Moonlight Fun

Another great day outside, and the first in a long time with clear skies so I wanted to make good use of it again. At first I was upset about the nearly full moon being so high in the sky, but then I decided I wanted to use it to create some fun shadows, and an almost daylight appearance with stars in the sky. It certainly creates some interesting combinations.

I headed out not long after sunset and as I often do, just picked a direction and started driving. I'm not even sure which road I was on as I'm not as familiar with areas in southwest Champaign County as I am others, but I managed to pick up a two lane divided road and took that west for several miles. By several I mean, likely 15 or so. Then I hit a small farm road and headed south, where I took the first two photos.



I took this at the first stop. The lights in the background are from Champaign. I took a good amount using that shed in the background and the row of trees, but didn't like any for whatever reason. They all had some little thing wrong that kept me from uploading them. Maybe I'll head back to that spot another time. The moon is up and to the right in this photo.


I had to throw myself in there. I have a ghostly appearance because I was not in the frame for the entire time. This is mostly because I'm an idiot and for whatever reason forgot about the timer function, so I was starting the photo and then running into the frame. Later on in the night I accidentally set the timer and had an "oh duh" moment.


This is east of where the first photos are taken. I headed south on that first road and then took a left on the road you see in the left side of the photo. I think this is my favorite from the night. I'm going to misspell it, but you can see my favorite constellation, the seven sisters, or Pleides between the two trees. It's the really tight cluster.


Same spot, just vertical. I like that there are more stars visible, but something about it bothers me. I think maybe I should have had a little more sky, and a little less field. Maybe closer to the old 2/3rd's rule, rather than the 1/2 I have here.

I was surprised, it actually felt like it got warmer through the night. It was not a cold day, but it was certainly brisk at times. I was worried that once the sun went away and I got out in the open it would really get cold but I found myself to be pretty warm and not even having to bother with gloves.

Night Photography Run

Spring temperatures finally returned to the area, and even though the sun had set, I wasn't ready to be done enjoying the outdoors. So, I did the only logical thing, and grabbed the camera and went for a drive. Gas had just jumped up to $3.39/gallon so I wasn't looking to go terribly far so I just started heading east down Highway 150 through St. Joseph. I wound up making a loop across the eastern half of Champaign County and spent maybe 3 hours out there. I didn't take a ton of photos, but really just spent time enjoying the fact that I was able to be out enjoying the nighttime again without having to take a break to warm up every 5 minutes.

Below are a few of my favorites from the night. (March 12 2008)