Celestial Convergence

Okay, I'll go first. I headed out west of town this evening in hopes of getting something of the crescent moon/Venus/Jupiter convergence, but just didn't find anything worthwhile to juxtapose the scene with. I headed for home, but when I got out of my truck, the sky looked better than ever, so I pulled the camera back out and headed down the street til I found this tree (kinda scrappy, I know) to put in the frame. Not great, but still a sight to behold.

Anybody else get anything?

That really turned out nice. I love the colors. The convergence really turned out nice.

Sweet Todd! I was looking at this on my way home this evening too but opted not get to my camera since 200 mm is the longest I have and I did not think it would be enough reach. Excelent capture. What lens did you use?
John

I like it Todd! The left side is a bit dark for my tastes and draws me away from the subject a bit. Maybe you could crop out a bit more from the left and it wouldn't be quite so dark over there. The colors and celestial formation in your image is really great! I saw this as well with Longs Peak surrounded in pink clouds next to it when I left the gallery this evening. I was sure wishing I had my camera and a very long lens. Glad you took advantage of this beautiful evening!

Actually, I think this was only around 80mm. I didn't want to zoom in too much so that the movement of the Earth's rotation would show. Erik, I agree about the left side being too dark. It just looked discombobulated if I hacked off the left side of the tree, so I chose the lesser of two evils (imo) and let it go dark. If I give it any more time, I might try to do a grad to bring the left side up a bit.

I can't believe I posted that turd. Here's one I used a little shadow/highlight on. Noise is problematic, mostly on the left side, esp. upper left, but overall I think this is a lot more pleasing to the eyes.

Nice Todd! Great colors! I do like this version better.

Ken

This is great, Todd! I knew this event was going to happen, but I wasn't in a position to do anything with it.

Nice Capture Todd.

I noticed this in the sky last night while I was out blowing snow, but I didn't realize who all the players were. I should have been paying attention...

Neat image Todd! Thanks for sharing.

The repost is sweet Todd, especially for finding the comp at the last minute. I saw the moon and planets from my house, but wasn't in a good location to capture it - glad someone did!.

Great shot Todd! I saw it driving down to the Springs from Denver, but clouds kept obscuring the moon or the planets. Awesome sight though. I like the tree in the repost better, but I think I like the darker skies in the first one.

Todd, the repost is terrific! Love it!

...I was out blowing snow...

Geez, Kevin, is that something you should be admitting on a public forum???

I'm really liking the second version Todd. Nice work!

Jack

I like yours, Todd. I went out to shoot it, more as an exercise than as a serious endeavor. I too was hard up for a location, so I finally settled on our local Greek Orthodox church. Here's my best attempt, some streaking in the heavens notwithstanding.

I dunno man, this is all I was able to get. Guess it's not exactly nature, tho

Sweet, Todd, by the time i got out it was too late but i figured someone would catch the show. Looks good!

Laurent, this would've looked much better without the clothes. (hers, not yours...)

Jackson, I like your choice of foreground element.

I was down in Bosque and this was my parting shot, although you can hardly see Venus and Jupiter in this shot. Others are at

http://www.billmeikle.com/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&Itemid=9&gid=20

Nice collection of images all around, Bill!

Todd, the sunset colors combined with the celestial event is awesome, add the wintery looking tree branches and there is an awful lot to like there. The repost is definitely an improvement.

I didn't photograph it because I forgot! Can I claim being over 40 as an excuse? How about over 50?, How about almost 60? Yikes, that's scary!

Bill: You captured a lot of wonderful stuff in Bosque! How long were you there?

I'm headed there in 8 days.

Todd, the sunset colors combined with the celestial event is awesome, add the wintery looking tree branches and there is an awful lot to like there. The repost is definitely an improvement.

I didn't photograph it because I forgot! Can I claim being over 40 as an excuse? How about over 50?, How about almost 60? Yikes, that's scary!

Great shot Todd! The combo of an event like this with some nice colors is something you don't see that often. I was walking out of work that night without my camera and was wishing I had my camera...

To answer the questions I was in Bosque arrived last Friday in time for sunset and left early on Monday morning so two full days. You can see a lot in two days and its my third visit so I knew the layout. I hadn't been to the VLA before or the San Miguel Mission.
If going then check out the ponds a few miles north of the reserve, there are lots of birds there at dawn and dusk.
Harriers and hawks on the Marsh Loop. Lots of birds overall. Pintail and other ducks.
Few birds on the Farm Loop this year, but bald eagles on the snags. A sun grebe from S. America has been seen several times. Weather was mild and bright most of the time.
Take lots of memory cards, I was shooting about 16GB (12Mp camera) each day. I tried some time lapse but not too good, its hard to predict the geese blast offs!
The other secret is to check out the cactus garden at the visitor center, its full of interesting birds if you are patient.

DOH! and I totally forgot about the event, it didn't help trying to get ahold of the electric company to get electricity back on at my place. SO I totally missed the event

That's a stunning image, Todd. No need to be self-deprecating here. It's certainly the best I've seen of this event so far.

Guy

Awesome, Todd! I was on travel and wanted to go light, so no camera. It was cool to see though. You got a great capture!

Great capture Todd. The color is a real bonus and the composition with the tree turns it into a usable image.

Late to the party, but wanted to add to the accolades - doesn't look like a "plan B" image at all. A gorgeous sky, stoic tree and thoughtful comp all come together with the celestial players perfectly. It's great that it was a crescent moon as opposed to full.

If noise is an issue, maybe a moderate vignette to mask it in that ULC?

Goose eggs here in Portland - overcast and rainy.