The full moon was yesterday (04/25/2013) so today was a good day to capture the setting moon at sunrise. With the moon setting about 3/4 hour after the sunrise I had hoped that Cathedral Rock would be bathed in early morning direct sunlight.
Moon setting behind Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.
Because of the higher terrain to the east, the light from the sun did not strike the rocks until after the moon had dropped behind the rocks. Instead, I was able to capture the pre-sunrise colors which were a lot more muted and subtle. It wasn’t what I was hoping to photograph but may, in fact, be better!
Just a few days ago Comet PanSTARRS became visible to observers in the Northern Hemisphere. Today, the comet was located very near the 30h-old crescent moon making a striking pair of objects in the western twilight sky.
Comet PanSTARRS and the 30h-old crescent Moon– with reflections in the lake.Comet PanSTARRS and the Moon.
Tomorrow the moon will be higher in the sky with the comet below. Another photo opportunity!
The North American Monsoon was going strong in late August and I decided to take a day trip up to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. My goal was to photograph lightning — both during the daytime and in the twilight hours — over and in the canyon.
I wasn’t disappointed. There were only a few thunderstorms around and that makes for better chances since there are fewer intervening storms and there is a better chance of catching some of the sky.
The first two images are of fairly weak thunderstorms producing only a few flashes as they traversed the canyon from south to north.
Early afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon.Afternoon lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.
Later in the evening there was thunderstorm activity over the Kaibab Plateau and the north rim. This image captures the small thunderstorm as well as the stars overhead and the lights of the North Rim buildings.
Evening lightning over the Grand Canyon from Grandview Point.
The last image was taken as the storms ended leaving only a thin layer of clouds with the stars shining brightly and the inner canyon illuminated by the light of the full moon.
Full moon light shining down into Grand Canyon.
A few notes of interest. While taking lightning photos using my lightning trigger, a group of four photographers showed up at the same viewpoint — all with the same lightning trigger. And later, during the twilight hours, another group of lightning photographers arrived at the same viewpoint. Turns out these were folks from News9.com (an Oklahoma City television station). It’s not clear to me how lightning over the Grand Canyon is part of the news team coverage for Oklahoma City.
The full moon occurred on 04 June and there was an early morning partial eclipse — but I slept through it. The two evenings prior to the full moon, however, provided an opportunity to photograph the rising moon as the sun still cast light and color on the red rocks.
Stereo pair of Cathedral Rock, Sedona, Arizona.
Using The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE) I was able to pre-determine where to set up to photograph the moon as it traversed above the towers that make up Cathedral Rock. As the moon rose up and to the right I moved my position to the left to keep the moon in the larger gap. The unintended consequence of this movement is that I was able to get these similar — but slightly different — images about five minutes and 50 meters apart. Putting them together side-by-side makes a good stereo pair using the cross-eyed viewing method — that is, as long as you don’t object to having two moons in the 3-D image.
Moonrise over Oak Creek, Sedona, Arizona.
The following night I set up in a different location and was able to capture the moon as it rose from behind these cliffs with this large home in the foreground.
