A very prominent 22° Halo around the moon on Christmas night...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 12mm, 1/3th sec at f/11. ISO 800. Raw conversion and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw,

- Bill

So for a recent assignment on a photography forum that I post to regularly, one of the members picked "Time and Motion" as the theme. That instantly got me thinking time lapse! I've been wanting to try my hand at time lapse for a long time, and as things usually go, procrastination got the better of me.

Anyway, this apparently was the right motivation!

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 31mm, 1 second at f/5.0. ISO 2500. 695 frames taken every 5 seconds. RAW processing Adobe Camera Raw, video rendered in Adobe Premiere Elements 11.

As you can see, it isn't the best attempt, but I definitely learned a few things to keep in mind for next time.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Bill

Ok - I probably owe some folks for the heart attacks produced by yesterday's square crops of that jumping spider, so here's a square crop of a shot of the moon I took the other night....

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter at 1000mm, 1/50th sec at f/13. ISO 100. RAW processing and cropped in Adobe Camera Raw.

Thanks for coming back after yesterday's spiders!

- Bill

Here's another shot from the perigee full moon from a couple weeks ago. After taking the shots or the moonrise up on Mount Washington, we stopped off at a nearby cemetery to see what kind of shots we could find there. It was really cold that night, so I rattled off a couple quick shots and then headed back home for some hot cocoa.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II at 55mm, 2.6 sec at f/5.7. ISO 200. No post production.

Why This Photo: With the large full moon, Anya suggested some spooky shots in the cemetery. Once I saw this tree with that distinct low limb, I decided to frame the moon in the middle of the branches.

What Works: The dark exposure adds to the spooky feel of the scene, and the branches of the tree wrapping the moon completes that sense.

What Doesn't Work: The moon is a bit over-exposed and becomes a harsh featureless spot instead of an ominous moon. The composition is lacking a bit - the evergreen bush on the left is pretty unbalanced, and the moon is a bit too close to center. Perhaps some post production cropping could help the cause.

Thanks for stopping by today.

- Bill

Well, as if it wasn't obvious, I continue to be lazy with posts. However, I did make sure I got out this weekend to get some photos, so that's at least a step in the right direction.

In case you didn't hear, this past Saturday night was a Perigee Full Moon, which basically means it was the largest and brightest possible moon because of its closeness in its orbital path.

Anya and I went up to Mt Washington above the Pittsburgh skyline to catch the moon as it rose to the east. My hope (and apparently the hope of many other photographers who swarmed the overlooks) was to capture a looming large full moon over the iconic skyline. Unfortunately, things didn't work so well in that respect, and after frantically switching lenses a couple times, I settled on hooking up the largest rig I could and captured the following...

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM with Kenko Teleplus PRO 300 "DG" AF 2x Teleconverter at 1000mm, 1/100th sec at f/12.9. ISO 800. Dolica AX620B100 tripod and Satechi TR-A Timer Remote Control. No post production. Mt Washington Overlook, Pittsburgh, PA.

At full size, you can even see that the moon is not perfectly round, and you can see the difference in topography along the perimeter of the moon. I also took some photos in RAW format so I can begin working with photographs in that respect, but I have not yet done so, so this jpg version will have to suffice for now.

- Bill