Michael G. Noll Photography

Home Sweet Home

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:31 +0100

This little bee is flying back to her home after a very long and sunny journey. Maybe for taking a nap?

Photographer: Helmut Noll

(Camera: Nikon D300)

Little Big Game Hunter

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 19:51 +0100

A little tiger on a big game hunt. She managed to take the ball down...easily. Picture taken in an otherwise very peaceful garden in October 2009.

(Camera: Nikon D300)

Party Pending

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:41 +0100

Unpowered party neon in Winnipeg, Canada, 2007.

(Camera: Nikon D70s)

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:45 +0100

The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney House Opera in Australia.

The bridge was designed and built by Dorman Long and Co Ltd, Middlesbrough Teesside and Cleveland Bridge, Darlington, County Durham and opened in 1932.

The opera house was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who received the Pritzker Prize in 2003, architecture's highest honor.

(Camera: Nikon D300)

Dog's Life

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:40 +0100

Sleeping dog at Syntagma Square, Athens/Greece. I wasn't sure whether he had a hangover He did have a hangover -- see cigarette.

(Camera: Nikon D300)

Greek Contemplation

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:25 +0100

Sleeping man selling dove food at Syntagma Square, Athens/Greece. In fact, I haven't seen him awake a single time during my stay at the square...

(Camera: Nikon D300)

Fate Foreshadowed

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 22:02 +0100

The picture shows the bust of Greek philosopher Polemon of Laodicea (c. 90-144 AD). The bust is part of the exhibition of the National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece.

From Wikipedia: Polemon died from voluntary starvation in the tomb of his ancestors at Laodicea, from which he suffered from gout. He had shut himself up in the tomb to die.

I post-processed this "portrait" to give the dead stone a more lively appearance, thus trying to bring Polemon and the anticipation of his impending fate back to life for this shot.

(Camera: Panasonic Lumix LX3)

Moon occults the Pleiades star cluster

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:53 +0100

At the beginning of January 2009, the Pleiades star cluster (M45) was occulted by the Moon. Unfortunately, we could not observe this event in our region due to a well-clouded sky. This reduced picture (50% of the original size) is therefore a composite of two separate shots of the Moon and the Pleiades, taken independently of each other and then merged by yours truly.

I used my Nikon D300 and Nikkor 70-200 VR for these shots, mounted on an AstroTrac TT320X and a Benro tripod. The individual pictures were combined and processed with DeepSkyStacker, Fitswork and Photoshop.

The Sword of Orion

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:42 +0100

And now for something completely different: a look at the Sword of Orion. In this reduced picture (30% of the original size), you can see the Orion Nebula (M42) in the bottom right together with the reflection nebula NGC1973 and the open star cluster NGC1981. Opposed to this triplet is the pair of Flame Nebula and Horsehead Nebula in the upper left.

I took this picture with my Nikon D300 and Nikkor 70-200 VR, mounted on an AstroTrac TT320X and a Benro tripod. The final photo is actually a composite of several shots: 1x30s, 3x2min and 2x5min (all at 200mm focal length, ISO 800 and aperture f/2.8). The individual pictures were combined with DeepSkyStacker, flattened with Fitswork and processed/retouched in Adobe Photoshop CS3 after import via FITS Liberator. I measured the sky illumination at 19.80 MPSAS (approx. 5m4), and outside temperature at -3 °C (26.6 °F).

This was my second try at astrophotography, so I still have to learn a lot. On the other hand, I'm already quite happy with this encouraging result. :-)

Green Tribal Head

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:25 +0100

Photo of a graffiti in a pedestrian underpass at the beach in Bredene, Belgium. The artist's home page is Jasta.be. I used this photo as my contribution for our "Scrap of the Month" project in August 2008 - the topic was "Three Colors".

(Camera: Nikon D300)