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Just after 1am in the middle of the night (returning from
photographing the green sea turtles laying their eggs in the dunes) I
noticed some geometrical formation in the sky on Fraser Island. I
quickly stopped the car and turned off the light. It was then that I
realised I am witnessing the rare event....a rainbow at night. Hurry
up, get a shot or two....that's all I was thinking. Didn't even have
the time to turn around the car for a Toyota promo shot...lol. It all
happened so quickly.
The wind picked up and I had to use my umbrella (Mushroom in the
foreground) to protect my gear from the rain drops that were already
flying horizontally. Not a high quality shot that you see here but
hey..consider the circumstances. Have you ever seen a full moonbow at
night? I thought this was pretty special and many people probably
haven't even seen a moonbow before. You can see the moon is behind me
and at the bottom you see the shadow of my umbrella. The moonbow
lasted only a few minutes...time enough to quickly setup the tripod,
umbrella and compose this shot.
From Wikipedia:
A moonbow (also known as a lunar rainbow, lunar bow or white rainbow)
is a rainbow produced by the moon rather than the sun. Moonbows are
relatively faint, due to the smaller amount of light from the Moon.
They are always in the opposite part of the sky from the moon.
It is difficult for the human eye to discern colours in a moonbow because the light is usually too faint to excite the cone colour receptors in human eyes. As a result, they often appear to be white.[1] However, the colours in a moonbow do appear in long exposure photographs.
A coloured circle around the moon is not a moonbow—it is usually a 22° halo produced by refraction through hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus cloud. Coloured rings close to the moon are a corona, a diffraction phenomenon produced by very small water droplets or ice crystals in clouds.
Moonbows are most easily viewed when the moon is near to full (when it
is brightest). For other than those produced by waterfalls, the moon
must be low in the sky (less than 42 degrees and preferably lower) and
the sky must be dark. And of course there must be rain falling
opposite the moon. This combination of requirements makes moonbows
much more rare than rainbows produced by the sun.
Featured in Andy Frazer's Night Photography Blog
chrias., LUKΞ, angus clyne, Christolakis, and 526 other people added this photo to their favorites.
View 20 more comments
Rober Martinez Photography 38 months ago | reply
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Shoot 'Em Up P1/C4, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Moch Irwansyah 38 months ago | reply
weh keren bgt ( Very Awesome )
AussieDingo 38 months ago | reply
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called www.flickr.com/groups/1099286@N22/, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Nuragic Man~A bit busy 38 months ago | reply
Thanks.
Dave Shiel 38 months ago | reply
Really cool!
刘金喜 38 months ago | reply
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called 喜欢就好, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
I am marlon 35 months ago | reply
Superb timing and shot location. This is hard to duplicate. Congrats!
Cheers!
Hunkar Salci 33 months ago | reply
Excellent Work!
PetterPhoto 33 months ago | reply
Congrats on this spectacular shot!!
munchkincity 33 months ago | reply
Wow this is amazing! I didn't know you could get rainbows at night. Great shot :)
juampatronics 30 months ago | reply
:-O
Chariots_of_Artists 29 months ago | reply
This Invitation counts as an award!
~ jules ~ 26 months ago | reply
Very very cool shot. What a great oportunity and so well taken. And on one of the best places on this planet. I had a whale of a time on Fraiser Island. Unfortunatly for me it was before I discovered photography. How I would love to go back now.
Marius Schadrack Photography 25 months ago | reply
wow a rainbow at night??
Tui Brewery - Mangatainoka 22 months ago | reply
Awesome.... I can relate to your story. Very special stuff.
MaRiN_eLaNd 15 months ago | reply
wau! nice shoot!!
chrishugh 9 months ago | reply
This is an amazing shot, so eerie, the way the car seems to float above the sand, the strange shadow that points to the horizon, and the way you can see all the colors of the moonbow. May I post it on my blog, with a credit and links to you, of course?
Massimo De Dominicis 6 months ago | reply
Grazie! Ho visto la tua foto nel gruppo/Thanks! I saw your picture in the group PHOTOGRAPHY IS LIFE
Martyn William 6 months ago | reply
I saw a Moonbow for the first time in my life last night driving on the M50 near Ledbury, England. It was an amazing sight, similar to your amazing photo but virtually white in colour. The moon was behind me in clear sky. This is an amazing image.
Garry - www.visionandimagination.com 6 months ago | reply
Unfortunately there are a few disbelievers who seriously think I manipulated this image. I wish for them to have once in their life time the priviledge to see a Moonbow. For me it was a one off and I am so glad I captured it.