project blog — 10,000 Hours Photography

Almost a George R. R. Martin novel. Almost.

In all seriousness, watching last night's total lunar eclipse was a pretty awesome experience. While NASA may not consider them to be anything special, considering that there was a 300 year period just before the 20th century where there was a complete absence of blood moons, they still seem pretty awesome and somewhat rare to me.

Alas, I do have two complaints about observing celestial phenomena...

They generally involve staying up really late at night, which is just inconvenient since the cosmos don't accommodate a working schedule

and
Cloud cover and light pollution mean you have to drive forever to find someplace with an optimal view

Both of those came into play last night/this morning since totality wasn't until 12:45am and our original viewing spot of the beach had to change with the marine layer that rolled in... literally at the precise moment we got out of the car and started walking towards the sand. It was actually beautifully clear until then. Fortunately, we had nearly 2 hours from start to finish and were able to head back inland and not really miss too much.

Since I don't have a telescope, I was relying on my best zoom lens (50-200mm) and a tripod. And the fact that the moon isn't all that far away really helps. Since there wasn't a whole lot to change with composition given the distance limitations, this session was really all about the light. At the end of the day, that is at the core of photography. This concept was also underscored for me when this girl that happened to be at the same park kept getting frustrated as her little point-and-shoot camera's automatic flash kept going off automatically and blew out all of her snapshots. I imagine even if she could turn it off, the photos would end up just showing a pinpoint of light anyway, which is what happened with every iPhone photo I attempted to snap.

Fortunately, with the DSLR, I was able to override automatic modes with manual settings and focus. I ended up opening the aperture as wide as it would go on the 50-200mm lens (f/5.6) and kept that as a control, so the variable was the shutter speed. It's interesting how there seems to be a parabolic relationship in terms of light exposure - too much light and the details are lost in the highlights; too little light and the details are also lost, but this time in the shadows. It's also pretty incredible how much light affects color and how the right lighting conditions can really produce some amazing images. All of the below photos are digitally unedited with the exception of two that were cropped and yet, they still look pretty visually stunning - a great reminder that digital editing isn't always necessary.

The moon peeking through the marine layer just at the beginning of the eclipse - taken at the beach

Exposed for too long, so the details were lost. And I freehanded this, so it's slightly blurry.

Further inland and with a tripod, 1/8s exposure @ 12:13am

1/6s @ 12:13am - interesting how the longer exposure resulted in underscoring the red hue as the Earth cast more of its shadow on the moon and made the whole sky darker.

And yet, evidence that photography is still more art than science... this photo was taken with the identical settings as the photo above: 1/6s shutter speed, f/5.6, ISO 3200, and less than a minute after, but looks so different.

Probably my favorite of the series, with the lunar surface detail, but also the copper "blood red". Shutter speed of 1/5s and 10 minutes before totality

Many Moons
Active Shooting Hours: 1 hour
Review Hours: 1 hour
Hours To Date: 129

Not unlike college days of old, I wandered Berkeley by day and then hopped on BART to play in the city at night. It's amazing how natural it all felt and there was the bonus of being mistaken for a student and a local when more than one person stopped me for directions. I also retained my uncanny ability to nap on BART and wake up just in time for my stop - mildly interesting superpower?

Despite loving the conveniences and logical city planning of suburban paradise, I do find the order confining and uninspiring at times. It's hard to find inspiration when you're staring at the back of a Prius that nearly backed into you in the parking lot of Whole Foods (true story). Still, I find that plenty of people who live in the old cities with architectural masterpieces let their mundane daily agendas drive their attention and they miss the forest for the trees. It's probably why they always say it's important to travel and see the world for all the wonders it has to offer.

This was also my first attempt at nighttime photography with a tripod - definitely a third time's a charm situation since I lugged that thing all over the place and finally got to use it my last night in the city. Good thing it's only 2lbs and conveniently fits into my camera bag. Also would have doubled nicely as a makeshift bludgeon in the unlikely yet possible event that we would have been jumped by weirdos. I love how the shots came out even though they were pretty stock in nature and not particularly visually dramatic.