Those are some unbelievable pictures. I like to take pictures everywhere I go and I have over 35,000 of my own kids though the years and they are 13 and 14. I only use my camera built into my phone though.
These photos could never be taken with just a phone. I imagine that you have a decent camera and a good eye for what makes a good picture. That Milky Way picture is awesome and is exactly the sort of thing that a camera phone would make look like a bunch of grainy specks with white mixed in it.
I would love to learn how to take pictures like these. It looks like you had quite an adventure too. 14K miles? I've done about 800 miles in a single day, but that was without stopping to take a look around. You looked around and got some great pictures in the process, in addition to any of the fun you had or the experience of the people you met.
Yes, we definitely were fortunate enough to have the time to take our time. We were able to take each day for what it was and explore our surroundings. And thankfully, I do have a pretty good camera and I've been practicing for years now, which gave me the ability to capture these images. Phones have come quite far these days and can be quite impressive, but I'd like to think there is still some magic in owning a dedicated camera and harnessing the skill to use it well.
Agreed that the phones have come a long way, but real cameras still take the best pictures. The whole control of light is so difficult with a phone camera that even taking a picture of the night sky gets completely screwed up by simple moonlight or other light pollution in some areas.
Yup, and controlling the light is enarly everything!
That is what makes or breaks things. This whole auto-iris stuff on digital cameras just make people look like shadows when there is a light background or can make a dark sky full of stars look like a grainy bunch of white blobs. I've been somewhat successful by playing with light settings in order to get a half decent picture of the moon. Otherwise, it would look like I am taking picture of a light bulb that I am staring at.