In a world of so many great photographers and writers, I am venturing into some unknown territories, leaving comfort zones, finally very willing to practice the art of seeing. By maintaining the practice of posting daily photos, I hope to continue learning about the possibilities that I trust are out there for the taking.
This is the best time in the desert. Nights are balmy and I love being outside. Tonight was a bonanza for me. I initially went out to shoot some cloud patterns, but ended up looking left and right for the next two hours.
In my photomontage class I need texture backgrounds. I went out around 5:30pm and photographed patterns in the white clouds.
Two hours later, I'm still out. I got lucky with tonight's offerings.
While shooting the moon in the east, I turned back toward the west just in time to see this color.
I'd walked the 18th fairway over to the Clubhouse, so while walking back to shoot the moon I learned some good shooting positions for future moon shots.
I have so many great shots. This was one of the last I took before I headed back inside.
6:40am this morning, one day after the full moon.
After shooting the moon this morning, I tried to shoot the rainbow.
Canon EOS 5 D Mark II, EF 400mm f/5.6L USM, 125th sec @ f/6.7, focal length 400mm, ISO 1250.
Interesting funnel cloud that passed in front of the moon a number of times while I was out shooting.
Canon EOS 5 D Mark II, EF 400mm f/5.6L USM, 125th sec @ f/5.6, focal length 400mm, ISO 1000.
I’m off to see what settings others used on their moon shots tonight. I learned to not drop below 125th a sec on the shutter speed. Took a number of photos slower than this and they are all soft. I probably should have used a faster shutter speed than 125th a second.
Hmmm, my next time to shoot the moon this close to the earth will be 19 years from now!
Out shooting early from Sentennial Bridge the morning before I drove home yesterday.
Back home in Rancho Mirage. 7:02am this morning.
This worker drove by with his headlights on while I was out shooting the setting moon around 6:20am the other morning. The worker drove by and never looked up, obviously sparing me the embarrassment of being seen in my pjs.
Another early morning setting sun shot from the day I went out at 4am.
Early this morning I shot some more moon shots but accidentally deleted them when I formatted my camera card as suggested before updating the Canon 5D Mark II with the newest firmware update. Wasn’t too concerned with the lost photos as they weren’t great.
Went to bed early last night and wasn’t surprised when at 4am this morning I awoke and knew I was getting up.
When I noticed the moon outside the kitchen window at 4:15am it was all over and I was outside the door shooting and setting camera settings, trying to learn more about night photography.
Around 6:20am, after occasionally coming inside to look at my photos on the computer, the first hint of color hit the sky behind me. Walking across the lawn to the 17th hole lake I set up for the morning light show.
The golf course workers started showing up around 7am. They don’t blink an eye when they see me, again, out with my camera, in my pajamas.
I took the last shot of the moon at 7:20am just before I headed back into the house and Ray’s, “Good morning”.
Awake at 4am and out to shoot the moon.
5:41am Experimenting trying to find the proper settings.
Torn between the newly arriving sunrise color and the setting moon.
East, west, south, north, the color in each direction made me dizzy.
View looking west at San Jacinto.
From where I'd been shooting I couldn't see that the moon was still up. Ready to pack it up where I'd been shooting, I looked up and west to see I'd almost missed the moon setting behind the San Jacinto mountains.
I was just informed my web host is changing servers. Nothing will change for you viewers but I’ve been asked to not post anything for a few days.
I’ll begin posting again, as soon as I get the word the move has completed.
Morning Dove at noon.
Driving home from a long day in LA, I amused myself taking photos of the incredible moon tonight, first with the compact camera set to ISO 1600 on aperture priority and then shutter priority.
Believe it or not, I rarely shoot shutter priority. The dial on the compact camera somehow got switched to TV. Using shutter priority rendered a nmber of really giggly blurred shots. Feeling stupid I have not ever shot drive-by shots on shutter priority before, I was surprised to discover how much more in focus (not great focus, but much better) my moon shots were using TV. Duh!
This photo was taken with my cell phone.
Taken from the fast lane on the 210 freeway.
I am writing this blog entry from the car. We’re at Calimesa – about 35 minutes from home and bed. Ray and I are tired.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
I heard Ray quietly walking over to me at 6:30 this morning. I wasn’t asleep and I wasn’t awake. Ray was so quiet as he tip toed over to the side of my bed. He couldn’t tell if I was awake with my eyes closed enjoying the comfort of my warm cozy bed or sound asleep. He decided to say, “Linda. Come see the moon over snowy Mt. San Jacinto. It’s beautiful.”
I lifted up my head, looked around Ray, out the window where, in the still somewhat dark sky, the full moon was positioned perfectly over the peak of Mt. San Jacinto, shining down on the newly snowed on San Jacinto mountains. Aaaah.
I thought, “I’ve got to get up and take this picture”, as I simultaneously placed my head back on the pillow. For 3 seconds I stayed put under the covers, feeling guilty, fearing I was missing a great photo op. Then I got up. Peed. An went outside with my tripod and camera, not concerned with the cold because the moon was rapidly moving lower in the sky, minutes away from slipping out of sight behind “the Mountain.”
Our Mountain.
Thanks Ray.
Ray had just returned from Trader Joe’s, when he told me to go outside and look at the beautiful moonrise, still rather low in the sky. I went out with my Canon 40D and tripod to see if I could for once capture the moon with some detail as opposed to capturing it all blown out and overexposed as I usually do.
Not only is exposure a problem for me, but the moon and clouds are always moving even though I can’t really see the movement. So I tried to shoot with the fastest shutter speed I could and still have the moon exposed correctly for detail. While in Mammoth trying to shoot the moon, I got frustrated and gave up. But last night I actually got some detail in the moon with the 28 to 200mm lens I was using.
I’d read that shooting the moon when it is closest to the horizon line (rising or setting) helps in generating a sharper image. By the time I finally fiddled around with all my equipment, the moon was much higher in the sky.
Color over Mt San Jacinto.
