There are few things that pique the curiosity of night sky watchers more than the moon. Even my son at 10 months old started to point out the moon. If you see it enough it seems anything but special, but the moon is amazing. It’s an amazing sight to witness and an amazing subject to photograph. One thing that amazes photographers the most is that the full moon gives off so much light.
Overhanging Rock by Moonlight - Glacier Point, Yosemite National Park
The moon is one gigantic reflector in the sky. The moon reflects ~1/7th of the sun’s light back to Earth, so with the right exposure (~7x’s longer than normal) you can get an image that looks nearly indistinguishable from a daytime photo. If you’re walking at night under a full moon you might not think that much light is there to see, but on the contrary once your eyes adapt it can look incredibly bright. The moon is pretty cool all around so be sure to take the time to appreciate it on your next night walk or night photo shoot. The experience will more than likely awaken a primal curiosity no different in experience than our caveman relatives might have felt.
Photo Details:
Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM at 20mm, f/4, 6 seconds, ISO 3200
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Overhanging Rock & Yosemite Falls
Lovely shot, Jim. I’ve seen some spectacular views in my time but Glacier Point, which I visited for the first time a month ago, is undoubtedly the most breathtaking I’ve ever come across. Excellent though many of pictures taken there are, they just don’t prepare you for the amazing scale of the vista.
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