Moon over Delicate Arch by Steve Waterman

Moon over light-painted Delicate Arch, Arches National Park ~ © Steven T. Waterman

Steve Waterman took our Photo of the Day with a Nikon D800, using a Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens (at 24mm) • f/2.8 • 8 sec • ISO 1600. Light painting was done by Chris Bair at a September 2013 NightScape Workshop.

"Storm clouds were a challenge that night," says Steve. "We were waiting for the moon to set, to permit images of the Milky Way.  The challenge was getting sufficient exposure of Delicate Arch without the moon blowing out the picture."

Steve Waterman shares photography for fun and relaxation with his wife, Denise.  To support the photography hobby, he practices law, doing commercial litigation and reorganization with an international law firm. (The above photo was used on the firm's annual Christmas card.)

Royce's 2014 Workshop, Lecture & Video Conference Schedule: NightScapeEvents.com

MoonScapes - Photographing a Full Moon with Landscape Detail

Moonrise with last sun light on Wasatch Range, Salt Lake City, UT ~ © Royce Bair

Little Known Trick to Photographing the Full Moon: Here is how you can get detail on both the landscape and the moon. The above photo of the full moon was taken just as the sun was setting, the day before the full moon, and the next two photos were taken just before sunrise, the day of the full moon.

Big yellow moon as it passes through a cloud, surrounded by a cold, blue winter sky ~ © Royce Bair
Canon EOS 7D with an EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens @ 400mm
(35mm equivalent is 12X) f/8 • 1/4 sec • ISO 100

5 minutes later the same moon begins to set behind the Oquirrh Mountains, near SLC, UT ~ © Royce Bair
Canon EOS 7D with an EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens @ 400mm
(35mm equivalent is 12X) f/8 • 1/4 sec • ISO 100

Here is my "NightScape" Moon Photography Tip: If you want to record good detail in the clouds and landscape near the moon, you need to know two important re-occurring facts: 1. The night before the full moon, the moon rises just a few minutes before the sun sets; and 2. the morning of the full moon, the moon sets just before the sun is starting to rise. During these two periods, there is just enough ambient light from the setting and rising sun to give detail to the surrounding landscape -- otherwise, it is too dark, and the contrast range is too great to record anything but blackness around the moon -- like you see in these two photos:

Middle of the night: Left image exposed for cloud detail. Right image exposed for moon detail.

You can't have it both ways: either you get a washed out (overexposed moon) in order to see the clouds and surrounding landscape detail -- or you get a correctly exposed moon, and lose all the surrounding detail -- that is, unless you follow my little known trick and these "Nightscape" tips.

Moon Charts: I use the Old Farmer's Almanac moon phase calendar and the USNO moorise/moonset charts to plan my shoots. (All times are based on sea level, so they must be adjusted slightly for mountainous terrain -- the moon will set sooner because of mountains, and the sunrise will be delayed because of mountains, and etc.) Using these charts, I can often get at least one moon rise and one moon set per month (weather permitting) that allow for good, full moon photography.

An example of how I did it: Based on my Zip Code, the full moon was to take place on January 9, 2012 at 12:32 AM. The sun was suppose to rise on this day at 7:51 AM, and the moon was scheduled to set at 7:54 AM. Because the eastern mountains around Salt Lake City are about 6,000 feet higher than the valley floor, I figured (by experience) the sunrise would be delayed about 30 minutes. And because the western mountains are about 3,000 feet higher than the valley floor, I estimated the moon would set about 15 minutes early. I figured right on both accounts. The middle two photos were taken at 7:30 and 7:35 AM, with just enough predawn twilight behind me to add detail to the western sky and western mountains ("blue hour" light).

Mirror Lock-up. One other important thing: Even with a sturdy tripod and a remote release, the vibration from your mirror going up just before your shutter release can blur or degrade your shot. That's because the magnifications are so great (12X in this shot) and the shutter speeds are so slow (about 1/4 second in this case). Read your manual on how to do this for your camera. Once it is set through your menu, the first press of the shutter release will lock up the mirror, and the second press will release the shutter, and return the mirror. Even with a remote release, you should wait about three seconds for the vibrations to dampen before pressing the release the second time. So many things to remember! I also find I have to manually focus, and set all my exposures manually for best results. (For super accurate focus, I switch to Live View through my LCD screen, and magnify it to 10X. Once set, I switch back to regular view to conserve battery power.)

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Royce's 2014 Workshop, Lecture & Video Conference Schedule: NightScapeEvents.com
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Moonrise Behind East Mitten

Moonglow behind East Mitten ~ © Royce Bair
Canon 5D MK3 • 70-200mm lens @f/4.0 • 4 sec • ISO 320

I just returned last night from a two-day pre-workshop scouting trip in the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. As the rising of the moon overpowers the stars, this was my last photo of the evening (not to mention the increasing cloud cover).

"Blue" moonlight hue conversion

A rising moon adds a dramatic touch to astro-landscape photos. Although moonlight is about 135 times brighter than starlight, and quickly subdues all but the brightest stars, capturing its early advent mixes nicely with the stars. I can't wait to show these NightScapes and others to you in future posts.

Note: This really was the color of the sky, as the moon rose that night. At some point, I'm going to process this image through the raw converter (ARC) and produce a more traditional, "blue" moonlight image. Until then, here's a quick 'n' dirty hue conversion.

Royce's 2014 Workshop, Lecture & Video Conference Schedule: NightScapeEvents.com
Featured Post: Shooting Stars eBook Review — How to Photograph the Stars and the Moon

Light Painting Delicate Arch

Milky Way and light-painted Delicate Arch ~ © Royce Bair

Last week I conducted a 'NightScape' photography workshop at Arches National Park. We had crazy, wet weather! However, patient and persistent efforts by our group members allowed us to pull off some amazing shots during the windows of partial clearing that we were given.

The arch is lighted with a large, stationary, diffused light from the right (about 300 feet away). I'm providing an accent light from behind the arch with a small, hand-held, quartz halogen spotlight.

Our 'NightScape' workshop group photographing a moonscape behind a light-painted Delicate Arch ~ © Royce Bair

Earlier, we photographed a moonscape behind a light-painted Delicate Arch that my lighting assistant (my son, Chris) and I had arranged. (This is a totally different lighting setup than we used in the top photo with the Milky Way. Here, the stationary key light is coming from the left, and we are using small, moving spotlights on the right side to fill in harsh shadows.) A couple of hours after the moon had set, the clouds finally cleared enough to get the Milky Way shot (top) we had been waiting for.

Note: This ultra-wide angle shot, with the people in the foreground, makes the arch look smaller than it really is. Here's a better size comparison by Jaromir Dzialo.

Sacred Moon by Steven Sharp

Moon over Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple ~ by Steven Sharp (click to enlarge)

I just returned last week from conducting a very enjoyable NightScape workshop in Bryce Canyon National Park. It's fun to get to know each attendee: how they interpret each location, and to review some of their past work. On the last day of each workshop we typically have a show-n-tell. We not only review some of our favorite shots from the workshop, but each participant is also encouraged to show a few photos from their portfolio. This moonscape by Steven Sharp caught my attention because its high dynamic range.

After talking with Steven, I learned that he had indeed employed HDR techniques to capture this very contrasty night scene. After shooting three exposures in rapid secession (the typical 2 stops under, 2 stops over, and proper exposure), Steve used Photomatix Pro to combine the images. Screen captures, histograms, and metadata for the three images are supplied below (click to enlarge).

When I first looked at the image, I felt the composition could be improved with a vertical crop, but I then discovered Steven had taken the photo for a calendar contest featuring local LDS (Mormon) temples; and I realized the reason for the horizontal composition. This photo was chosen for the month of October 2014.

Steven has only been into serious picture-taking for a little over two years! "I started into photography when my oldest son, who wanted to settle a debt but didn't have cash, gave me a Nikon D80 and three lenses as payment," says Steven. "I knew nothing about photography, especially with a DSLR, but was excited to have a cool camera: look at all those buttons and settings to learn about! I [now] carry my camera and tripod with me almost everywhere I go. I've found that taking pictures is one of the best ways to learn how to take pictures. I'm having a blast making mistakes as I learn about photography. The learning never stops and neither does the fun!"

More of Steven's photography can be seen at his website, including his most recent photos taken at Bryce Canyon NP.