Wednesday, February 20, 2008

The Lunar Eclipse....only for the loony

That's right I say. Loony! Someone has to be loony to want to stand in -50 Degrees Centigrade (I'm exaggerating a bit) temperatures to take photos of the moon.
Yep
That someone happens to be me.

I stood out there on this frozen night, when it was sooo cold my hands stopped hurting from the cold. That's never a good sign.

There are over 30 shots here. Where many look the same, they are taken a few seconds apart, so the process of change is slow. It is very worth scrolling down the whole line, and taking some time to browse the pics, as there are different speeds used showing different, rich detail.
The biggest surprise to me were the different colours I could end up with in the final product, without editing. The more detailed and fuller shots are shot at a speed of ISO1600. The best shots to represent what I saw with the human eye were the ones with the more defined crescent of light, which were shot at 100 to 200 ISO.


(Please take the time to click on the pictures to see more detail)
This pic is taken without any zoom. You can see the roof peak of the front of my house, and the holiday lights on its edge.
This shot is one of my first shots done with the auto focus still on. If you click on the picture you can see more detail.

The orange orbs of the moon are shot between 800 to 1600 ISO. The fast speed allows more of the moon to be visible. I like the geography on the moon soo visible.
Please scroll beyond these orange shots to find other views including the rim.
























The purples and blues in shots like the one below are really interesting. I love how the shadow of the rest of the moon is there-but not there.







This pic is one of my favorites.

I cannot get over the spectrum of colours the lovely orb went through.






This one below is worth clicking on to see the detail.


Love this one below too.










100 ISO. Oh and I have to tell you none of these shots are possible if you don't have a tripod. The camera cannot move at all in the capture.







I hope you enjoyed the pics. If you rushed through them, please come back when you have the time to click on the pics to see them bigger, so you can see the details.
These pics represent the hours of 10:20PM to 11:00PM Wednesday February 20th, 2008. Shot in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada.

I used a Canon PowerShot G9 on manual focus with ISO speeds of 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1600. Most shots were done on 6x zoom.