Perigee Moon

A couple of days after the fact, but it was a busy weekend. I still wanted to have these on the blog.

John and I headed to the east side of town to a place I'd already picked out courtesy of The Photographer's Ephemeris. This is an awesome app that you can purchase for your iPhone/iPod/iPad or Android. I'm sure it has more capabilities than what I've used, but it helps you to plan your photography shoots in accordance with when both the sun and moon rise and set. You can map out this information for anywhere in the world. An example on one video shows pinpointing your shooting location on the map and then seeing exactly when and where the sun will rise. You can view the terrain version of the map and see that based upon the sun's angle on a particular day, you would have some very harsh shadows on a particular mountain face. But it you chose a different day - say a month earlier - you would have some much lovelier light on that particular location.

But I digress. If you like to take pictures or want to know when and where the moon or sun will be, check this out. It's free on your computer, but you do have to buy it for your portable devices. Given all that it offers, it's a terrific deal!

Onto more important things.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect and I was especially delighted to have a few wisps of clouds across the moon.

February Full Moon

Over the past couple of years, I've finally been able to capture some decent moon photos. A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a free online moon photography class put on by Paul deBerjeois. Paul scheduled the class so that his students could have some time to practice and be ready for the full moon. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of clouds, so practice opportunities didn't happen.

I thought the same thing would happen this night (Wednesday, February 8), so I didn't make any plans to be in a good spot for shooting the moon.

Silly me.

Sometime after 6:00, I realized that there weren't that many clouds and I probably could get some moon shots. We live in a neighborhood with a lot of very big trees and all the eastern horizon views for me contain houses. So my dear supportive husband drove me to a place where we thought I could get some good photos. We stood out in a very cold, breezy field for awhile and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I began to think that maybe a building was blocking our view. Plus the parking lights had just come on and I didn't want them to disrupt my pictures.

We went across the street, up on a higher hill, and stood out in the cold some more. And more. And more. We couldn't figure out why the moon wasn't showing up - it was well past moonrise time. John walked higher up the hill and looked around to see if we were just missing it. Sigh. So we hopped in the truck, drove across another street and used the restroom at Arby's. Just as we walked out the door, there it was! The moon was out and well up in the sky.

So we pulled off into a field just up from Arby's and I finally managed to get some photos.





The cold waiting wasn't entirely fruitless. I pulled off some nice light trails.

Be Prepared

We were heading out for dinner tonight and I was waffling about whether or not to take my camera with me. Not the little point & shoot, as that doesn't bring on the waffling. The D-SLR which is probably part of the reason my shoulder's a little sore. I even took it out of my bag and left it on the table. Then I waffled again and put it back in my bag.

That was definitely a good move.

On the way home, we saw this on the horizon, so John quickly changed lanes and pulled off into an office complex. We went to the far east side and found a balcony we could stand on and watch the moon come up over the bluffs.







So glad I waffled in favor of the camera.

Perigee Moon

Only in recent months have I had even minimal success with moon shots. They're still not crisp and fantastic, but they're getting better. I wasn't sure I'd get a chance to capture the perigee moon tonight, but was pretty excited to get a handful of shots.





I was sitting in the Avalanche, with my camera on an unopened tripod {monopod, right?} shooting out the driver's window in the back of a church parking lot. You do what you can to make it work.

And yes, I'm aware of that spot in each photo. They're in the rest of them, too. I'm thinking it's the lens, as it's one I don't use often and it hasn't been there until tonight. Will be getting that checked out pronto.

Full Moon

This marks the second time I've been able to get a decent capture of the moon. The other time was during the lunar eclipse in December.



600mm effective focal length (300mm w/2x teleconverter)
f/5.6
400 ISO
1/80 sec

Many thanks to my sister who texted me to let me know how awesome the moon looked, otherwise, I'd have entirely missed this opportunity.

Lunar Eclipse

The moon was apparently at a good distance for the start of the lunar eclipse tonight. I actually got a reasonably decent picture. Not great, but probably better than any moon shot I've ever attempted.



Same shot, cropped:



Frustratingly, by the time it was nearly a total eclipse, it had moved to a distance at which I cannot focus clearly. Sigh.



However. I will be grateful to have seen an event that hasn't occurred in over 300 years and won't occur again in this exact way for over another 300-400+ years. And the Comedian was sweet enough to stay up with me and hang out in the cold, when he really wanted to come in and go to sleep. I also had a great time tweeting with other friends around the country who stayed up for this. It was a great evening!

Edited to add: Here's a very cool time lapse of the entire eclipse from a guy in Florida.

Very Good Morning

It has been a very good morning, indeed. Not because of McDonald's. But I did have to chuckle at their sign because it certainly described my morning.

I was up earlier than normal, heading across town to meet a new friend.



Pardon the periphery, but it's a beautiful site to see Pikes Peak and the full moon just as the sun peeks over the horizon. It even makes traffic and the surrounding urban-ness fade away when you have this type of scenery available on a regular basis.


As I went farther west, I was able to capture part of Kissing Camels (in Garden of the Gods) with the moon. There were a lot of people stopping at the side of the road for similar shots.


Those are the real colors, no Photoshop adjustments. It's just that gorgeous here.

And another one with Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, and the moon.



All so I could meet Sarah for coffee.



That would be Sarah Danaher, of Ampersand Photography.

Sarah is lovely, friendly, authentic, and sweet. When I discovered that she's teaching a photography workshop here, I emailed her to see if she would want to meet. Her schedule's packed, but she squeezed me in early this morning. We had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know a little more about each other. Then it was back to work for her and back home for me. What a joy to make a new friend, particularly a sister in Christ.

It was a very blessed morning, indeed.