Tag: Moon

Bright objects in the night sky — Part II

Last week the planets Venus and Jupiter shone brightly in the western sky after sunset. This week, the new crescent moon joins the planets creating a triangle of brilliant objects in the sky.

Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon shine brighly above Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.
Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon shine brighly above Cathedral Rock in Sedona, Arizona.

Using star charts and other maps we determined that if we hiked a short distance along the Templeton Trail that the planetary and moon conjunction would be nicely positioned above Cathedral Rock in Sedona. As the sky darkened the celestial objects shone brightly but the lighting on the rocks was quickly fading. This image was the best combination of bright objects but with enough light to still see the details in the beautiful red rocks.

Later, as the planets and Moon set behind Cathedral Rock more stars appeared. To get some soft light on the tree I used a flash that was set to manual mode with the lowest light output and stood off to the side and fired the flash manually.

The stars shine down on the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.
The stars shine down on the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona.

In  a few weeks, Venus and Jupiter will be at their closest approach to each other. And it will be time for a another set of photographs.

Painted faces in the desert

North of Flagstaff, Arizona, on Highway 89 are some painted faces on stumps on the east side of the road. The only information I have found is contained in these two links:

“Arizona scenic drive: Flagstaff to Cameron” 

“US-89 North: Flagstaff to Cameron”

[Edit: broken links]

While driving south to Flagstaff a few weeks ago I noticed that a nearly full moon had risen in the east. Since I would be approaching the painted faces in a few miles I thought that the combination of the faces and moon would make an interesting photograph.

Painted faces in the desert.
Painted faces in the desert.

Carefully stopping and pulling well off the road I studied the setup and possible composition. If I walked up close to the faces I could lean over the fence and use a wide-angle lens to capture the scene without the fence but the moon would be very small. Alternatively, I could use a telephoto lens and shoot from farther away and get a larger moon next to the faces but I would also get the fence in the image.

I decided that the telephoto was the better choice even if the image included the fence. This is, after all, how it looks to everyone driving by.

Crescent moon and Venus in the morning sky

One of the advantages (and their aren’t many) of working shift work is that you get to see a lot of sunrises. While many marvel about beautiful sunsets, far fewer can say the same of the sunrise.

Crescent moon and Venus in morning twilight.
Crescent moon and Venus in morning twilight.

I wish I could say that I planned this photograph and was patiently waiting for the right moment. But, no, I wasn’t even paying attention to the sky. On impulse, I walked to the window and peered out to see if there were any clouds lit up by the not-yet-risen sun and was pleased to see the thin crescent moon so near the planet Venus. Luckily, the camera was nearby and I shot this image of the celestial pair with some trees in the foreground to add some detailed texture.