Lightning, Stars, Natural Phenomena

[Chris V]

Lightning from out front of our house this past summer.

[Matt Ottosen]

Wow Chris, that's awesome!!

[Jay Beckman]

That's a helluva catch!   

[jslugman]

Hope you were grounded. 

Excellent catch!

[Dave S.]

Here's my attempt at capturing the last full moon last year - 12/31/09.

[Chris V]

08 monsoon season.

[jslugman]

Great reflection, can't wait 'till monsoon gets cranked up again.

[Jay Beckman]

Just an FYI...

I was looking ahead on the calendar at Sunset azimuths and during the last two weeks of March, Sunset will be very nearly right down the runways at Sky Harbor when viewed from atop "A" mountain in Tempe.

Should offer some dramatic lighting for planes on final landing to the west.

[Dave S.]

Sat on the roof last night, playing around with some long exposures, trying to learn what I don't know.  This shot has a couple of planes turning onto final, headed for Sky Harbor.  That's the moon hiding diffused behind some thin(ner) clouds.

Exposure was just about 2 minutes at f 14.  With such a long exposure, the moon is completely blown out.  So a smaller aperture would have helped keep that in check, but then I'd still lose the moon due to its relative movement during such a long exposure.

I've also figured out that I need to pay better attention to the nearby streetlights; I've got a bit of flare/light leak going on at the bottom.  It's just left of what looks like a meteor shooting across the frame but is actually another aircraft just making the turn for Sky Harbor.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to balance the moon's brightness as well as its movement during long exposures?  My intent is to visit Sky Harbor to capture some nice long exposures of aircraft on approach, hence the need for long exposures.  Is this one of those situations where the two are mutually exclusive and I should just not include the moon in the frame?

[CJPalmer]

The sun in Hydrogen Alpha.

[Chris V]

That's a cool shot!

[Dave S.]

That's a cool shot!

Chris P,

Just like Chris V said - that is a very cool looking image.

[CJPalmer]

Thank you. The original photo has a deep red color and looks even more amazing. Unfortunately the detail gets wiped out when I convert to srgb, so I need to work with it some more.