San Francisco Moonrise
Tuesday evening began with a beautiful moonrise here in San Francisco. For once I was available to take advantage of this event and the weather was nice enough to get out to try and photograph the moonrise over downtown. For the astronomy inclined I found out this wasn’t the right time of year for the photo I wanted, but before I realized this I crossed paths with two local photographers. First while setting up at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor I met Ron Pepper who specializes in 360 degree panoramic and HDR photography. Ron was trying out his new Nikon 12-24mm lens on a photowalk with his girlfriend. Just as our conversation was ending I was approached by another photographer inquiring about my setup… that turned out to be Dan Heller who I haven’t talked to in a few months. Dan just got back from a trip in Southeast Asia and was out with friends to photograph a time-lapse of the moonrise. By the end of our catch up session we decided we were too far south to catch the moon over the skyline and traveled north to the southern entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge. It just wasn’t the right time of year to get the photo I envisioned. None the less I made a go of photographing the moonrise and had a blast in the process.
What I got:
Moonrise over San Francisco’s Fort Mason
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What I wanted:
Moonrise over San Francisco’s Downtown Skyline
On a side note I brought one of my dogs with me on this outing. While the downside of this was a few blurred photos from my dogs leash resting on my tripod leg, the upside was my dog getting my attention to let me know a raccoon was working his way through a trash can behind me. By that time it was too dark and I was too cold to try and photograph the critter. The experience made me think how focused I get and how many “raccoon encounters” I’ve likely missed over the years.
Technorati Tags: San Francisco, Photography, Stock Photo, downtown, skyline, moon, moonrise, full moon
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Sounds like a fun night Jim.
Next time after a nap you can always head out to
Treasure Island before sunrise the next AM
and get the Full Moon just before it sets
over the city skyline….
Glad you met friendly critters whilst
on your night prowl.
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While you may not have gotten he image that you wanted, it sure sounds like a good time was had by all; including your dog.
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What you got is also good..
Waiting for your best shot to be posted.
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I have been feeling astronomically inclined of late – trying to put together a Mac-compatible-Google-Maps-toting sun/moon rise/set calculator (here).
Your post inpsired me to check out times and directions of full moon rise in S.F. – and of course in the process helped me find (and fix) a couple of tricky bugs – the date for March 2010 was completely off. So thanks!
It’s a very nice shot to capture too.
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Sounds like fun Jim. That is a nice looking moon.
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Two photographers, one dog, one raccoon and above all one pleasing composition of the moonrise. WOW a lot for one night Jim.
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@Nelcha Now that you’ve mentioned that it piqued my interest. Ah the joys of the bay area though… you never know what the weather will be like.
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@Christopher It was fun and you can never go wrong if you’re having fun.
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@Sanjana As soon as I have the photos from the shoot edited I’ll be sure to post the highlights.
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@Stephen That tool you made is exceptionally cool. Some aspects of it weren’t too clear to me though. For example the different colored lines. A simple legend would make all the difference. Thanks for pointing me to the tool you made. I hope you keep developing it as its something that I’d love to keep using! Keep in touch with me about it so I can help spread the word about it.
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@Richard and @Thomas Thanks!
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Hi Jim – thanks for the feedback, great to hear. The legend suggestion is a good one – I’ll make sure to include that. (The developer is always prone to assume something to be more obvious than it in fact is…)
I should have an update available within the next week or so that will handle daylight savings time automatically (it’s manual at pesent), plus other tweaks (including the legend). I’ll let you know when it’s out.
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@Stephen Getting the external perspective always helps reveal the obvious. As you know when people are working too close to a project their focus is often on more complex issues. Keep me posted to future updates. I’d love to test it more. It looks like it will be a great resource.
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Hi Jim – I finally got an update posted and I’ve incorporated your suggestion of an explanatory legend for the map (amongst other things).
Let me know how it works for you if you get a chance. Cheers, Stephen.
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