Night Photography – Page 4 – Circadianreflections Blog

Moon-struck madness!

May 5, 2012May 5, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged Astrophotography, Lower Yosemite Fall, Lunarbow, moonbow, Night Photography, Nikon, Nikon 35mm f2, Nikon D700, Vertorama, Yosemite National Park4 Comments

Yesterday myself and 3 friends went up to Yosemite National Park where we met more friends to photograph a Moonbow.
This is my first Moonbow, and my first Vertorama.

A moonbow can only happen when a full moon is shining reflected sunlight on the falls at an angle of 42Âº or lower, there must be water, or a mist, and it must be dark enough to see it.

There were nearly 200 people here on the little plaza and bridge to Lower Yosemite Fall last night by my quick head count in the dark. As the night wore on more people kept coming!

It was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to capturing a Moonbow over Upper Yosemite Fall in the future.

I must say a word about the Vertorama. Paul Bruins a fellow Flickrite is the first person I knew of doing Vertoramas. He has generously written a tutorial for our use. You can read it here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/vertoramas/discuss/72157602953001077/

I have to thank my freind Steven Christenson for “thinking out loud” last night and saying I think I’ll try a Vertorama too.” That was a reminder to me to finally try one.
I was a bit confused on how one moves the camera up, and Steven suggested the same thing Paul does and that is tilt the camera up without moving the tripod. So that is what I did. I’m going to try more of them now that I have the first one under my belt.
This is 2 frames stitched together in CS5. I’m looking forward to capturing a Moonbow on Upper Yosemite Fall in future.

There is something about the stars that set the Gypsy blood astir…

April 24, 2012April 24, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Landscapes, Nature, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Astrophotography, D700, Long Exposure, Night Photography, Nikon, Star TrailsLeave a comment

I am inspired by William Bliss Carman’s thought about things that stir the Gypsy blood for the title of this piece. The stars do stir my blood and I wish I could travel up there. Perhaps someday we will.

This tree was absolutely gorgeous, and in a perfect location for shooting a star trail at the end of a day of shooting wildflowers, creeks, and a waterfall in Northeastern California. I’d gone up with some friends to meet more photography friends in a Meet-up group we’re in. While we set up for the shot and finished up we listened to little frogs croaking, and following them were crickets. A lovely round of natures music that I’m sure continued long into the night.

My battery died short of where I wanted it to for this sequence of star trails. A lesson learned! I will insert a fresh battery from now on.

A Nocturnal Adventure

April 22, 2012April 22, 2012Posted in hikes, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged Long Exposure, Night Photography, Nikon D700, San Francisco CaliforniaLeave a comment

I finally got this shot! I’ve wanted to take a photograph from here for over a year. Last year my friend Dali and I did some recon trips to get the logistics worked out. It’s a tricky place to get to, and a rare view I believe. We’ve kept this shoot on our “short shot list” but haven’t been able to fit it into our schedules until now. It was well worth the effort, risks, and steep climb to get it. The weather this evening was perfect. It was warm, with a slight breeze, and the fog was thin and stayed outside the Bay while we were here. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back here to photograph this view again or not, but I do hope so.

San Francisco, California, Bay Bridge, Pacific Ocean

Planetary Conjunction

February 27, 2012February 27, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Astrophotography, Jupiter, Moon, Night Photography, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon D700, Photography, Planetary Conjunction, Venus2 Comments

Thanks Dali and Andy for reminding me about this astronomical event. Jupiter, Venus, and the Moon lined up in a triangle to form a special conjunction on Feb. 25, 2012. We spent a lot of time online emailing each other about places we liked to shoot this. I kept looking at this area of the city and I asked the guys to look at it too. After the guys looked at it on TPE (The Photographer’s Ephemeris) they too liked it and we decided to shoot it here. Andy didn’t join us he decided to make some progress on his computer project so it was Dali, Phil, and I who shot here. It was fun, but cold!

The forecast called for a clear sky, but what we had were intermittent clouds, and a low fog bank. As soon as Venus dropped into the fog we called it a night. The Crescent Moon is in those clouds, but Jupiter and Venus are clearly visible.

To see what Dali shot go here

To see Phil’s photo go here

First Photo of the New Year

January 6, 2012January 6, 2012Posted in Astrophotograhpy, California, Holidays, Nature, Nikon, Photography, TravelTagged 17-35mm f2.8, Astrophotography, D700, Long Exposure, Night Photography, Nikkor, Nikon, Photography, Travel3 Comments

1st night of the New Year — Copyright © 2012 Deborah M. Zajac. All Rights Reserved.

I spent the first few days of 2012 photographing parts of the Eastern Sierras with dear friends. This was our 2nd Annual New Years Photo Trip.
There wasn’t much snow in the high country so we were able to cross Tioga Pass to get to our base camp which was in Bishop, CA. From there we were pretty central to everything we had hoped to photograph. We roamed from Mammoth on the northern end to Alabama Hills in the south.
Sunrises, sunsets, and a bit of scouting during the day was on the agenda, and on our first night we had a clear sky so we drove south to Ancient Bristle Pine Cone National Park and shot in the Patriarch Grove. The elevation is between 10,000 and 11,000ft. Because the air is so thin up here these trees grow slowly. This harsh environment makes their wood denser and stronger to resist pests, and disease. The oldest tree is 4600 years old! Their twisted limbs and odd shapes make great subjects and foreground for star trails.

Once you get the focus sharp, your settings selected, and your intervelometer set up you can sit back and watch the sky, or do what we did; go back to the car and turn on the heater. It was 26 degrees outside!

This star trail is made from 82 frames each were 58 second exposures. I cloned out 6 airplanes and 1 shooting star.
The trip was great fun, and I’m looking forward to our 2013 New Years Photo adventure.

All Decked Out for Christmas

December 12, 2011December 12, 2011Posted in Holidays, Nikon, PhotographyTagged Decorations, Holiday, Long Exposure, Night Photography, Nikkor, Nikon, PhotographyLeave a comment

Here’s another house I saw while taking Diva Dog for her evening walk . Have you been out to see the Christmas displays?

“Christmastime is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call, their favorite time of the year.” ~Charlie Brown’s Christmas

December 9, 2011December 9, 2011Posted in California, Holidays, Nikon, PhotographyTagged All rights reserved, Christmas, Christmas decorations; Traditions, Night Photography, Nikkor, Nikon, Nikon D700, Photograpy3 Comments

I’ve taken my camera and tripod with me while taking Diva Dog for her evening walk to take photos of the most elaborate houses I come across. These two houses have been the most well thought out and presented so far.

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