasonably clear skies and one brilliant moon. We ran the tracker on this, polar aligned. Photo info 60 RAW images stacked in Photoshop. Lens tameron 18-200\320Eq, F11 at 250 shutter. Cannon 200D/SL2, Equatorial Mount. Foreground 15 sec exposure light painted. Composited in photoshop.

Milky Way March 2020 Magothy Bay Eastern Shore of Virginia:

Following up from last years award winning Milky Way Galaxy Short Film, JBOTV for 2020 is now tracking the stars with a series of stills featuring our new equatorial mount which compensates for the rotation of the Earth enabling for much longer exposures. We will film at least once a month for the Milky Way season from March to June. We are fortunate to be filming on the Eastern Shore of Virginia that has skies ranging from Bortle class 1-4.

Story and photo info for Magothy Bay: We have been plagued with overcast skies for the duration of March. The morning of the 31st, the skies were predicted to be clear with about 10% cloud cover. The thick fog was a big problem. It for sure was gonna be a busted shoot. However somewhere between 3:30am and 4 in the morning, the fog blew through for about 4 minutes. This gave us the opportunity to film two exposures totaling 3.5 minutes. Then the clouds and fog roared right back overhead. It was a VERY small window to film, but as Michael McDonald sang, “If that what it takes” our shutter was open. Below is the photo info.

Milky Way: Cannon 200D/Sl2, Two (2) exposures, one at 30seconds at 1600 ISO, one at 3 minutes 800 ISO. F2.8, 11-16 millimeter lenses with four heat packs to combat dew. Vello intervalometer, Ioptron SKY tracker equatorial mount with Ioptron Ballhead, and monfrotto tripod. Post Processing, Lightroom, Photochop CC, and Deep Sky Stacker.

Foreground: Light painted for 5 seconds during 15 second exposure. A total of 2 exposures at 15sec each, 800 ISO F2.8. Mastered in Photoshop CC.

Second image was also takin at Magothy Bay with reeds in the foregound.

Godspeed, JB. JBOTV

February Orion and Pleiades:

We only had a few clear nights on the Shore this month but did get out with the new Sky Tracker. This was our first attempt and certainly made some mistakes rigging out the mount. A ball head is not something I ever used in 33 yrs of production, I did not think it would have a learning curve, but it did! We shot this with a 50mm prime and a 200mm tameron. After this shoot I got things straightened out with the rig and ready for the next shoot. This was filmed at Mermaid Bay on the beach.

Orion Nebula 200mm (320eq)

Orion 50mm prime

Pleiades tracked 200mm

More to come!