Sunday, February 11, 2018

Supermoon Eclipse January 2018

 In the early morning of the supermoon eclipse of January 2018, I noticed that it was a lot darker outside than it had been previously in the night. I knew the eclipse was well underway. And I knew I could go out and photograph it. First I peeked out the window and saw that it was indeed progressing. Then I went back to bed, warm and snuggly. But I couldn't sleep. A cool phenomenon was happening, and I had prepped the camera the night before, so I should just go out and do my best to photograph
it.

So I shrugged on my coat and winter boots and got the above photo from the driveway. It was nice, but nothing that would be too memorable. Then I heard an owl hooting. Earlier, while I was snuggled in bed, I had dreamed of capturing an owl silhouette with the moon, but had dismissed it as a crazy idea. Maybe it wasn't so crazy. Except the owl was in a nearby tree that I couldn't line up with the moon. But then it flew to another tree. I walked over, and it looked like I could line it up! I walked back to get my gear and get set up. I found it was extremely hard to focus in the dark, plus the moon kept moving so I had to keep readjusting. Here's what I got:

The Great Horned Owl hooted to a companion as I worked to refine the shot. It was really tricky, and I didn't get the perfect shot, but I still thought it was pretty cool to get the owl and the supermoon eclipse. (shooting specs: Canon 7dMII with Canon 100-400 mm lens @ 400 mm, ISO 2000, f 5.6, 2 seconds)

The owl flew off and I knew that that opportunity was done. So I got another cool shot of the moon with some stars.

I was wondering if I could get the eclipsed moon setting over the top of the mountain. I got in the car and drove up a dirt road. I didn't get quite the alignment I wanted, but it was still nice to get snow-covered mountain and moon.

Next time I'll use a different aperture.

Whoops, the moon is falling onto the earth! (aka what happens when your tripod isn't quite steady)

Farewell, eclipsed supermoon. I hear another one is supposed to occur next January. Hopefully we'll have good skies again. And cooperative owls!

2 comments:

Alica said...

WOW! What great pictures of the owl and the moon! We couldn't see the eclipse here (eastern PA) because it was below the horizon already. Maybe next year!

jhami said...

Awesome! Love it.

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