Aug 27, 2010 The Big Dipper watching over our 25+ group watching "Up!"

First backyard outdoor movie showing of 2010 held Friday 8/27/10.
Perfect weather, 25+ family/friends, kids, with popcorn watched the great Pixar movie "Up!" .

Picts tell a neat story:

Watching Pixar "shorts" as got darker prior to the main feature.
At 8:50pm the ISS went overhead, I paused the feature while we all watched it go from SW to NE part of sky, a special treat.


The main feature , "Up!", a great Pixar movie to show.


16' wide x 9' tall screen, I was just happy my Sony VPL-VW60 1080p projector gave a decent and bright picture.


Who says kids don't stay still for long, this is a 5 second time exposure (on tripod).
I love how the faces are transfixed onscreen.


This is a 4 second exposure, kids loved being in front laying on the blankets.


This is the shot I was geeked to capture, the Big Dipper watching over our little movie gathering.
Now, this is a 20 second time exposure!!
Captured with my Canon T1i and 15-85 lens 15mm, f4, ISO 800.
link to 1600 pix version, bigger is better for these picts! http://lh5.ggpht.com/_FqTNmgNQHz8/THpaY-mj90I/AAAAAAAAKyU/1qP1L2inIpk/_MG_2857%20ver2.jpg


After everyone went home, my 3 kids and I went outside and captured Jupiter and her 4 moons.
This is about 11pm, just above the East horizon, Jupiter is RH/South of the Earth's moon.
Captured with my Canon T1i and 55-250 kit lens @250mm, picture cropped.


The Earth's moon (did I have to say that?), captured with my 3 kids about 11:20pm.
They went to bed right after taking this.

I hear ya on the 900 lumens concern, last year when I did this it was on a brand new bulb. This bulb has 410 hours so I was prepared for not much pop.

I was totally blown away by the picture PQ, brightness, and "pop" again.
whether it's the screen material (BOC) or what, I can't say, but very happy with image.

Thx - to take picture of the stars - need DSLR, wide lens and stable tripod.

Camera on manual, Use ISO 800, widest aperture your lens has, widest your lens goes (I set my 15-85 lens at 15mm), and 20 second exposure.
If you have remote trigger, use it, else set camera on 10 sec delay, and take the shot!

Sep 05, 2010 Outdoor movie we showed was "Cloudy with a chance for meatballs", a few from that.

Clear enough to get the Big Dipper again! This is a better shot that prior one.
(when viewed at 1600 pix


Side shot shows screen & people + Jedi (my dog); merged shot of 8 sec exposure and 1/4 sec for screen shot.
(People sit still for 8 seconds when they don't realize they are being taken picture of)


That's Jupiter rising between the garage and home, this is 20 sec exposure, the screen shot is merged from a 1 sec exposure shot.

Thx, back in 2005 there was no HD over cable where we live, so I put that Antenna up on the garage backside to get free OTA HD, kinda retro cool.

Screen is BOC from carls place, more info here log siding mounted BOC screen (16' x 9', 220" diag)

fwiw, Carl took my suggestion to make the grommets black instead of brass (like mine are), so now the screen border is better looking also