The gleaming stars all about the shining moon
Hide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendid
In the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth
with clear silver light.
--Sappho, 5th-6th Century B.C.
Another take on last week's moon. This was shot in Valles Caldera near Los Alamos, during their moonlight skiing event. When we started skiing, the night was pitch black and the valley floor was full of mist. But as we climbed up the valley side a little, the fog thinned, the moon rose and everything caught silver fire.
This one's definitely a bit soft; not sure it'll ever be anything but a web image or a 5x7. There was still lingering mist where this was taken, so I'll blame that and quietly resolve to work on my technique for shooting 30s exposures in five feet of snow. At least I managed not to kill my tripod this year!
Another, arguably better, shot from that night is here.
If any New Mexicans are wanting some winter night photo ops, the Valles Caldera preserve is doing the moonlight ski/snowshoe event again on February 27. I highly recommend it.
Posted by Jamie Botdorf on February 4, 2010 at 12:22 PM
This has a nice dreamy feel to it. I like it!
Posted by Morris McClung on February 4, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Both of those are killer shots. The first has a great mood.
Posted by Kurt Bowman on February 4, 2010 at 12:37 PM
I agree with Morris. I like them both...but the first one makes me even colder than I am today.
Posted by Todd Caudle on February 4, 2010 at 12:52 PM
Oh my God, this is freakin' incredible! Wow! Major score.
Posted by Paul Wegemann on February 4, 2010 at 12:59 PM
Wow, this is sweet. I like the other one too. I think you could crop the trees from the left and also have a really nice image.
Posted by bill meikle on February 4, 2010 at 1:20 PM
Great images Jackson.
Posted by Brian Jackson on February 4, 2010 at 2:02 PM
Really great shots. Both of them.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on February 4, 2010 at 3:16 PM
WOW! This is one scene where you can get away with a little softness.
Posted by Jack Garrett on February 4, 2010 at 3:52 PM
These are both superior images! Nice capture...I love how I can see Orion in the second one.
Posted by Nick Moore on February 4, 2010 at 3:52 PM
Both shots are amazing, but #1 above is definitely a WOW, great mood to it!.
Posted by John Mumaw on February 4, 2010 at 5:20 PM
Major score indeed!
Great work...I slightly favor the one you linked to because of the beautiful starry skies.
Almost surprising that you could get that many stars on a moonlit night. Any camera specs you can offer for that one? I'm real interested in pursuing night photography soon.
Posted by Mel Ladewig on February 4, 2010 at 7:45 PM
Thanks everybody! Much appreciated. It was a great night to be out.
John, sounds like you and Sappho had the same thought! Specs on the linked shot were f5.6, 30s, ISO 200. I was getting workable histograms with those settings, and didn't want to go any longer because of streaking in the stars. There actually is a little, but at anything less than 100%, it just makes the stars seem brighter. I did have to bring the exposure up a LOT in post. With my lowly old D40, I really don't like to go over ISO 200. Can't wait till I can afford something better in low light.
I was actually quite surprised to see that this shot worked out. the snow was so deep my tripod head was just above the ground. What with skis and gear, I couldn't get a very good look through the viewfinder at all. I just threw it out there and hoped it would stick. didn't work for all my shots that night, but this one came through, and made me very happy!
Posted by Rajeev Thomas on February 5, 2010 at 1:04 AM
Jackson..... this is awesome!! First one is the killer!!! Beautifully done!!!
Posted by Don George on February 5, 2010 at 12:37 PM
very surreal the softness adds to the image in this case.
Posted by Rene Pirolt on February 5, 2010 at 1:38 PM
Beautiful shot Jackson! This has a very ethereal quality to it.
Posted by Dan Walters on February 7, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Very surreal image. Really like how you can see the stars, and the mist really adds a nice touch.
Posted by Jack Brauer on February 8, 2010 at 10:05 AM
Awesome photo!!! Very surreal feeling to it. I also really like a square crop of the just the right side, minus the trees on the left - it really simplifies it, with just the moon and the one tree there.
Discussion
18 repliesHide their bright faces, when full-orbed and splendid
In the sky she floats, flooding the shadowed earth
with clear silver light.
--Sappho, 5th-6th Century B.C.
Another take on last week's moon. This was shot in Valles Caldera near Los Alamos, during their moonlight skiing event. When we started skiing, the night was pitch black and the valley floor was full of mist. But as we climbed up the valley side a little, the fog thinned, the moon rose and everything caught silver fire.
This one's definitely a bit soft; not sure it'll ever be anything but a web image or a 5x7. There was still lingering mist where this was taken, so I'll blame that and quietly resolve to work on my technique for shooting 30s exposures in five feet of snow. At least I managed not to kill my tripod this year!
Another, arguably better, shot from that night is here.
If any New Mexicans are wanting some winter night photo ops, the Valles Caldera preserve is doing the moonlight ski/snowshoe event again on February 27. I highly recommend it.
Great work...I slightly favor the one you linked to because of the beautiful starry skies.
Almost surprising that you could get that many stars on a moonlit night. Any camera specs you can offer for that one? I'm real interested in pursuing night photography soon.
John, sounds like you and Sappho had the same thought! Specs on the linked shot were f5.6, 30s, ISO 200. I was getting workable histograms with those settings, and didn't want to go any longer because of streaking in the stars. There actually is a little, but at anything less than 100%, it just makes the stars seem brighter. I did have to bring the exposure up a LOT in post. With my lowly old D40, I really don't like to go over ISO 200. Can't wait till I can afford something better in low light.
I was actually quite surprised to see that this shot worked out. the snow was so deep my tripod head was just above the ground. What with skis and gear, I couldn't get a very good look through the viewfinder at all. I just threw it out there and hoped it would stick. didn't work for all my shots that night, but this one came through, and made me very happy!