Thursday, March 16, 2017

Serendipitous Moon Shots!

I had no plans to take moon photos. That is, until my 4 year old granddaughter said "look at the moon, Grandpa!". Sure enough, a big full moon, yellow in color, was just cresting the horizon. Beautiful! Some wispy clouds added to the beauty. I grabbed my camera, put on the telephoto lens, and took a couple handheld shots (my tripod was out in the car and I was in too much of a hurry to go get it). When the moon is on the horizon, it's not nearly as bright as when it's higher in the sky, and handheld shots generally look pretty bad. Here, I'll show you what I mean:
Not a great shot, but interesting how a moon on the horizon appears yellow and "squashed"!

About 20 minutes later I walked outside the house to see what the moon was doing and I could hardly believe it. There was a jet flying directly in front of the moon and leaving a contrail that looked like it was slicing the moon in half!! I could actually see the jet plane silhouetted against the upper edge of the moon, but it was moving fast, and gone by the time I captured this photo. Dang!! Oh well, a fun shot anyway.
"Bayer Aspirin Moon"
A moment later, the contrail was already starting to disappear.
  The next morning, my wife came in the house after walking the dog and said "you should really go out and take a pic of that moonset!". Wow, serendipity again!! She was right, the moon was just getting ready to set behind the hills. A few minutes later and I would have totally missed the shot!

I think it's cool how the moon appears to be rolling down the bumpy boulders! Look out below!!

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
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Thanks for stopping by!!

37 comments:

  1. Magic moon shots! Thanks for the chuckles too - love the Bayer Aspirin reference and the moon rolling down the hill should be in a nursery rhyme!

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  2. Yes---- rolling down the hill. But also the ones in which it looks to be sliced in half! You da man!

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  3. Very nice - I love the hilly moon shots.

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  4. Great moon shots.. love the contrail!

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  5. You're right! Great pix (well, except for #1).

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  6. Beautiful shots. You are always ready to take photos. So great that your granddaughter pointed the moon out to you.

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  7. Beautiful, beautiful moonshots. Great that your little granddaughter and wife got your attention on the moon. I love the Bayer Aspririn - how amazing that you shot as the contrail cut the moon in half! And the moonset over the boulders; oh *sigh* I'm going out walking with the dogs shortly although it will be with a heaadlamp (sun is rising much later now it's autumn in South Africa) I hope to see the waning gibbous moon. Thanks for sharing these. Greetings Jo

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  8. Brilliant clicks. Thanks for the post.

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  9. Excellent moon shots there, not taken many myself

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  10. Always good to have a four-year-old artistic director! Nice pictures.

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  11. Wow! Brilliant shots! That contrail is great!

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  12. Cool shots. That's why it's ALWAYS good to ALWAYS have a camera nearby.

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  13. What a wonderful post and so brilliant shots. 'Look at the moon, grandpa'.
    Yes, children are looking at the moon, the sun and the sky. I know it. My grandson is 5 years old.
    We should more listen to the children. Have a nice week-end.
    Edith from Germany

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  14. Great photos. Very opportunistic. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Thanks for sharing.

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  15. I loved each and every one of those captures, especially the first of the contrail shots. That was a once in a lifetime shot, I think.

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  16. Amazing captures ... never seen a "sliced" moon before :) Love the moonset too!

    Happy weekend ahead!

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  17. Amazing moon! So envious One time I tried to read instructions on how to capture a moon, but it was so complicated that I gave up. How did you learn it?
    Am beginning to believe you and Pat Tillet ate a twin, separated at birth - he wrote me the exact same thing about the staghorn - he has a giant one in the back too!

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  18. If I only could be so lucky to snap a contrail over the moon, or it bouncing down a rocky incline!

    Great shots!

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  19. Fabulous shots! And I love the ones with the contrail - how cool is that!

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  20. Amazing shots. Thanks to your granddaughter for getting you motivate.

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  21. These are wonderful photos! Rarely, you can see the moon! I'm glad you have the pictures, thank you!
    Greetings from Germany, Maje

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  22. Fantastic moon photography ~ glad your grand daughter was paying attention ~ thanks,

    Wishing you a lovely weekend ~ ^_^

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  23. Yes truly some very very nice shoots--You are soo lucky to see the moon soo big and the airplane wow I have no words so special!

    Greetings Anita

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  24. I love, love, love stuff like this. And I like the ones your wife "found" for you the best. Just gorgeous!

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  25. P.S. I want to keep in touch so I scrolled down looking to sign up to follow your blog. So glad I did, the pictures of your grand-daughter on the rocks are amazing. I guess she gets to have a lot of adventures with you guys.

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  26. Wow ! what a moon ! Beautiful pictures !

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  27. Great moon shots, every shot is great!

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  28. Just WOW! Words fail me ... incredible shots!

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  29. fun! I never got shots like that. I got trees in it but not anything like this :)

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  30. Great catch on the jet flying across. Nice job.

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  31. The first photo in this post is better than anything I've done. Love the moon setting photos. Your wife has a good eye!

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