Comet Neowise and More Map Making

Comet Neowise

This past week, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to get a picture of Comet Neowise because of the tropical weather we have been dealing with here in southern Louisiana. On Tuesday, when the comet was supposed to be closest to the Earth, I went out to see if I could capture the comet because the skies cleared up to see stars. I drove to one of my favorite storm spotting area and got some shots. Sure enough, I got it.

Comet Neowise

I did a long exposure shot when I got my camera setup so I could find it in the sky. Once I found it, I started zooming in so I could get a close up shot. I’m pretty stoked I was able to get it. I’ve never captured a comet before.

Map Making

After creating a map in GIMP, I started looking around for creating maps. I found a tutorial on how to create maps using a picture from space. Here is what I started with and ended up with.

6924259-Space-Purple-Nebula

Map - Final result

This process was so cool and fun to create. If you are interested in learning how to create maps like this, let me know in the comments and I will provide links to start creating.

I hope everyone had a wonderful week. I will talk to you later. Peace.

Free Resources for Editing and Drawing

Today I am going to share with you two free resources for photo editing and drawing. If you are a Photoshop user and are tired of paying for their subscription and getting constant updates, these may work for you. I will provide links to the software and YouTube channels for tutorials on each piece of software. The two resources are GIMP and Krita (pronounced like Cheetah).

GIMP

Screen shot of the GIMP interface

GIMP is available for Linux, Windows and MacOS. According to the GIMP website -

“The Free & Open Source Image Editor

This is the official website of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP). GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.
Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.”

A couple of experts on YouTube in GIMP are Logos by Nick and Davies Media Design. Check them out.

Krita

Screen shot of the Krita interface

I recently stumbled upon this software so I am not too familiar with it. I watched a couple of tutorials to see what it is about.

According to the Krita website -

Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to see affordable art tools for everyone.

• concept art

• texture and matte painters

• illustrations and comics

I’m not familiar with any YouTube channels for this resource yet. When I find some, I will post them on my blog.

I hope you find these two free resources helpful in future creative processes. Let me know in the comments if you have used these or if there are any other good ones.

Thanks and have a good one. Peace.