Posted by Todd Caudle on April 4, 2011 at 10:55 PM
alternate title: Deep Blue
There was an awesome wave cloud over the Front Range this afternoon, but it never really lit up at sunset. After sunset, I was heading home from running around, and noticed the thinnest of crescent moons sandwiched between Blodgett Peak and the trailing edge of the wave cloud. By the time I got home and grabbed my camera and tripod, the cloud had advance far enough east that including it in the image was impractical. So this simplistic approach was the end result. Keep in mind that even the relatively short, 3.2-second exposure at 200mm showed movement in the moon, making the crescent about double its size. To the naked eye it was barely discernible.
[no Photoshop magic was used to enhance the incredible amount of Earthshine you see here. No curves, no shadow/highlight, no nothin'. This is a result of the 3.2-sec. exposure only.]
Posted by Kalin Wilson on April 4, 2011 at 11:15 PM
Nice exposure! Maybe you DO know what you're doing!
Love the blue!
Awesome execution here! the big sky above makes it all the more abstract and mysterious... That slight crescent is epic - and the fact you can make out the features of the Moon is crazy good. Good work, would love to see this printed - on a 7880 to be exact.
PS - the fact that 3.2 seconds is enough to show that movement is remarkable...
Posted by Dan Walters on April 4, 2011 at 11:26 PM
Simply gorgeous in its stark simplicity. Your work rarely disappoints, and this is no exception.
The ability to see the individual trees on the ridgeline in such detail is very cool, and adds a lot here to me.
Surprised to hear about the movement of the moon solely due to the sharp features in the shadows here.
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 5, 2011 at 12:02 AM
You know, John, you make a great point. I think the more likely cause of the increased size of that slice of moon is light bleed from the exposure being too long for that little bit of lighter tones.
Posted by Jack Garrett on April 5, 2011 at 12:30 AM
Another image where simplicity speaks for itself...very nice!!!
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on April 5, 2011 at 12:55 AM
"Deep Blue" is most appropriate. Love that gradient !
<geek on>Doing some back-of-the-envelope math: the earth rotates once per day (360 degrees). Assuming the moon were fixed relative to earth (it's not), then in 3.2s (exposure duration), the earth has turned 360 x 3.2/(60 *60 *24) degrees = 0.01333 degrees. If the angular diameter of the moon is roughly 0.5 degrees, the it potentially is seen to move by ~2.7% of its own diameter during the exposure - enough to be noticeable for a photo taken at a longer focal length, I'd guess. Light bleed could be a factor too, of course.</geek off>
Stephen, that's awesome. If you want to see the opposite attitude toward mathematics (and get a chuckle), click on the blog icon below and read the post right below the current one.
Sweet! I was thinking about taking a few photos of that crescent, but the NCAAs got in the way...
FWIW, i think you could make this super awesome shot a slight notch awesomer by cropping the bottom so the ridge hits the corner. (then submit it to the 'gallery that i hath formerly supervised')
Ditto on Stan's suggestion to post this in the Weekly challenge gallery which has a dominant blue color as the theme. Sweet, sweet shot, TC!
Posted by Todd Caudle on April 5, 2011 at 11:13 PM
Don, this is 3.2-sec. @ f11, 200 iso.
Posted by Rene Pirolt on April 5, 2011 at 11:19 PM
Killer shot Todd - I love that you can see a bit of detail in the moon.
Posted by Bob Falcone on April 6, 2011 at 11:33 PM
Very, very nice.
I was on "Rattlesnake Ridge" in the Garden that same evening, waiting for the clouds to light up, but nada. I'm glad you saw this great shot!
Discussion
20 repliesThere was an awesome wave cloud over the Front Range this afternoon, but it never really lit up at sunset. After sunset, I was heading home from running around, and noticed the thinnest of crescent moons sandwiched between Blodgett Peak and the trailing edge of the wave cloud. By the time I got home and grabbed my camera and tripod, the cloud had advance far enough east that including it in the image was impractical. So this simplistic approach was the end result. Keep in mind that even the relatively short, 3.2-second exposure at 200mm showed movement in the moon, making the crescent about double its size. To the naked eye it was barely discernible.
[no Photoshop magic was used to enhance the incredible amount of Earthshine you see here. No curves, no shadow/highlight, no nothin'. This is a result of the 3.2-sec. exposure only.]
Love the blue!
Awesome execution here! the big sky above makes it all the more abstract and mysterious... That slight crescent is epic - and the fact you can make out the features of the Moon is crazy good. Good work, would love to see this printed - on a 7880 to be exact.
PS - the fact that 3.2 seconds is enough to show that movement is remarkable...
The ability to see the individual trees on the ridgeline in such detail is very cool, and adds a lot here to me.
Surprised to hear about the movement of the moon solely due to the sharp features in the shadows here.
<geek on>Doing some back-of-the-envelope math: the earth rotates once per day (360 degrees). Assuming the moon were fixed relative to earth (it's not), then in 3.2s (exposure duration), the earth has turned 360 x 3.2/(60 *60 *24) degrees = 0.01333 degrees. If the angular diameter of the moon is roughly 0.5 degrees, the it potentially is seen to move by ~2.7% of its own diameter during the exposure - enough to be noticeable for a photo taken at a longer focal length, I'd guess. Light bleed could be a factor too, of course.</geek off>
Very cool shot
I had the same thought as Carol about the weekly challenge.
FWIW, i think you could make this super awesome shot a slight notch awesomer by cropping the bottom so the ridge hits the corner. (then submit it to the 'gallery that i hath formerly supervised')
I was on "Rattlesnake Ridge" in the Garden that same evening, waiting for the clouds to light up, but nada. I'm glad you saw this great shot!