Blue Moon:
Image of the moon with the disk illuminated 97 percent taken on 1 March. I was out scouting for a location where I could set up and shoot the lunar eclipse as well as take a few practice shots as this was the first time that I've shot the moon with my new camera.
Image of the lunar eclipse that occurred last night on 3 March. I've been out all day and have only had a chance to look at a few of the images. I hope that I have some better ones in the batch but this will have to do for now...
Image of the sun's ring of fire reflecting off the moon's surface. Exteme exposure but I hope that I can clean it up in PS along with the other 500 that I shot last night...
Enjoy,
Blue Moon
Thanks everyone for the kudos. I have a passion for the outdoors and occasionally write about my time afield. As a very amateur astronomer, the eclipse provided an opportunity to combine my love of the night sky as well as use it as a vehicle to plant a seed of enlightenment with the outdoor audience that I was targeting.
With this in mind as the end goal for the shoot, I set up on the west shore of a wetland habitat located on the Republic of Texas side of the Red River that provided a clear easterly view of the horizon. Earlier this year I was able to shoot waterfowl flying across the full moon in a similar location. My hope was that I would have a chance at a similar shot of the eclipse with waterfowl in the foreground with wings set landing back in their water roost.
With that in mind, I wrote the following text to accompany the images of the lunar eclipse in hopes that it would resonate with the audience as well as provide food for thought
The years waiting for my trophy hunt allowed for careful study of both my prey and my weapon of choice. The days leading up to my long awaited hunt were spent searching for the perfect location that would provide a clear view for the shot as my prey crossed a well worn path that I had witnessed many times before while scouting. The shot would have to be nearly perfect because my prey was on the move and years would pass before I would have another shot as my prey would only be in season for a brief moment in time.
For most trophy hunts to be successful the planets must first align and my trophy shot was no exception. The opportunity for my shot arrived as twilight darkened the sky on 3 March 2007 as the planets worked their magic and the earth passed between the sun and moon, allowing the suns brilliant ring of fire to reflect off the rising full moon. A shot from my Canon captured this astronomical event. Here are a couple of shots from my trophy room
Attached were similar shots to the ones that I posted here. Now with all that said, as far as the eclipse shots went, while the moon rose too early in my location in North America to get a perfect shot, overall throughout the eclipse perhaps they would have been better had I used mirror lock and a remote shutter release, however, the first shots were free handed as I was trying to frame landing ducks and the moon in the same shot
Not as easy as it sounds, at least not for me anyway.
By the time that I locked and leveled the camera down on the Bogen, I decided to just shoot more images in hopes of getting what I wanted but now realize that since the 2x Canon teleconverter takes away so much in the way of clarity that I should have used mirror lock as well as the remote shutter release but as they say, we live and learn
Also, the weather conditions that had been warm and calm all day changed at twilight as an artic wind began to howl just before sunset dropping the wind chill to way below the comfort level of the light fleece pull-over I had on. I am sure the IS on the lens helped a lot because the camera was certainly moving in the wind even though it was locked down on the tri-pod
The upper winds that came with sunset also did not help as they disturb the atmosphere making it even more difficult to get a clear shot of any heavenly object.
Again, thanks for the kudos as well as all the help and suggestions you all have provided as I stumble along the photography path as part of lifes journey.
Blue Moon
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