When I look at images of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, unlike most people, I see the evidence left behind of a massive flood that once covered the earth and that water drained away in a matter of days, leaving behind a canyon of destruction and fast erosion. Others prefer to accept what I believe is the lie we are told that it took millions of years for a tiny river to cut through all that rock.
I am fascinated by God's creation in so many ways. The more I see and discover, the more I am convinced of the following verses from Genesis 1 in the Bible: "1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." |
When I step outside on a clear night and see the stars, I wonder in awe at how God created the universe. With modern capabilities now, some of us can now step outside with a camera and take images of the stars.
The new camera I have just got is a GE X500, and I have been working with it, learning the settings so I can get the best star captures possible with it. The GE X500 is not a DSLR camera. It is loosely described as a bridge camera. A mid range device between a DSLR and a digital point and shoot. The main features I was after since I could not afford a DSLR were length of exposure (30 seconds) and an aperture as close to 2.8 as possible,(the X500 has 3.0 aperture, sigh) plus ISO up to 3200. So far I have enjoyed experimenting and snapping shots of God's creations, from bugs, to the Milkyway Galaxy using this new camera. Although it cost only $128, it's the best camera I have used to date. That may, or may not be saying a whole lot. I'll present some images on this site to show my efforts with other camera's and methods, plus describe and provide links when possible for you concerning the software I use which is usually free. Another of God's creations above. Not sure what kind of butterfly this is, but it sure was nice to capture as an image to share.
Just so you know. There will be many references made to God on this site. After all, if not for God, we wouldn't be. If you are offended, maybe something is not right in your life...perhaps.... |
One image from my GE X500 straight from the camera with no editing or stacking. Captured on September 25 at approximately 7:45 in the evening.
The images on the right are from the same time. The darker image is a screen shot from a software program called Stellarium (free). The image to the farthest right is the result of 3 consecutive images stacked from the same time period, with a weak afterthought dark frame thrown in. I use Stellarium to help identify what it is my camera is capturing at night. |
You can either left click each image below to view a slightly larger size, or right click each image and open in new tab for a full size view.
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For now I am working with a stacking program called Grip. This set of images on the left was recorded using the incandescent white balance setting which actually is a light blue color. So won't be using that one much for night shots as the blue with the slight yellow light pollution around makes for a green background. Yuck. Editing the stacked images using a variety of programs, mainly Gimp and just started to check out Iris. I can't afford the $200-400 software packages out there. If I could I would be buying a good DSLR instead of a $128 bridge camera! I'm sure others are out there in the same financial situation. |
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