The brightest night in 60 something years? The supermoon lights up the land at night. I certainly don't want to miss this opportunity. Here I took one pic of the landscape with a 18 mm fast lens and combined it with a supermoon pic I took with my 500 mm lens. The pond is beautifully lit by the supermoon. The golf course is decently visible with the natural light from the moon as well. With a high ISO and somewhat long exposure the landscape is reasonably lit. But, when I do this, the moon appears too bright to show some details. Therefore, I took the moon picture with a different setting separately with a lower ISO and shorter exposure. These two pics are then combined in Photoshop. Oh yeah, I'm holding a flashlight with my mouth. (Sony a7RII, The moon: Sigma 150-500mm at 500 mm, f/5.6. 1.6 sec, ISO 50. The rest: Zeiss Batis 18mm f/2 at f/5.6, 4 sec, ISO 6400) Difficulty: 6
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To get this shot, it's important to do a lot of homework. A lot of elements have to be just right. First, you need to know where the milky way will be. It has to be near the object to get both of them in one picture. You can use an app like PhotoPills to find out exactly where the milky way will be at what time (obviously it has to be at night). The app also tell you where the galactic center will be. The galactic center is very photogenic. You also need to be aware of the moon. If the moon is too bright, this doesn't work well. Weather is the final element. Obviously the sky needs to be clear. When these elements are in place, you can now worry about the camera setting. You need a camera which allows adjustment of shutter speed, a relatively fast wide-angle lens and a tripod. You need to manually focus on the stars. It's usually the shorter end of infinity (if you focus at the longer end of infinity, the stars won't be in focus!...unless you are in extreme temperature). Crank up the ISO up to wherever your camera allows without producing too much noise. And, shoot with long exposure. Too long of exposure will make star trails, so I usually want to keep it below 25 seconds. You can always refer to the 500 rule (500 / lens mm on a full frame camera = Exposure time in seconds). (Sony A7RII, Zeiss Batis 2.8/18 at f/2.8, 20 sec, ISO = 6,400). Difficulty 8. Shibuya Score: 8/10
Here, I took series of pictures without moving my camera on a tripod. Later I combined some of those pictures in Photoshop to enjoy the progression of the red moon in one picture. (Sony a7s, Sigma 150-500mm at 500 mm with a E mount converter, f/5.6, 0.4 sec, ISO 128,000). Difficulty: 6
That spot below is a nice spot to take good wildflower pictures if you live in Temple, Tx. (Sony a7RII, Zeiss Batis 25mm f/2 at f/2, 1/1600, ISO 200). Difficulty: 3, Shibuya Score: 6/10 (What is this?)
Yosemite Valley (which is only 3% of the whole Yosemite National Park) is kind like a loop. You drive in on the right (south) side of the valley and come out on the left (north) side. Before you come back to where the loop splits on Northside drive, right on the Merced River, there is a parking lot on the left hand side. This is a popular angle and spot to take pictures but on internet it wasn't clear exactly where it was. No hiking required. This is right off the parking lot.
For this shot, I wanted to do a long exposure shot to make the water smooth. In the bright sun, I lowered the ISO all the way, use in camera and external neutral density filters and of course a tripod. (Sony A7RII, Zeiss FE 16-35 F4 ZA OSS at 20 mm, 1.5 second, ISO = 50, f/22, ND filter). Difficulty: 4/10, Shibuya Score: 8/10 Don't neglect the State Parks. Some State Parks are better than some of the National Parks. Valley of Fire State Park is one of those. Only 1-2 hours from Las Vegas, you are in this incredible landscape. From the visitor center, drive north. You will drive through this narrow valley with steep red walls. The leading pass, good contrast with the background mountains with different color/mineral content and awesome clouds made this pic unique. (Sony a7RII, Sony FE 70-200mm F4 G OSS at 200mm, f/7.1, ISO = 2000, 1/250). Difficulty 6/10. Shibuya Score: 8/10 (what is this?)
I thought it was interesting to show a ship on the land instead of on water. (Sony A7, Sony 70-200mm f4 G OSS at 200 mm, f/4, ISO 100)
Port Aransas is a nice vacation destination...but for landscape photography, there is nothing much there. It's flat and no interesting geological formation. Here I found a puddle of water on the beach. I got really close to it with my wide angle lens, probably only several inches off the water and took this picture. With good clouds, sun rise and the joggers, all the sudden, this boring flat beach became photographically interesting. You can do this at any beach. You just have to wake up early in the morning on a semi-cloudy day. If I got little lower, I probably could make the jogger look like they were running on the water. (Sony a7R, Sony/Zeiss FE 16-35 F4 at 20mm, 1/60, f/11, ISO = 100, Vivid JPEG, Tripod, No post processing). Difficulty: 4/10. Shibuya Score 3/10 (what is this?)
Pennybacker Bridge is the name of the bridge. It's on 360 over Colorado river. Park your car in the parking lot on the side of the highway when you are going southbound on 360 (west side). The hike is short but steep for some people. This angle is the best angle in my opinion. Make sure to get the tree on the left. The upper right corner is empty so make sure to go there on a cloudy day. They sell this picture at IKEA Roundrock but you can easily get this shot by yourself. (Sony A7R, Zeiss 16-35mm F4 at f/11, 16mm, 1/160, ISO 100). Difficulty: 2
Antelope Canyon is very accessible. You can park right next to it. From Page, Arizona, drive east for few miles and you can enter Antelope Canyon right off the high way. You don't need a special car. It's paved. From the parking lot you just enter the slot canyon with minimal fee for this world class photo op. Crank up your Kelvin on your white balance and just start shooting once you get in the canyon. Only lens you need is a wide angle zoom since everything is very tight in the canyon. You don't need a tripod with a modern-day digital camera. I'd rather keep shooting every angle, not wasting time setting up a tripod. Don't forget to shoot up towards the sky, either.
It's not a bat hike. It's just tight. There are stairs so you don't need roping. Just remember the sand stone can rip your cloths and equipment because you are consistently brushing against it. If you need the classic light column in your picture, you need to be there in summer when the sun is directly on the top and have your friend throw the sand in the air. (Nikon D800E, Nikkor 16-35mm f/4) |
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