Bubbles part 2 and Milky Way

This past weekend we were once again blessed with some cold mornings. The key thing I am discovering is to ensure that there is no wind.  Early morning (between 6:00-8:00) it is often quiet with just a little breeze blowing. I am able to block the breeze with some poster board which helps to keep the bubble stable.  On Saturday morning I could see the sun rising through the tree's in our backyard which gave the perfect background for the bubbles. It was cold again, to the point where every 15 minutes or so I had to come inside and warm up (and I had my coat and gloves on).  With the sun in the background it gave a nice glow through the bubble displaying the freezing process.  If we get another cold day I will take a video to show the freezing as it's pretty amazing to watch.  The green that you see below the bubble is an accumulation of the soap mixture as the bubble burst.  It then freezes into the snow and with the sun shining through gives this beautiful green colour. As you probably can tell, there were many bubbles blown to achieve a few successful photos.

I just finished a course that was discussing the art of developing MilkyWay shots.  It was a 3 day course (6 hours total) that covered at a highlevel the various steps needed to pull out colour, depth and interest in the MilkyWay. It was a "teaser" type training to encourage the listener to signup for the full session.  If we lived in the country (for example where John and Grace live) where the MilkyWay is visible, I would sign up right away and make the investment in the actual training ($500).  Since we only get to see it once or twice a year, I didn't think the investment was worth it and with Covid, who knows when we'll be able to get away and actually spend time up north to try to capture these shots. So armed with some new found information and "youtube" to fill in some of the gaps, I went back into my files and tried some of the new techniques. In the image below, there is someone standing in the schoolhouse which was turned on for about 3-4 seconds while the camera lens was left open for 30 seconds.  I'm amazed at how much light was still reflected in the image. This photo was taken in Utah a couple of years ago when Ralph and I signed up for a night photography session.  The stars were amazing.

This 2nd shot was taken near Lora Bay approximagely 2 years ago.  I almost deleted it when cleaning up pictures but now I'm glad I kept it.  It still needs some work but it gives an appreciation of the amount of "light polution" that is in the area. In this particular shot, the added colour adds some interest to the sky.  I'm using a very "wide" angle lens that Joel Sjaarda helped me purchase, which does cause some distortion in the tree's but it's ability to capture the stars is incredible.

There is another course coming up in March that I plan to attend that gets into the art of Composition for MilkyWay shots.  I'm really intrigued and plan to attend that one.  It's another precursor to the full course, but I find I can still pick up things to apply.  It gives me something to look forward to.  The MilkyWay season starts in April and I'm hoping that one evening Ralph and I can take a night drive up north and take a few photo's. Hopefully we will have an early spring.