Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
The other night I heard our neighborhood owls making some noise and while the light was fleeting, I am still desperate to get pics of those buggers. Well, all I came away with were some poor, distant silhouetted shots of them, nothing worth sharing.
I did, however, take a few shots of a beautiful gibbous moon above. I love the less than full moon phases as the angled light really helps give all those craters definition and pop.
So frustrating. I was setting up the perfect shot of the daytime waning gibbous moon as it hung gloriously in the clear blue, Colorado sky. Our only natural satellite looked fantastic up there and then, suddenly a streak of blue, gold and red comes flying through the frame. Dang it! 😀
Okay, in all seriousness, I don’t blame the airline or pilot one bit and was actually kind of happy to have them fly by. I was looking to find a composition that included the moon when I saw the airliner approaching. Quickly I zoomed in and started snapping, capturing a nice sequence of images.
I do have to ask though… Next time Southwest Airlines, could you fly directly in front of the moon? That would make an even better shot. 😉
I was out barbequing some chicken when I looked to the south and saw this cool celestial scene. These are just handheld so not as good as I would like but by the time I was done eating, the show was over. Fun to see though.
Kind of a cool shot from this morning. Haze from wildfires continues to impact us and partly cloudy skies further limited the sun’s rays. Our sun was cast in red as it rose above the sunrise and those clouds really made it look crazy cool.
No special filters needed due to the inhibited light, just a bit of darkening in post processing. I really loved the hints of red glow on the surrounding clouds.
I was recently flipping through pictures from last year and came across the images of this interstellar visitor. Over a two-week period starting one year ago today I photographed the comet multiple times and was absolutely thrilled each and every chance I got.
A comet! How often do you get a chance to see and photograph one of those? It may never happen again in my lifetime and I count myself lucky to have had the experience. These three captures are ones that I haven’t shared previously.
Let’s call it #MoonMonday. 😉
Taken this past Saturday, the sun was just starting to cast a glow on the horizon. I was patiently sitting at my photo destination, enjoying the quiet pre-dawn hours. As I sat there, I looked up at our only natural satellite and was quite taken by its beauty – which of course required a picture to be taken.
Let’s call it Moon Monday.
Much of yesterday morning was spent either waiting for a photo subject to do something or driving around just trying to find a photo subject. Getting bored waiting for an elk herd to decide if they were going to move closer or not, I pointed my camera up to the gorgeous moon hovering above.
I know the full moon gets all the press but it is the earlier / later stages that truly make it shine. The slightly offset light really help to bring out the depth of the craters and other features on the surface.
Taken in Boulder County, Colorado.
While out taking pictures of yesterday’s “Great Conjunction”, I also pointed my camera toward Earth’s only natural satellite. The waxing gibbous moon looked absolutely awesome high above.
As I have mentioned before, I much prefer taking pics of the moon at stages other than the full moon as the shadows from side-lighting really help bring out the detail.
I am the first to admit that I kinda suck at astrophotography. I just really struggle making things work and look the way I want and tonight wasn’t really any different.
My chosen location didn’t provide for any unique compositions and without going crazy in Photoshop (which I refuse to do), things pretty much looked like bright lights in the sky. Haha!
Having said that, it was pretty neat. I captured Jupiter and three of its moons and was able to get Saturn and its rings. At least that is somewhat different and something I haven’t done before.
Tonight’s celestial show – the crescent moon and #Jupiter and Saturn! Oh, and if you look close, you can see a couple of Jupiter’s moons too. All of this gearing up for next week’s “Christmas star” show when Jupiter and Saturn will be in conjunction. Be sure to click for the full view.
Thank you to my friend, David, providing a heads up to get outside with my camera right away.
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