Odd shots - Near miss

This contrail makes it look like a plane had a close encounter with the nearly full moon.

For more "Odd Shots" visit Katney's Kaboodle.

Moon light over field

Taken a little after 2 AM with tripod. A

Automatic mode, ISO 1600, exposure 8 seconds.

Full moon rising

Auto mode, ISO 1600, Shutter 1/125 sec, F 5.6

With some low clouds to the east, the full moon was not visible as it cleared the horizon. These shots were taken over a 6 minute span about 20 minutes after the predicted moonrise time.

Manual, ISO 1600, Shutter 1/320 sec, F 5.6

Manual, ISO 800, Shutter 1/500 sec, F 5.6

Moon - exposure is everything

ISO 400, Shutter 1/640 sec, F 5.6

With a clear sky and two days before full moon, I decided to experiment with settings for getting good night time photos. My camera is a Nikon D40X. I used my 55-200mm zoom lens set to 200mm. I used manual mode for exposure and only varied the shutter speed. I took these a little after 9:00 pm EDT, hand held, leaning against a fence post. The images were cropped and then resized to a width of 600 pixels. I now have a starting point (image above) for taking photos of the moon.

ISO 400, Shutter 1/320 sec, F 5.6

ISO 400, Shutter 1/160 sec, F 5.6

Going to the moon

Another shot (cropped and enhanced) from the morning of March 23. There were a number of planes that left brief contrails as I waited for the sunrise. They appeared to be departing Baltimore (about 50 miles east) and heading to points west. Some made a gentle curving arcs and headed south. This was taken between the moon and sunrise image and the sunrise sequence posted for Sky Watch.

New moon at sunrise

Just before sunrise today

Making use of a bad image

Last night the full moon was shining through the clouds and I went out to try a few shots without my tripod. None of the shots turned out well being either too dark or blurry. So I experimented with PhotoShop Elements looking for an enhancement to change the above image to something pleasing. After a bunch of "no luck" changes, I tried Filter => Brush Strokes => => Accented Edges. And with the edges of the tree limbs accentuated, the image now has some interest. Next time I'll take the tripod!

Day 280 - Half moon over corn field

Taken shortly after sunset.

Day 81 - Moon and fountains

Two for the price of one today. I saw the fountains today outside a place that makes headstones, statues and other monuments for cemeteries. The picture below was taken at dusk yesterday as I was filling the gas tank. Just one small cloud drifting across the darkening sky.

Day 52 - After the eclipse (revised)

After I posted the pictures below, I decided to try my recurring theme "rear window view" in moonlight. The above was taken from my ground level office. To the left of the bird bath and on the other side of the fence is a deer. There were 15 of them grazing in the snow-covered field.

I took these pictures from our dining room window a little before 1:00 AM EST. The snow had stopped, the sky cleared and the eclipse was over. Looking up I got some reflection from the window in the picture of the moon through the trees. Below is the shadow of the same tree on the snow. I set the camera on my tripod and let it do the exposure automatically (about 6 seconds). I did go out earlier to see the eclipse at about the half-way point, but did not want to set up the tripod in the snow.