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At the suggestion of Phil McGrew I led an informal group to catch the moon popping up behind the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Coit Tower.

It was lovely fun, though exhausting since I started my day at 3:00 AM to catch the moon setting. 12 hours later we caught it rising on the other side of the planet.

This photo is a composite of two photos. Look carefully and you can spot where the moon was rising in the first photo. For details about the shot, see it here. Despite it being a composite, there is no skullduggery here. The moon really was that size and in that position exactly. I'll be writing a short entry on my BLOG explaining it all.

© Copyright 2012, Steven Christenson
StarCircleAcademy.com

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All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.

First things first. I'm NOT bragging that this image is a perfect 10. I'm celebrating the fact that it took ten times to the altar to come away with the bride (the moon) standing behind the groom (the Pigeon Point Lighthouse). Mind you they are actually separated by a boatload of atmosphere and 238,857 miles - part of the reason they don't get together very often.

The other reason is that the moon is cranky. It goes through monthly cycles, is tilted 5 degrees off kilter and is eccentric to boot. All things you must know to get them together respectfully.

There is a bit of science, a bit of trigonometry, and for this particular location a healthy bit of meteorological luck required for everything to come together.

My 9 prior attempts over the last 3.5 years were litterally fogged, clouded, and rained out. But not this time!

I've been teaching a Webinar on how to get this marriage (the next one is April 3, 2012).

I blush when I read what people write about the webinar - and they come from all over. Texas, New Hampshire, California, Virginia, Maryland, Washington...

"Steven is very knowledgeable about the subject and presented the material in a manner that was easy to follow and understand."

"Steven provided us with a wealth of information to get us to start crunching numbers to figure out the best date, time, and place to catch the moon to take interesting photos as well as tips and techniques to use to capture them. He was quite engaging and provided us with more than a handful of tools to get us started. For all the wonderful nitty gritty details, I recommend that you check out one of his webinars"

"If you want to understand more about photographing the moon, this IS the meet-up to attend. I've shot the moon before but this will help eliminate a lot of the "just got lucky" shots. "

"The Web Seminar was awesome. The seminar is well structured with lots of examples. We got lots of good and detailed information from the speaker. Steven was very clear, patient and funny during the lecture. He is very knowledgeable and I am glad he is willing to share his notes with us. Thank you Steven"

About this shot It is a SINGLE shot. Minimal processing (straighten, sharpen, frame). I didn't even attempt to correct the chromatic aberration around the moon.

© Copyright 2012, Steven Christenson
StarCircleAcademy.com

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All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.

So 9 times (or maybe it was eight) over the last 3.5 years I've roused myself from sleep at 4:00 AM. I drove 90 minutes to this Pacific coastal location (near Pescadero, CA) to get the moon aligned behind this gorgeous Pigeon Point lighthouse.

The previous times ranged from failure to colossal failiure. The main - actually ONLY culprit - was the weather. Either fog, fog and wind, fog wind and clouds, clouds, clouds and rain, fog clouds, rain and wind...

I did go once when I knew it would probably be a bit too bright to see due to the risen sun - and I was right. Too much sun AND some distant fog.

This time I was hoping things would be different

Were they? Sure looks like the 10th time is a charm...

About this photo: This image is a "stacked" composite of 8 images taken over a 13 minute time period. The first image is an over exposure to bring out some detail in the lighthouse. The remaining images were exposed per the formula I teach in the "Catching the Moon Webinar". The other subject of that webinar, by the way, is how to figure out when and where to be to catch the moon over or behind your favorite landmark. For some more examples, see below.

© Copyright 2012, Steven Christenson
StarCircleAcademy.com

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All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.

This photograph was taken prior to the 2011 "Dark of the Moon Workshop". It was great fun and we are really excited about a repeat of the event this year, 2012 in mid August.

NOTE: The 2012 Workshop is open for sign up... might be full by the time you read this!

The former shot I spent very little time on. I didn't admit in the write up, but part of the reason the original looks the way it does is that I was trying to very simply adjust the white balance. I used used a BLUE-White LED flashlight to illuminate the tree. The former processing ended up rather sepia-esque which I found appealing. Here the white balance was corrected separately for the tree and the rest of the scene. And I also did a little more magic on the scene. Can you tell what I did?

Are the changes an improvement?

© Copyright 2011, Steven Christenson
StarCircleAcademy.com

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All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.

Automobiles and Light Rail cars zip by on West San Carlos Street.

This was an outing of the (San Jose) Bay Area Night Photography group. For more photos, see the event photos.

© Copyright 2012, Steven Christenson
StarCircleAcademy.com

BLOG || Events || FaceBook || Twitter || 500px

All rights reserved. Curious what "all rights reserved means?" it means that without written permission you may not: copy, transmit, modify, use, print or display this image in any context other than as it appears in Flickr.