Perigee Moon & California Oak

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Photo Info:
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 840mm (600mm + 1.4x TC), ISO 100, F/25, 1/40 sec

On the evening of Thursday the 12th of December and the morning of Friday the 13th December of 2008 there was a perigee moon that I was eager to photograph. Unfortunately Friday the 13th came early, clouds obscured the moonrise in the San Francisco area Thursday evening. Friday I happened to be up early in order to drive out to photograph Sea Otters in Monterey. While the weather had cleared I had very few decent opportunities to photograph the moon. Not wanting to get frustrated thinking about my missed opportunity to photograph the moon at its closest point in its orbit to earth (perigee), while earth was closest to the sun in its orbit (perihelion)… translating to a slightly larger and brighter full moon I put this astronomical phenomenon out of mind.

Driving out with my friend Eliya we just happened to notice the moon clear from the clouds with beautiful early morning light. With the moon descending 4 degrees every minute I didn’t think we’d have enough time to get a photo off let alone with anything of interest in the foreground, but we tried. With in a span of 15 minutes we exited the highway, found a spot that lined up a lone California Oak tree with the path of the setting moon and scrambled to get our camera gear out to capture just a few photos of the fleeting moment. Not an easy task particularly when fumbling around with a 600mm lens and a clunky big tripod.

I was happy to get a total of 11 photos in a time frame of 6 minutes. 6 of the 11 photos I consider publishable material, but 1 of the 6 photos stood out. This one photo (seen above) had the composition and placement of the moon I wanted, but on initial take was ruined by birds taking off in the middle of the photo. I thought my total of good photos from this fleeing moment was down to 5. By the time I took a second look I realized that the one photo I thought was ruined was actually “the” best photo of the set. I’m not sure I could have asked for a more perfect thing to happen during my photo. A seemingly static moment now has a breath of life to it and for that this photo has since become my favorite of the day if not one of my favorites from that month.

Technorati Tags: photography, stock photo, nature, perigee, moon, California Oak, California, landscape

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Posted by Jim on 02.26.2009 at 4:24 am
Tagged: California, Landscape, Locations, Nature, Photography, Stock Photo , Photography, Stock Photo

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peter

Great photo! I do love a good tree photo. The choice of using the telephoto lens to enhance the size of the moon makes it.

Jim Goldstein

@Sherri and @laanba Thanks!
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@Mark I was very lucky you have the right lens with me. The telephoto effect really helped flatten the scene and highlight the size of the moon. Not all of these types of photos are photoshopped. Most are so used to using shorter focal length lenses they forget the long view can yield equivalent and more dramatic renditions of a scene.

Mark

Very nice Jim, talk about being there and prepared! I have seen photos like this with large moons and always wondered if they were all multiple exposures or montages of some kind because I have never seen one this large in relation to a landscape object.

laanba

This is a serious gorgeous photo. I love it.

Sherri Meyer

Absolutely stunning Jim!

Jim

@Eliya It was well worth the detour indeed!
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@LisaNewton Thanks. I couldn't have asked for a better random element to be included, the birds make the photo in my eyes.

LisaNewton

Wow, this picture is fantastic. I love the balance between the tree and the moon, plus the birds flying over head add a great element.

Thanks for sharing it..................:)