December 21 Lunar Eclipse
Both the clouds and a cat...OK, and fatigue...interfered with photographing the whole sequences, but I did have some success. First, meet Cleopatra Cat, whose "contributions" to the images will be noted later.
The first shot is of the full moon before clouds moved in. It's overexposed. All photos taken with a Nikon D80, most with a Tamron 28-300 zoom at 300mm, while lying on my back in the big field. Did not use flash (hence overexposure and blur due to hand motion. The second is with no zoom, to show the veil of high thin cloud moving in--from the same spot. Third is from the same spot with shadow that was part-cloud, and perhaps outer shadow. Clouds were visibly moving in at this point. Fourth was taken from the driveway of our house, with a pillow for neck support, and using the flash for faster shutter speed. All subsequent images were taken from that location. And it was there that Cleopatra, intrigued and delighted with a person on the pavement, decided to investigate. She wanted to be petted. She butted my arm (yes, that shakes the camera the arm is holding.) She climbed up on me and walked up and down for awhile, standing tall to try to look into the lens hood. Finally she lay down, picking a tender area in which to insert her claws, and licking my fingers (holding the camera) with her rough tongue. This, too, can make a camera wiggle.
The first lower, fast-moving clouds that streamed in from the south brought even moister air, but at first were scattered enough to give me a clear view of the moon...but then they thickened, even as the eclipse also reduced the light.
This was the last clear shot I got, trying for gaps in the clouds, but they came faster and thicker.
After these two, with the clouds offering no clear sky (just slightly thinner clouds) between the long lines of thick ones, I gave up and went back inside. By time time Cleo's fur felt damp, as did my clothes, and I worried about the camera.
Cleo's best contribution (that is, the one you can still tell is a moon in eclipse) is this one:
The first shot is of the full moon before clouds moved in. It's overexposed. All photos taken with a Nikon D80, most with a Tamron 28-300 zoom at 300mm, while lying on my back in the big field. Did not use flash (hence overexposure and blur due to hand motion. The second is with no zoom, to show the veil of high thin cloud moving in--from the same spot. Third is from the same spot with shadow that was part-cloud, and perhaps outer shadow. Clouds were visibly moving in at this point. Fourth was taken from the driveway of our house, with a pillow for neck support, and using the flash for faster shutter speed. All subsequent images were taken from that location. And it was there that Cleopatra, intrigued and delighted with a person on the pavement, decided to investigate. She wanted to be petted. She butted my arm (yes, that shakes the camera the arm is holding.) She climbed up on me and walked up and down for awhile, standing tall to try to look into the lens hood. Finally she lay down, picking a tender area in which to insert her claws, and licking my fingers (holding the camera) with her rough tongue. This, too, can make a camera wiggle.
The first lower, fast-moving clouds that streamed in from the south brought even moister air, but at first were scattered enough to give me a clear view of the moon...but then they thickened, even as the eclipse also reduced the light.
This was the last clear shot I got, trying for gaps in the clouds, but they came faster and thicker.
After these two, with the clouds offering no clear sky (just slightly thinner clouds) between the long lines of thick ones, I gave up and went back inside. By time time Cleo's fur felt damp, as did my clothes, and I worried about the camera.
Cleo's best contribution (that is, the one you can still tell is a moon in eclipse) is this one:
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