Day 69: Moon shot...

Wow, talking about dodging a bullet.  I got up early (4:25) this morning to take advantage of a clear sky in hopes of capturing a full, or at least near full, moon.  I originally planned on this spot near a local bank but after sitting there for a while and guess-timating where the moon would set, I realized there was going to be a ton of street lights that would distract from the setting of the moon.  So off I went...

I went back to another spot I used to capture a nice sunset and figured that would be my best bet.  Another very chilly morning but at least no wind.  Of course it wouldn't be a photo shoot without me forgetting something.  This time it was gloves.  Yeah, by the time I was done my hands were like blocks of ice.  I got the tripod set up, camera mounted and dialed in my settings for a few test shots (still had a few minutes before the moon neared the horizon).  Now some of you out there seem to think I know all kinds of stuff about photography.  I'm here to burst that bubble of yours.  After a few shots and frantically making all kinds of adjustments to my F-stop, ISO and shutter speeds, the best I could get was a nice, white blob.  WTH!!!  Ok, my language was a little stronger than that.  Panic started to set in.  I was not about to suffer through the cold two mornings in a row....

BING!  The light bulb went off in my head.  "To the iPhone, Batman!"  I quickly went to the browser and typed in "photograph the moon".  I've got to say I love my iPhone and I love my internet.  The first link was my lifeline.  The article had all the settings for capturing that nice, sharp, detailed image of the moon.  Funny, the author said, "shooting the moon is like taking a picture of a light bulb."  Using what you might guess to be the appropriate settings will only get you that lovely white blob I mentioned earlier.  The settings I needed where NOTHING that I would've anticipated.  Low ISO, small F-stop and fast shutter.  Wow, I was in another timezone on that one.  Thank goodness I found that in time to get the shot above.

Don't ever fall into the trap of thinking "you're all that."  I realize that for everything I know, there are three things I don't know.  But the bright side of that is there's so much more to learn which means more wonderful opportunities to experience the gratification of discovery.

So, here's to ignorance!