Hubbub Moon

Posted by Photonstopper on July 31, 2015
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With all the hubbub over the “blue moon” lately, I popped out late last night to shoot a very bright and beautiful Moon. I decided to give the Canon 2X focal length doubler another go so attached it between the camera body and my 400mm lens; that gave me 800mm of telephoto goodness. Add to the 800 another approximately 50% due to the camera’s “crop factor” and I was shooting through a 1,200mm scope! The doubler does soften the image slightly but, with a larger image falling upon the camera sensor, I crop less to achieve a nice-sized Moon. At any rate, it was a beautiful sight to behold, I captured a pretty fair image, and, if you were wondering, no, the Blue Moon isn’t really blue! Next night, however, I was intrigued by the just-past-full Moon shining through clouds. Wouldn’t you know… refraction of moonlight by those clouds gave the scene a bluish tone! And that’s the last Blue Moon hubbub ’til 2018.

  

Time to come in….

Posted by Photonstopper on July 29, 2015
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Photo: Man wading in lake as a storm approaches. Photo by James Guilford.

Time To Come In

My timing worked out perfectly again this evening! I had been watching on radar as an approaching line of storms ran  along a cold front hoping for another opportunity for dramatic weather photography. On a hunch I climbed into the car after dinner and headed to the Lake Erie shoreline at Bay Village, Ohio. No sooner did I arrive at the parking lot and start the short hike to the shore than I spotted it… an amazing, thin line of clouds known as a gust front approaching from the west. I shot a good number of photos of the clouds but adding to the image was a man standing nearly waist-deep in the water as the weather approached. Yes, there was a little lightning and thunder and yes, he should have gotten out of the lake as his relative urged from the shore. Time to come in! Fortunately the wader escaped harm. Behind the gust front I could see the effects of the, well, gusts: the lake water was darkening as wind-driven waves formed. The rain, this time, did not drive me from my perch but had the courtesy to begin after I was safely back in my car.

Great Egret walking

Posted by Photonstopper on July 25, 2015
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Photo: Great Egret walking on fallen tree trunk. Photo by James Guilford.

Great Egret Walking

We made a quick visit to the Old Woman Creek State Nature Preserve in Huron. Watching for bird activity at the estuary we were treated to sights of a Great Egret fishing from the trunk of a fallen tree. The big bird, one of five we could see from our vantage, caught only a few small fish before taking flight; this shot was made only a few moments before takeoff. As you can see in this tightly-cropped image, the egret had been banded. From the Ohio Division of Natural Resources website: “Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve is part of a network of 28 coastal reserves connected nationally through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address state and regional coastal management needs through research, education, and stewardship. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System uses its network of living laboratories to help understand and find solutions to crucial issues facing America’s coastal communities.”

Trophy shot of the day

Posted by Photonstopper on July 8, 2015
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Photo: Storm approaching over Lake Erie. Photo by James Guilford.

Trophy Shot – Approaching Storm

I watched weather radar for several hours yesterday as a line of storms approached our area; it looked interesting. The line had a strong arc to it offering the possibility of photogenic afternoon storm clouds. So I headed to the Lake Erie shoreline and a view off Bay Village, Ohio. The drive was an adventure in itself as I encountered strong winds and heavy rains. I worried the cold front had arrived early and I might be out of luck but, I remembered, there was an intense, crescent-shaped storm out ahead of the line — driving through I should encounter dryer weather and a shot at the “real deal.” And so it was! As I approached the lake, I saw curved lines in the clouds overhead … lines that corresponded to shapes I could see on weather radar. I couldn’t stop to photograph those and so continued to my observation post. Hurrying down to waters’ edge, I saw an expansive arc of clouds stretching from the southwest to the northeast and out over the lake. Not a sharply-defined line as I might have hoped for but dramatic, nonetheless. I had time for a few single shots and a couple of groupings to be assembled into a panorama and had to run again … I could see a curtain of rain moving in! As I drove home through sheets of rain I smiled; timing and luck were with me today and I had my trophy shot of the day! P.S. – That’s not a tornado!

Photo: Arc of storm clouds extends northward over Lake Erie. Photo by James Guilford.

The Long Stormy Arc

Venus and Jupiter ending their dance

Posted by Photonstopper on July 5, 2015
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Photo: Venus and Jupiter in twilight sky. Photo by James Guilford.

Venus (L) and Jupiter (R) Ending Their Conjunction

Venus and Jupiter are seen slowly parting company in beautiful twilight. We had mediocre seeing conditions June 30, the peak night of the recent planetary conjunction, and solid overcast the following night. So with July 2nd’s clear skies, I headed out for an effort at getting a landscape photo featuring the planets. It worked out well.

Heron headshot

Posted by Photonstopper on July 5, 2015
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Photo: Close-up of a Great Blue Heron. Photo by James Guilford.

Great Blue Heron Up Close

Today was a very active day in the wetlands of the Sandy Ridge Reservation, Lorain County Metro Parks. There was a large number of Great Egrets present, sometimes chasing each other, squabbling over fishing rights or something. The big white birds perched and waded everywhere providing photo-ops galore! I spotted a little Kingfisher but, sadly, did not get a useable photograph. A Whitetail doe and her fawn crossed our path in the woods. Tree swallows were everywhere, as were dragonflies. A few Great Blue Herons were also present and one, in particular, behaved in a very unusual way; the tall wader seemed to prefer walking on the crushed gravel pathway provided for human hikers. What is more, the heron allowed me to get closer than I ever have to such a bird… so close I felt like I could have grabbed it! Instead, I used my big 400mm (~600mm sensor equiv.) telephoto lens to capture a “heron headshot” such as I’ve never gotten. The photo shown above is uncropped! Yeah, an active day alright!

Photo: Great Blue Heron takes a leg in its beak. Photo by James Guilford.

A Little Cleanup

Jupiter and Venus dance in the dark

Posted by Photonstopper on June 29, 2015
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Photo: Progressing Conjunction of Jupiter (L) and Venus (R) Amidst Thin Clouds. Photo by James Guilford.

Progressing Conjunction of Jupiter (L) and Venus (R) Amidst Thin Clouds

We have been watching planets Jupiter and Venus drawing closer and closer together in our evening skies. Tomorrow, June 30, the pair should be 1/3-degree apart — close enough to look like a brilliant double star! Chances are we won’t see the event due to expected clouds, typical of this season. So last night, with thin broken clouds interrupting the view, I set up my camera to catch what I could. I was pleased to see a bit of drama as brightly-shining Venus created its own nebula in Earth’s clouds.