Moonlighting

Last night I had a chance to play around with some moonlight photography for the first time with a D3x, and was fairly pleased with the results. Its sensor is no where near as good for low light as the one in the D3s, but it's a heckuva lot better than the 2x. It was very pleasant and quiet while I stood in this field between midnight and 1 am, and can see how this kind of photography could become addictive.

I'm curious to know if this strikes you as too dark, too light, or about right. Pretty amazing what a camera sees in the dark if you leave the shutter open long enough... Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

...and another one I stumbled onto yesterday from the Richland Creek area after sunset.

Both shots are really great, Bill. The star shot looks good on my monitor and I can hear the frogs chirpin in the second one!

Like Hubble, if you can keep the shutter open long enough, you can get light that is billions of years old! Pretty amazing time machine. I like both, but the first is the more ethereal. Just curious, are those flowers reflecting the moonlight in the area beneath the cliffs?

Thanks guys. Those bullfrogs did have quite a conversation going, Tom. Some of them sounded pretty big - too bad we didn't have a gig!

Daniel, the bright spots in the field are lightning bugs. The park rangers that came by to see what I was up to thought their numbers were particularly large last night.

nice, Bill, night photography can be quite addicting :). I like the top one, especially with the lightning bugs as an added bonus

I really like both of these. The lightning bugs in the first shot are a really cool feature.

Low light sensors make a difference. From your posts the D3S is the best. I have a D300 and D700. The D700 is a huge jump in the right direction.

Way to go! I wonder if the dark areas on the cliff in the first photo could be "tweaked" to make slightly brighter? But, it IS and night-time photo with all those charactristics. If people realize that, I think it's ok.

the fisch

They both look real good Bill. I love the glow in the sky of the first shot and the softness of the color in the second. It's great to experiment and learn different aspects of photography. Keep up the great work.

I think they look good Bill. It's crazy how much color you can pick up at night when the moon is out. Lightning bugs are pretty fun to try and capture as well.

Great shots Bill. I especially like the sunset across the pond.
Take a gig next time and you can have supper while processing the photos.

I like the first one but I think the second image is just killer Bill. Really good work as usual.

Hey Bill, Sorry for the delay in posting - I like them both and they are a tribute to your dedication to the art. The second one is especially nice and would look good as either a post card or poster. The sun picking up the edge of the rocks in the center of the creek set it off very well.

I love the first shot Bill. I do wonder if maybe the bluffs are a bit brighter than what the eye would see on a moonlit night.