Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Moonrise on Lake Michigan Revisited

About 7:30 this evening, I was down by Samuel Myers Park (aka 11th St. Beach). I looked off to the east, and there was a beautiful full moon just beginning to rise over the lake. It reminded me of the Solstice Moon that we discussed a few months ago: http://jtirregulars.blogspot.com/2008/06/solstice-moon-illusion.html.

I thought of the great photos that drew took of that moon:
http://jtirregulars.blogspot.com/2008/06/solstice-moon-pictures.html. I didn't have my camera with me and the light was fading fast, but I wanted to try to get some shots of this moonrise. So I raced home, grabbed my camera, and raced back down. By the time I arrived, it was almost dark. As I trotted toward the rocks, I suddenly remembered the tripod that I had left at home. Isn't it fun to get old?

Anyway, I tried to get some decent pics, but I was too winded to hold the camera steady, and very ticked off at myself for forgetting the tripod. The picture above is the best of the lot. And the one at right, well, I'm not sure exactly what happened there, but it reminds me of the 60's.


7 comments:

OrbsCorbs said...

Of course, I haven't read the camera manual yet, either. At this point, I'm not even sure where it is.

drewzepmeister said...

Orbs,for what it's worth,I thought that was a good picture. The moon is a very hard object to take a picture of. I think I got lucky.

OrbsCorbs said...

Thank you, drew. I have a twilight setting on my camera, and that's what I used. Thing is, it was too dark for that by the time I returned. I believe that if I had been able to take photos of what I first saw, a pale orange moon low in a pale gray sky, the results would've been much better. To me, it looked as good as, or better than, the solstice moon that I also observed down there. It rose directly east, whereas the solstice moon rose in the southeast.

There's also this, Picture5091s, which I took while approaching the rocks. Streetlights on the left, moon in the center. The setting was on auto and the flash went off, which you can see at the bottom of the pic.

MinnesotaChick said...

Very cool pics, Orbs! I kinda like the squiggly one...

kkdither said...

About 4:30/5:00 AM yesterday, the moon was shining so bright into the west windows of the house, it was like the sun streaming in. I don't ever recall it being that bright.

Gee, I'm glad your second picture was a "failure" and not the moon deflating or falling out of orbit and sizzling off...

hale-bopp said...

Tripod is the key. The shutter stays open so long in those low light conditions it is hard to keep the camera steady. The picture I posted from Kitt Peak was taken when it was still fairly light out (a little before sunset in fact) so the exposure time was short enough that camera shake was not much of an issue.

Keep practicing...I am going to do more this fall now that the rainy season is coming to a close and its not too hot out!

Unknown said...

Orbs not bad pics. I too like the wiggly one.

KK I think you saw Cosmo's moon........Hee hee remember in the movie MOON STRUCK?