It was a little less haze in the air today and I decided to chase the full moon, the second one during the month of August, also called a ”Blue Moon”, due to the fact that it is the fourth full moon during a season. As mentioned in my last blog post yesterday, the moon would rise even further to the east and having a photo with the moon low above the water of the Mississippi River wasn’t really an option around here. I wanted to do something different and chose the location for the camera much closer to the city of Dubuque, and just a bit above water level this time. Moonrise was exactly half an hour later than yesterday, sunset about fifteen minutes earlier, and making the click and process the image in post was a different kind of challenge as I found out in front of my computer. What you see in the photo is the romance I felt when the moon showed up above this island in the river. The green of the leaves in the trees is still lush, despite the heat we had recently. There were quite a few boats making a ”full moon river cruise” on the Mississippi. I was happy to keep them all out of the frame and enjoyed having the end of the dike, that protects Dubuque, Iowa from flooding, just for myself…
RACCOON MOON
Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
I left the Green Island Wetlands in the Mississippi Valley late last Sunday evening. My hope was to spot maybe a Short-eared Owl, which I had seen in this area before some years ago. This didn’t happen but instead the call from a Great Horned Owl echoed from the rocky bluffs that line the edge of the valley after sunset. I enjoyed it for a few minutes while sitting in the car with the windows down. Just as I was ready to leave I looked to the east and realized that I had missed the moonrise over the Mississippi River. It was still gorgeous and since the Sigma 150-600 S was still on camera, I used the long end of the lens for a compressed view across the wetlands.
I finished the book “Saga of the Sioux” just recently and learned that many civilizations, including native Americans, used a calendar based on the cycles of the moon. Some would call the one we see here “Moon of the Dark Red Calves”, others call it “Racoon Moon”. It makes sense, raccoons mate in February and amorous raccoons become especially raucous. Yep, let’s call this photo ‘Raccoon Moon’!
Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,….@ 600 mm
BEAVER MOON
November’s full Beaver Moon coincided last night with a full lunar eclipse. I didn’t set the alarm for this event but woke up early enough to see it briefly between the trees this morning. The photo was made earlier, shortly after moonrise, from the balcony on the east side of the house. Nothing, but a romantic look through the trees here on the bluffs above the valley…
Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head, @ 67mm, 0.6 s, f/8, ISO 2500
YEARS IN THE MAKING
Moonrise over the Mississippi, Mud Lake, Iowa
Today’s photo was several years in the making. I had this shot in mind for a long time but quite a few things had to be true for this image. First I wanted the Mississippi River with an ice cover and with a fresh layer of snow on top. Of course, I needed a full moon and time of sunset and moonrise only a few minutes apart from each other. It was important to me to have a little glow on the rocks of the Wisconsin side of the river and also still some light left that filled the valley and gave the snow some structure. And last but not least it required a clear sky to make it all happen. As a bonus this evening there was no wind and the temperature was balmy -10 ºC / 14 ºF. What I didn’t expect, but really like, is the fact that the moon lightened the snow patches on top of the bluffs and make them stand out.
I have scheduled and tried this shot several times before over the years but quite often clouds were in the way or something else didn’t work out. At one time a few years ago I showed up a little bit early at bitter cold temperatures. Some moisture must have built up in the camera and about when the moon showed finally up over the horizon line, the shutter mechanism was probably frozen and the camera failed to do the job. Back home and after bringing the camera slowly back to room temperature and let it dry out, everything worked just fine again. I learned my lesson and today I made sure the camera didn’t undergo any sharp temperature changes (like from heating in the car) before the actual shooting.
Here is an app for your phone I can highly recommend for an event like this. The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) is a great planning tool and shows you exactly on a map where the moon or sun will rise or set and when the time is right to be ready for the shoot.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, RRS BH-55 ball head, Vello cable release, @200 mm, 1/8 s, f/8, ISO100
RETROSPECTS 2020 - #3
Greater White-fronted Geese, Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa
Early March is a great time to watch thousands of Greater White-fronted and Snow Geese migrating to their arctic breeding grounds. The Green Island Wetlands are a place for rest during their journey. The hour before sunset is the time to be there for this great nature event. Often the low sitting sun throws some warm light to the underside of the birds. Predicting the path of the geese and good panning technique with the long lens are key for getting a sharp image. The bonus that night was an almost full moon. Having a Greater White-fronted Goose right in its center put a big smile on my face…
MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2018 #07 - MOONRISE OVER THE RIVER
Moonrise, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa
Yesterday we had a full moon and finally I found the time and weather conditions that allowed to photograph the moonrise over the bluffs on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River. Sunset was about half an hour before moonrise, not enough to have a red glow on the bluffs but still good to have a little bit of ambient light. When I planned the shooting I actually had a composite in mind. First a shot that was exposed for the ambient light and second a shot that would be exposed just for the moon with some details on the surface. Both would be merged in Photoshop to make a picture that shows close to what the eye really sees. The contrast is too high to have it both with just one click. I did all this and then, last night at the computer, I didn’t like the outcome. Instead of, I present you a photo that was shot right when the moon showed up on top of the bluffs, still during the civil twilight period that can produce some amazing blues. No, it doesn’t show the details of the moon for said reason, but they were not really visible anyway because of that hazy cloud around the moon. Love the role of the clouds in this image, it makes all the difference to some of my other trials.
I set up the tripod at Mud Lake, right at the entrance to the little marina. When the daylight faded away the buoys that mark the access to the marina started blinking, a fact I totally forgot and first wasn’t too happy about. But looking at the results on the camera screen I saw that it had some potential to be part of the story telling.
So how did I know exactly where the moon would appear over the bluffs on the other side of the river? I’m using THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S EPHEMERIS®, an app on my phone that shows exactly, for example, where the sun goes down or the moon comes up, with times and a lot of other helpful data for landscape photographers. Highly recommended! There is also a free web version that can be used in your computer browser, which I think is good for planning a photo shoot at home. Here is the link to the website: https://www.photoephemeris.com .