[Leica] Yosemite Moonbow

[robertbaron1 at gmail.com (Robert Baron)]

I like this one:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0525.jpg.html

At a 30 second exposure, why no star trails?

Good work!

--Bob


On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 9:12 AM, Aram Langhans <leica_r8 at hotmail.com> 
wrote:

> I had photographed the upper falls moonbow a few years ago, so decided to
> try something new and start at the lower falls.  Hiked out to the bridge at
> night to find a small group of photographers.  I was 1 day early, and did
> so on purpose because I had heard it gets crowded out there on full moon
> day, even though for all practical purposes you could never tell the
> difference.  Besides, you don't have to stay up as late a day or two 
> before.
>
> This was actually the last shot I took as I had to climb out on some rocks
> (in the dark) and had not wanted to interfere with the few serious
> photographers that had been there.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0526.jpg.html
>
> A little closer view:
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0524.jpg.html
>
> However, I find that perhaps one could think these were taken during the
> day and just faked to look a bit darker. So, I think it is important to
> include some sky so you can see it really is night.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0534.jpg.html
>
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0525.jpg.html
>
> What do you like?  More or less sky?  Or maybe you like no sky?
>
> Interesting side note.  Quite a few non-photographers had wandered out to
> the bridge after hearing of the moonbow, just to have a look.  They, of
> course, could not really see anything but a smear of white light.  They
> were inquisitive, and always being the science teacher, I showed them my
> photos and told them that the light was too dim for most people to see any
> color there at all.  Looks rather plane with the naked eye, but the camera
> does not have that limitation.  Many whipped out there cellphones, but were
> not successful in photographing the event.  Then there were the flash crew,
> but I won't comment further on them.
>
> On the night of the full moon we went to Cook's Meadow for the upper
> falls.  It was not a good year.  Not that much water, so not that much
> spray, and also, the angle of the moon this month must have been pretty
> high, as the bow just barely showed up at the very base of the upper falls.
>
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Upper+Falls+Moonbow-0680.jpg.html
>
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Upper+Falls+Moonbow-0682.jpg.html
>
> I gave up and found a tree to add a bit of compositional variation to what
> I was seeing.
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Upper+Falls+Moonbow-0684-Edit.jpg.html
>
>
> All taken with D600 at 30 seconds, f/4.
>
> Note - darn hard to line things up through the viewfinder.  I could see
> well enough to get close then modify what I wanted.  With live view all you
> saw was a black screen.  I also tried my wife's new Olympus D  M10 and
> could see absolutely nothing through the EVF.  I was impressed with the
> outcome at ISO 1200 for a 4/3 sensor.  And of course, focusing to infinity
> has the same problem and solution as with the D600.
>
> On one of these nights we tried prefocusing in daylight, switching the
> lens to manual focus and taping the focus ring so it would not move.  I
> know my 24-120 has a sever focus shift when zooming and I loose infinity,
> but I thought my 16-36 and my 70-200 were true zooms, but found out
> otherwise.  Good old trusty Leica 35-70/4, as stated in previous post.
>
> Comments welcome
>
>
>