Skies were clear again this evening, offering a magnificent view of the moonrise across the valley. Temperatures, accordingly, were dropping rapidly already into the low teens by 7:30pm. Plus or minus single digits were likely to result.

Anyway, here’s a waning gibbous moon silhouetted against a nearby home. Had I prepared for this shot (notice a recent trend?), I’d have gotten setup outside a bit early…. with a tripod… and thought about the required ISO setting. This shot at ISO100 was not quick enough to pull in any foreground details. The scene moved by so quickly, that I had little or no time to make adjustments. This shot was 1/500 second f/5.6 @ISO100. A better setup might have been set to ISO800-1600… and perhaps about a 1/125 second exposure. This would have allowed for all kinds of details in the foreground. Once this detail was acquired, I’d have had considerably more options available during image processing to seek some sort of balance.

Astro Photo Details:

* Designation: The Moon
* Magnitude: roughly mag -12
* Size: roughly 1/2*

Astro Photo Processing Details

* Canon Digital Rebel XTi
* 1/500s at ISO100
* Gimp Curves

1. joe richards, January 24, 2008:

   i want to identify 3 or 4 stars or planets in the sky. so i came across this site. facinating.
   i beleieve from the photos, one of the bright lights is Venus. i have recently become very interested in the sky. i was camping for 7 months. and learned a lot about the sky. it is a bit overwhelming right now. awesome pics. joe