Tyler Cipriani: Photos

ISS Solar Transit

2021-07-31T00:20:03Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

International Space Station (for some reason) makes it sound enormous, but even tremendous things are hard to spot from 542 km (337 mi) away. At that distance, the station appears 1/60th the size of the width of your pinky finger held at arm’s length—51 arcseconds wide.

The picture above is a composite of six photographs, each taken within a single second.

Equipment:

Nikon D610
iOptron skyguider pro
iOptron tripod
Sigma 150-600mm 5-6.3 Contemporary
Cheap intervalometer
Thousand Oaks solar film (gaffer’s taped over my lens hood)

Software

transit-finder.com
SkEye (for polar alignment during the daytime—point at σ-Octantis!)
AtomicClock for accurate time
Ventusky + skippysky + clear dark sky for cloud reports

(super sweet) gif of ISS solar transit

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/3200
FNumber	6.3
FocalLength	600.0 mm
CreateDate	2021-07-30 15:44:12
Lens	150-600mm f/5-6.3
ISO	3200
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Van Fire

2021-06-15T19:54:56Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

A van on fire in Longmont, CO on Pratt St, West of 6th ave today.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/60
FNumber	7.1
FocalLength	185.0 mm
CreateDate	2021-06-15 13:11:47
Lens	150-600mm f/5-6.3
ISO	125
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

First try NOAA 18

2021-03-30T01:53:07Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

I had the day off work today and I noticed there was a good pass of NOAA 18 today so I went to the Izaak Walton park with my BaoFeng UV-5R and tape-measure yagi and came back with this image from a satellite. Radio is neat!

Satellite: NOAA.
Direction: southbound.
Creation Time: 30 Mar 2021 00:56:23
GMT.Satellite Type: NOAA.
Channel A: 1 (visible).
Channel B: 2 (near infrared).
Enhancement: class.
Audio File: NOAA18-11025_2021-03-29T11:09:28.wav.
Software: WXtoImg version 2.10.11.

C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) from Longmont Sandstone Ranch

2020-07-21T04:42:31Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Single, untracked shot of the comet NEOWISE from Sandstone Ranch in Longmont, Colorado.

I hadn’t planned on going to see the comet–it’s been cloudy the last few days and I was slowly starting to lose hope for a clear night.

An hour before this picture was taken, as I was taking the dog out just before going to bed, I noticed the stars for the first time in days. I threw my camera in the car, grabbed the binoculars, and drove to the highest, closest public spot.

Blazey’s niece is staying with us for a few weeks of this strange summer. We attempted to see NEOWISE on Saturday from the same vantage, but all we found were cloudy skies and roving hordes of teenagers. Tonight was very different–small groups of nerds gathered around telescopes, all there to see the same thing.

EXIF
ExposureTime	2
FNumber	2.8
FocalLength	200.0 mm
CreateDate	2020-07-20 21:40:13
Lens	70-200mm f/2.8
ISO	3200
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Gelée di Pomodoro BLT

2020-06-15T23:59:50Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Tamar Adler’s book Something Old, Something New is filled with anachronistic dishes reimagined and revised. Gelée di pomodoro is found in a short section on aspic. It’s a gelatin made from tomatoes, basil, jalapeño, olive oil, and salt.

Balancing this piquant aspic atop sourdough, butter lettuce, and center cut bacon was my contribution. It tasted like summer in sandwich form.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/60
FNumber	1.8
FocalLength	4.4 mm
CreateDate	2020-06-14 15:29:29
ISO	439
Model	Pixel 2
Make	Google

Summertime Michelada

2020-06-15T23:59:50Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Summertime is michelada time.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/40
FNumber	1.8
FocalLength	4.4 mm
CreateDate	2020-05-29 18:08:07
ISO	547
Model	Pixel 2
Make	Google

Kettlepizza First Attempt

2020-06-15T23:59:50Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

First attempt at using my webber kettlepizza to make a pizza on the grill. I think it worked out pretty ok. Shishitos, red onion, and pepperoni.

My pizza dough recipe is straight from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day.

Kettlepizza and session lager

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/192
FNumber	1.8
FocalLength	4.4 mm
CreateDate	2020-05-03 18:56:17
ISO	46
Model	Pixel 2
Make	Google

Mead Tasting

2020-06-15T23:59:50Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

3 different meads I’ve had for a while. From left-to-right:

Hairy vetch session mead
Orange blossom sweet sack mead
Sweet sack blackcurrent melomel

Computational photography fail: this was taken using the Pixel 2’s “portrait mode” that attempts to computationally blur the background of images. Of course, glassware wreaks havoc on this technique

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/198
FNumber	1.8
FocalLength	4.4 mm
CreateDate	2020-05-02 13:58:43
ISO	48
Model	Pixel 2
Make	Google

Quarantine Brisket

2020-06-15T23:59:50Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

8 lb brisket
Morton’s Kosher Salt + Black pepper about 50/50
Hickory wood
Start spraying brisket with beer after 3 hours
9am–3pm on smoker, tried to maintain 250°F–275°F
Kept fire vent open all the time, aiming for complete combustion, opened firebox door when it got too hot
When I couldn’t raise the temp, I had to empty the ashbox and start new coals
Stalled at 170°F for last 2 hours (between 170 and 173)
Pulled during stall, wrapped then moved to the oven
Moved to oven at 265°F
Bark didn’t look very dark when I pulled it, but got plenty dark in the oven
Too salty, other than that: perfect

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/17
FNumber	1.8
FocalLength	4.4 mm
CreateDate	2020-03-29 18:56:49
ISO	210
Model	Pixel 2
Make	Google

Phidippus audax

2019-06-20T20:21:54Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/250
FNumber	16.0
FocalLength	50.0 mm
CreateDate	2019-06-19 12:32:13
Lens	50mm f/1.8
ISO	640
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field

2019-02-03T23:06:10Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/200
FNumber	8.0
Title	Golden Gate Bridge from Crissy Field
FocalLength	35.0 mm
CreateDate	2019-01-27 16:13:13
Lens	35mm f/1.4
ISO	50
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Lunar Eclipse Composite

2019-01-22T01:36:36Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

This is a composite image combining some of the 689 pictures I took of the full lunar eclipse on the night of Sunday, 20 Jan 2019 from the middle of my backyard in Longmont, Colorado. The time span covered in this image spans from roughly 21:00–23:45.

Gear ¶

Nikon D610
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II
Nikon Auto Focus-S FX TC-20E III 2x Teleconverter
iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Cheap Pangshi intervalometer

Acquisition ¶

I took 50 shots (or so) every 15 minutes for the duration of the eclipse.

Software ¶

I do all image processing with FOSS software (with the unfortunate exception of camera and tracker firmware).

Debian Buster
Darktable
- Chromatic aberration
- Lens correction
- Cropping
- Export to 16-bit TIF
Siril
- Create new FITs sequence from exported TIF
- Planetary Full-Disk registration
- Average stacking with rejection – Windsorized Sigma Clipping
- Wavelets sharpening
- Save final stacked as 16-bit TIF
GIMP 2.10.8
- Combining images into one composite
- Export as 8-bit JPEG
Bash
- So much bash.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1
FNumber	5.6
FocalLength	400.0 mm
CreateDate	2019-01-20 22:21:59
Lens	70-200mm f/2.8
ISO	1600
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Fall Sunrise at McIntosh

2018-12-30T19:29:57Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Sunrise looking West towards Meeker from the path around McIntosh Lake.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/6
FNumber	8.0
FocalLength	105.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-10-27 07:25:18
Lens	70-200mm f/2.8
ISO	50
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Milky Way from Moraine Park

2018-12-30T19:29:57Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

EXIF
ExposureTime	5
FNumber	1.4
FocalLength	35.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-08-09 22:08:35
Lens	35mm f/1.4
ISO	6400
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Sagrada Família Vertorama

2018-05-23T16:31:06Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Interior HDR Vertorama composed of 15 bracketed photos taken hand-held inside Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain.

Technical ¶

15 photos, 3 exposures -1, 0, +1 EV, lens correction applied in Darktable, blended using align_image_stack and G’MIC to create 5 HDR images. Imported to Hugin to create a vertorama.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/160
FNumber	2.8
FocalLength	14.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-05-17 07:33:55
Lens	14mm f/2.8-1.4
ISO	1600
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Statue of Liberty

2018-04-05T21:55:13Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

A pretty overcast day, flat altostratus clouds made for a totally boring background that I completely blew out. On the plus side, the Nikon 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 that I rented was more than up to the task of taking a nice sharp picture of the statue.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/320
FNumber	8.0
FocalLength	300.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-03-28 10:32:43
Lens	28-300mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO	100
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Orion Cloud Complex

2018-03-12T03:44:52Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Orion cloud complex from my back yard.

Equipment ¶

Nikon D610
iOptron Skyguider Pro
11 Frames captured at ISO 800, 45 seconds, f/2.8
Processed using all libre software.

Software ¶

Debian GNU/Linux buster
Siril (GPLv3 license)
- Global Star Alignment (deep sky)
- Sum Stacking
- Winsorized Sigma Clipping – all images in sequence
- Background Extraction
- Color Calibration
- Auto stretching
Raw Therapee (GPLv3 license)
- LAB noise reduction
- Cropping
GIMP 2.8 (GPLv3 license)
- Saturation
- Sharpening

EXIF
ExposureTime	42.2
FNumber	2.8
FocalLength	200.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-03-10 21:35:40
Lens	70-200mm f/2.8
ISO	800
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Waning Gibbous

2018-03-12T03:44:52Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Taken from my backyard, bortle 6/7 zone

Equipment ¶

Nikon D610 using T-Ring at prime focus
Celestron NexStar 5se
41 Frames captured at ISO 800, 1/500 sec
Processing
Processed using all libre software.

Software ¶

Debian GNU/Linux buster
Siril (GPLv3 license)
- Image Pattern Alignment (Planetary Full Disk)
- Sum Stacking
- Best Images (planetary) — 50% of frames (21 images)
- Wavelets Transform — BSpline, 1st plan 25.00 and that’s it
Raw Therapee (GPLv3 license)
- LAB noise reduction
- Cropping
- White balance

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/80
FNumber	0
FocalLength	0.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-03-04 00:13:35
Lens	0mm f/0
ISO	125
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Snowflake Macro

2018-02-19T23:05:22Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

Had the day off today for President’s Day. Decided to spend it hunched over taking macro photos of snowflakes. This was taken using 3 extension tubes totaling 68mm. I found that I needed auto-focus very much so I decided to forego doing reverse-lens work, although I think the additional magnification would have been nice to have. This is an averages stack of 3 aligned images.

EXIF
ExposureTime	1/5
FNumber	11.0
Description	Had the day off today for President’s Day. Decided to spend it hunched over taking macro photos of snowflakes. This was taken using 3 extension tubes totaling 68mm. I found that I needed auto-focus very much so I decided to forego doing reverse-lens work, although I think the additional magnification would have been nice to have. This is an averages stack of 3 aligned images.
Title	Snowflake Macro
FocalLength	50.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-02-19 15:52:18
Lens	50mm f/1.8
ISO	100
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION

Orion Nebula, M42

2018-02-19T16:18:18Z

Small | Large | Medium | Xlarge | Original

This is the Great Orion Nebula, M42. I realized this is fairly easy to see with a sufficient optical boost from my backyard which is roughly Bortle 6/7. This is my second night trying to image this object (or any DSO, actually).

This is a stack of 10x88-second exposures (roughly 15 minutes total exposure time). Polar-alignment on my SkyGuider Pro proved to be a bit difficult (once I added the camera and counter balance I had to re-align), so this 15 minutes is the result of me fiddling for an hour and a half or so. I did all the processing for this photo using libre software. Camera/lens correction in RawTherapee, aligned using align_image_stack in Hugin, average stacking using G’MIC, final stacked image tone curve/RGB curve/saturation adjustments in RawTherapee.

EXIF
ExposureTime	88
FNumber	2.8
Description	This is the Great Orion Nebula, M42. I realized this is fairly easy to see with a sufficient optical boost from my backyard which is roughly Bortle 6/7. This is my second night trying to image this object (or any DSO, actually). This is a stack of 10x88-second exposures (roughly 15 minutes total exposure time). Polar-alignment on my SkyGuider Pro proved to be a bit difficult (once I added the camera and counter balance I had to re-align), so this 15 minutes is the result of me fiddling for an hour and a half or so. I did all the processing for this photo using libre software. Camera/lens correction in RawTherapee, aligned using `align_image_stack` in hugin, average stacking using G’MIC, final stacked image tone curve/RGB curve/saturation adjustments in RawTherapee
Title	Orion Nebula, M42
FocalLength	200.0 mm
CreateDate	2018-02-17 20:34:58
Lens	70-200mm f/2.8
ISO	400
Model	NIKON D610
Make	NIKON CORPORATION