Photography: Cloud Art
Have you ever seen clouds that race across the moon at night? On the night of Feb. 20, clouds from a departing storm system moved quickly across the sky as the full moon headed toward a total eclipse. I had fun playing with timed exposures that night, using the clouds to both dim the eclipsing moon and also paint streaks of light and color across the sky. The photos I originally published in February were just a few of the total that I snapped that night. Keep reading for more photos and explanation.
Basically, I just waited for a fast moving cloud to approach the moon, then I set off a six second exposure as the cloud moved across the moon. During the six second exposure, there were times when the moon was completely visible, other times when it was completely obscured. The photos show an average of the light during those six seconds, with the darker cloud details hidden in the photo, but with the light that had illuminated the clouds visible on the photograph.
I was pleasantly surprised with the results, especially since it was not a planned shoot, but more of an experiment to help kill time as I waited for the eclipse.
By Kevin Ambrose |
March 6, 2008; 11:00 AM ET
Photography
Previous: Forecast: Nice Today, Then Wet and Cooler |
Next: CommuteCast: Another Mild Ride
Posted by: wiredog | March 6, 2008 11:18 AM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
those are really great pictures, as usual!!!
Posted by: madison | March 6, 2008 11:46 AM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Amazing! Did you get any pictures of the eclipse from last week?
Posted by: Paul - Sterling | March 6, 2008 12:12 PM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Paul, the eclipse photo can be viewed at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2008/02/photography_monumental_eclipse.html
Posted by: Kevin, Capital Weather Gang | March 6, 2008 12:33 PM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
I am very interested in the various camera settings you used for the photos!
thanks
Posted by: lucky | March 6, 2008 12:49 PM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Looks like departing altostratus/cirrostrtus/cirrus.
Was a halo observed around the moon at the time?
Posted by: El Bombo | March 6, 2008 4:20 PM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
lucky, the settings for the photos were: F7, 6 seconds, ISO 100.
El Bombo, there are actually departing cumulus clouds. The timed exposure over 6 seconds only shows the light, not the clouds, and creates streaks since the clouds were moving so quickly..
Posted by: Kevin, Capital Weather Gang | March 6, 2008 9:40 PM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
ahhh, nice eclipse photos. Missed that post somehow. Here's some of mine from that night, tell me what you think. Suggestions are welcome :) (no backdrop since I was doing it in front of my house) http://gallery.mac.com/taveren#100028
Granted they're nowhere near as nice as yours but I'm only using a D70 with a 70-200 lens that was manually focused.
Posted by: Paul - Sterling | March 7, 2008 8:35 AM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Hi Paul, the photos look great. My only suggestion has to do with post processing, not the photography. Crop a bit closer to the moon with imaging software, the D70 should have enough resolution in the image file so you can zoom in a bit closer. You can also use noise filters or photoshop to remove a grainy appearance, if that happens as a result. They look good.
Posted by: Kevin, Capital Weather Gang | March 7, 2008 7:21 PM
Share This: E-Mail | Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
The comments to this entry are closed.
When photographing (or imaging, if using a digital camera) remember that the moon is a sunlit object. So any time exposure will overexpose it.