Harvest Moon Eclipse
Originally, I had to work during the eclipse, so I was somewhat bummed out that I would miss it. Saturday night, I was talking to my supervisor at work about th...
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Originally, I had to work during the eclipse, so I was somewhat bummed out that I would miss it. Saturday night, I was talking to my supervisor at work about the eclipse, giving him times and details. Knowing my love of photography and astronomy, he let me take some time off on Sunday, and just do a half-day! I finished up work, the whole time trying to think of a good place to use for a setting. Originally, I wanted to do a composite of the eclipse showing all the phases, with a neat foreground. I had thought of a nearby lake, and what a neat image that could make with the moon reflected in the water, but since I live in a predominately farming area, I wanted something more "American Wild West", to give it more of that Western Farm feel, it being the eclipse of the Harvest Moon and all. Finally, as I'm sure many of you recall, and coming up with very few ideas, I turned to FaceBook, and had this location suggested to me. I had never been to this particular location before, but it showed promise, and the decision was made.
The next day, I woke up 2 hours before the eclipse (I work nights, and sleep during the days). I figured, since the location was about a 45-minute drive away, 2 hours would be plenty of time to set out and set up. An hour later, I was on the road. I'm almost ready to turn off onto the road to take me to the destination, when I see the already-halfway eclipsed moon beginning to rise on the horizon. This sent me in a rush, and I was driving entirely too fast on a gravel country road I had never been on before, with dusk setting and deer looming in the fields. A few small patches of low-laying fog, and a few turns later, I arrive on the site. Hurridly, I set up my tripod and camera for the low-angle shot, and quickly framed up the image and connected my newly-purchased remote shutter release with timer and exposure control. Everything was set, and I engaged the shutter release, and photos started clicking away.
Pleased, I walked back to my truck, and broke out the snacks and sat on my toolbox, my sister clicking away photos every now and again and enjoying a few snacks as well. After a bit of time, I decided to go check up on the camera, and make sure there was no dew on the lens (even though I put a couple hand-warmers on the lens with a rubber band, it was near 34*F, so I figured it's best to check and be safe. I walk up on my setup maybe 100 meters away, only to find that my remote shutter never saved any of the settings I had programmed into it, and instead of one 6-second exposure every 5 minutes like I wanted, it was taking 1 2-second exposure every 20 seconds. By this time, the totality phase was almost already halfway done, and the eclipse was beginning to end, and the moon lighten up again. So, after trying to reprogram the remote a few more times with no luck, I just unplugged it and decided to do manual shots instead. It was then that I discovered my battery had chosen that exact moment to fail, for no real reason. So, I swapped out the batteries, only after which I would realize how that would ruin my alignment for the photo batch - so there went my idea of my original composite photo. I clicked a few photos manually, then hiked up the camera and tripod and walked back to my truck, snapping a few images of the Milky Way as I went.
Once back at the truck, I swapped out lenses, and finished out the night with a few close-up photos of the moon as the eclipse concluded. Once the eclipse was over, my sister and I packed up the gear, cranked up the heater, and drove back into town, getting lost on some dark, country-road in the process, before I finally headed in to work.
That night, as I worked the rest of the night away, I came up with this idea for a composite image. This is my first-ever attempt at doing a true composite image (not counting regular DSO-stacking), but I think it turned out fairly well. Or, at least, I'm happy and proud of it, considering all of the problems and frustration that was endured to obtain the photos used to make the image.
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The next day, I woke up 2 hours before the eclipse (I work nights, and sleep during the days). I figured, since the location was about a 45-minute drive away, 2 hours would be plenty of time to set out and set up. An hour later, I was on the road. I'm almost ready to turn off onto the road to take me to the destination, when I see the already-halfway eclipsed moon beginning to rise on the horizon. This sent me in a rush, and I was driving entirely too fast on a gravel country road I had never been on before, with dusk setting and deer looming in the fields. A few small patches of low-laying fog, and a few turns later, I arrive on the site. Hurridly, I set up my tripod and camera for the low-angle shot, and quickly framed up the image and connected my newly-purchased remote shutter release with timer and exposure control. Everything was set, and I engaged the shutter release, and photos started clicking away.
Pleased, I walked back to my truck, and broke out the snacks and sat on my toolbox, my sister clicking away photos every now and again and enjoying a few snacks as well. After a bit of time, I decided to go check up on the camera, and make sure there was no dew on the lens (even though I put a couple hand-warmers on the lens with a rubber band, it was near 34*F, so I figured it's best to check and be safe. I walk up on my setup maybe 100 meters away, only to find that my remote shutter never saved any of the settings I had programmed into it, and instead of one 6-second exposure every 5 minutes like I wanted, it was taking 1 2-second exposure every 20 seconds. By this time, the totality phase was almost already halfway done, and the eclipse was beginning to end, and the moon lighten up again. So, after trying to reprogram the remote a few more times with no luck, I just unplugged it and decided to do manual shots instead. It was then that I discovered my battery had chosen that exact moment to fail, for no real reason. So, I swapped out the batteries, only after which I would realize how that would ruin my alignment for the photo batch - so there went my idea of my original composite photo. I clicked a few photos manually, then hiked up the camera and tripod and walked back to my truck, snapping a few images of the Milky Way as I went.
Once back at the truck, I swapped out lenses, and finished out the night with a few close-up photos of the moon as the eclipse concluded. Once the eclipse was over, my sister and I packed up the gear, cranked up the heater, and drove back into town, getting lost on some dark, country-road in the process, before I finally headed in to work.
That night, as I worked the rest of the night away, I came up with this idea for a composite image. This is my first-ever attempt at doing a true composite image (not counting regular DSO-stacking), but I think it turned out fairly well. Or, at least, I'm happy and proud of it, considering all of the problems and frustration that was endured to obtain the photos used to make the image.
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Oct, 2015Views
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Awards
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Creative Winter Award
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Top Shot Award 21
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Staff Winter Selection 2015
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
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Peer Award
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
The data for this composite image was taken on the same night during a Super Moon eclipse on the evening of September 30, 2015. There is an old ghost-town just outside of Craigmont, Idaho, on a back-country gravel road that snakes its way across the lush prairies. It was along this road that I set up for this composite.Time
Originally, I thought I was going to miss out on this Super Moon eclipse, because I had to work. Thankfully, my boss knows my deep-burning passion for photography. and let me take the first half of the night off, so I could take the photos. Originally, the eclipse was scheduled to start just before 7:00 local time. I live about 45 minutes away, in Lewiston, Idaho. So, after receiving the news that I could take half the night off, I set out to quickly gather up my gear and hit the road. Due to traffic, and never previously visited the site used for the foreground, I arrived somewhat later than I was hoping, only to see the massive Super Moon had already risen above the horizon, and the eclipse had started. A few more minutes of driving, and I finally arrive onsite, and hastily set up my equipment to capture a photo batch to do a HDR rendering of the foreground, while there was still a sliver of daylight left. Since I had missed the start of the eclipse, I decided to wait until the penumbra stage, and catch the eclipse just as the moon started to illuminate again, about 1.5 hours later. To get the image of the eclipse, I swapped out the wide-angle lens for a 500mm 1:6.3 mirror lens. Finally, to get the image of the Milky Way galaxy, I switched back to the wide-field lens, and snapped a final shot to complete the photo batch for the composite. Total elapsed time was about 2 hours.Lighting
I wanted to preserve the old, rustic "wild west" feel of the farmhouse, and still make it obvious that it was in a remote location in a field in the middle of nowhere. So, to do this, I actually focused on taking pictures of the building and foreground first, while there was still natural sunlight, even though the eclipse was originally my main target. This was how I managed to achieve a golden color on the nearby grass fields and natural shadows on the building, all thanks to the sunsetEquipment
IMAGE 1: HDR-Image of the nearby old schoolhouse, barn, and fields. Canon Rebel T3i Bower f/3.5 wide-angle lens Manual Focus All three images used were first rough-edited in Adobe Lightroom 6, and merged into HDR-format using Photomatix Pro 5.0.5c I used 3 separate images to create the foreground HDR image. Details are: Photo 1: ISO-3200, 1/13" exposure, pattern metering, AWB. Photo 2: ISO-500, 1/10" exposure, pattern metering, AWB. Photo 3: ISO-1600, 2" exposure, pattern metering, AWB, taken while a truck passed by on the nearby road. PHOTO 2: Image of the Milky way overhead Canon Rebel T3i Bower f/3.5 wide-angle lens Manual focus ISO-3200 30" exposure Pattern Metering AWB Rough-edited in Adobe Lightroom 6. Photo 3: Image of the eclipse: Canon Rebel T3i Opteka 500mm f/6.3 mirrored telephoto lens Manual focus ISO-800 2" exposure Pattern Metering AWB Rough-edited in Adobe Lightroom 6. All images were taken using a Manfrotto tripod and Neewer timer shutter release. After rough editing each photo as mentioned above, I began work on creating the composite image, which is the end result you see pictured here.Inspiration
I love telling a story, and I love nature. Nature inspires me - motivates me - with all of it's ever-changing scenes and unparalleled beauty. It's my gift to be able to capture just a tiny portion of what nature has to provide, and share it with the world. But, for as much as nature has to offer, I strive to show the world in a way that is unique, from a view that not everyone gets to see, from an unusual angle that makes the grandeur of nature come to life. To be able to tell the story of our planet, and the beauty of nature, as seen through my eyes, is honestly one of the most powerful and rewarding things there is, and is what motivates me to always keep searching for that unique image. Having grown up in the small, remote prairie town of Grangeville, Idaho, the rustic Wild West is a part of my very foundation. I absolutely love history and being in historical places. I like to imagine life back in the day, and feel that history. It might sound cooky, I know, but when you let a place truly resonate with your very being, it drives the compassion and dedication for the photo so much more than just simply snapping a random picture for the scrapbook. I am also a huge fan of astrophotography, and genuinely interested in astronomy and, well, basically all things space. It amazes me how we are able to look through a telescope, and see another galaxy millions and millions of light years away, with possibly billions of individual stars. It's a humbling feeling , knowing just how small we are in the scope of something as large as the universe, and yet, we have the ability to change our world through something as simple as a photograph. When someone realizes this, petty differences among our fellow man no longer seem important - because, though we may have our differences, we are all driven by the same desires to succeed, to reach for our dreams, and to just be happy in life. I think this image really captures, and eloquently expresses those three main foundations that inspire me to do photography in general. I get to tell a story with camera, and capture the rustic, old-timey beauty laid out before me with my lens, while sharing a sense - an emotion - with the vastness of space, and the binding and interest of all mankind. I don't do photography for the money or to gain fame; I do it because I enjoy seeing the reactions my photos cause in other people. I enjoy hearing their feedback, and what my photos mean to other people. I started out in photography by telling myself that, once it stopped being fun, I would stop taking pictures. So far, I don't ever see that happening. While it's nice to make some extra money here and there, and being recognized is always an exciting thing, honestly, the best payment, in my opinion, you can give a photographer is how their art moved you. That's what inspired me for this photo, and what continues to inspire me still.Editing
As mentioned earlier, each individual photo was rough-edited in Adobe Lightroom 6, with the foreground HDR image compiled using Photomatix Pro 5.0.5c. Originally, there was a second run of barb wire near the top of the posts, but the run was broken just after the second pole, which gave the image a messy look. Of course, it would look rather weird to have a run of barbwire that just ends abruptly, so instead I took out the entire top run altogether, thus clearing up the image a bit. To create the final composite image, each of the individually-edited photos were taken, and went through the following process: Composite Image: HDR-rendering photo touched up using Adobe Photoshop Elements 13. HDR-rendering photo stacked with Photo 2 using Adobe Photoshop Elements 13 - transparency added to show stacking, blending added. Above merge imported back into Adobe Lightroom 6 for spot edits, removed top 2 runs of barbed-wire from the fence post to better show old schoolhouse, reduced noise, enhanced colors/darks. Re-import above into Adobe Photoshop Elements 13. Merge above imported image with Photo 3. Resized image down, relocated to proper placement in the sky (NOTE: the Milky Way photo is not in proper placement due to camera/tripod movement). Above merged photos saved, and re-imported back into Adobe Lightroom 6 for final edits. Over 4 hours of editing went into this one.In my camera bag
Normally, I just bring along my Canon T6i, a few extra batteries, and a few lenses. Typically, I will have a wide-angle lens (though I'm finding I am leaving it behind more and more, now that Adobe Lightroom 6 does an amazing job at stitching photos), a regular 18-55mm Canon EOS lens, and a Canon EOS 50-250mm ultrasonic lens for those close-up shots. All of my lenses have a UV filter and safety filter that, once they go on after purchasing the lens, never come off. I do like to carry an ND2-ND400 shader filter in the bag, in case I need to drop down the image or set up for a long-exposure. Otherwise, I keep a few SanDisk Ultra Pro 32Gb Class-10 U3 SD cards handy, a cleaning towel for the lens, a spare lens hood, and the remote shutter release. I always have a Manfrotto tripod and a rain cover in my pickup, so wherever I go, they go as well.Feedback
Never be afraid to experiment. Just because someone tells you, "that won't work," even if it's a professional photographer, never be afraid to do your own thing. Often times, the best discoveries come from experiments and mistakes. Besides, if you end up not liking the result, it's easy to delete after the fact, but after the fact is too late to add more. Always - and I mean ALWAYS - shoot in RAW format! It doesn't matter what style photography you're doing, or what your target is, always shoot in RAW. Sure, you'll need post-edit software to convert the image to a more-recognized format (I suggest *.TIF over *.JPG). But then again, if you're serious about photography, post-edit should be nothing new. To combine the first two tips, don't be afraid to experiment in post-edit, either! If you have an edit that you like, save it. But then, if you think, "hey, what if I add a gradient filter here... or reduce glare there," that one simple edit can drastically change your photo. If you think you're satisfied with a result, save it as a safety fallback, but don't be afraid to keep going and try doing more as well. This is a huge one, and I cannot express this tip enough: chase what inspires YOU. It's all good and well to do photography to please others. But if your heart and soul isn't into it, believe me, it will show up in your final results. Some of the best portrait photographers have achieved the level they're on because, simply put, they absolutely love to take photos of people. Others, like myself, love taking pictures of nature. Find what resonates with you, what you love, and what drives you. This will give you the drive to develop your photos from :just good enough to please the customer" to truly sending your photo over the top, because you put a piece of yourself into that photo. When you care about the subject you're photographing, you want every tiny detail to be absolutely perfect, not for the potential customer or even for the images' sake, but for your own personal satisfaction, and that care and dedication will shine through in your images. Never hesitate to take a picture. If nature/landscape photography has taught me one thing, it's that a few seconds can make a huge difference in lighting.
