California Coast by the Pale Moon Light

kdog

I met up with Aaron Newman in the California north coast town of Fort Bragg over the weekend and we did some night shots under the full moon light. I like the effect, see what you think.

As an aside, this was my first shoot since moving to CA three weeks ago. And here I was worried that I left all the good photo-ops back in Arizona. :wink

1


2


3


4


5


Thanks for looking!
-joel

Vinceh

These look like they were shot during daylight; like it. 3rd is my fave.

kdog

Thanks, Vince. They really do look like they were taken during the day, right? It was actually so dark out that it was hard to compose. In fact, I was originally disappointed when I saw #3 because I'd planned to get in more of the shoreline. But, turns out I like it after seeing it on the computer. These were 8 minute exposures so feedback was not so instant. Not as bad as film though. :giggle

Oh, and welcome to Dgrin! I'm honored that you would choose my thread to make your first post.

bhundt

Wow, these shots are beautiful! Can you share a bit on how you went about shooting these and your camera settings? Did you use filters? Did the moon create the shadows in #1 & #2?
Thanks,
Bob

kdog

Hey thanks, Bob. No filters or anything, just regular shots that necessitated long shutter speeds. Even then I had to shoot with larger apertures than I would normally use on landscapes, and higher ISO too. Yes, the shadows are natural from the moonlight. It's just like dim sunlight.

bhundt

Cool! I'll have to do some experimentation. I bet it's a lot of trial and error. (I guess that's why I enjoy photography so much-lot's of errors and eventually voila!)

Mathieu05

Incredible shots! love them all

Marc Muench

Welcome to the bright state great images of the moonlit coast.

eoren1

Great job with these
Eight minute exposures?!?! How did you figure that out?

bryanj87

That's what I'm talking about! Nice job on these, very surreal. Feed us more.

MikesD7k

Awesome! Do you have Google + account? You should share your pics there.

System

These are fantastic!

kdog

bhundt wrote: »

Cool! I'll have to do some experimentation. I bet it's a lot of trial and error. (I guess that's why I enjoy photography so much-lot's of errors and eventually voila!)

Actually it wasn't that bad. Keep reading and I'll share my secret. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/mwink.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

Mathieu05 wrote: »

Incredible shots! love them all

Thanks, Mathieu05!

Marc Muench wrote: »

Welcome to the bright state great images of the moonlit coast.

Thanks, Marc! It is a bright state. I'm surprised they let me in. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/lol3.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

eoren1 wrote: »

Great job with these <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/thumb.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >
Eight minute exposures?!?! How did you figure that out?

Thanks, E! I actually stumbled on a real easy way to calculate the correct exposure using the camera's auto-exposure without taking even one full-length exposure. Open the aperture to a wide full stop setting, say F2.8 or F4. With the camera in AV mode, keep bumping up your ISO until your shutter speed comes into range that your camera can handle (<= 30 seconds on my Canon bodies.) Say for example you hit 30 seconds at F4, ISO 1600. Now say you want to shoot at F8, which is a two stop difference from F4, and ISO 400, which is 2 stops from ISO1600. That's a total of 4 stops which you need to decrease your shutter speed, which comes out to 8 minutes. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/deal.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

bryanj87 wrote: »

That's what I'm talking about! Nice job on these, very surreal. Feed us more.

Thanks, Bryan! That's about all I have from Saturday night. It was after midnight and we'd both had long days. We'd shot the sunrise, then I scouted beaches all day, while Aaron did home work then attended a wedding. So we were both pretty exhausted. But never fear, Aaron is still out shooting and you can expect tons more from him that will most likely blow my shots away like he usually does. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/rolleyes1.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" > Although I do have a few shots still to process from sunrise at Bowling Ball Beach which was pretty interesting. <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/mwink.gif&quot; border="0" alt="" >

MikesD7k wrote: »

Awesome! Do you have Google + account? You should share your pics there.

Thanks, Mike. Yes as a matter of fact I do have a Google+ account that I haven't done much with yet. Maybe I'll check it out.

choudhrysaab

BEAUTIFUL shots and I CANNOT believe these were shot at night time. I know 8 minute exposure means a lot of light but these have such details which I thought can only be seen in day light :-s

WiscoFrank

Really nice .. now I'm going to have to try this at a lake near my house. All I'll need is the moon and some bug spray.

PGM

Joel, I can't believe these were moonlight shots! They are really lovely! Moving is more work than you think, isn't it? So glad you have found great photo subjects so fast! Best, Pam

canghuixu

Amazing. I like #3. Given the circumstances, I'm surprised that the color cast looks so natural.

Eia

Knowing these were taken in the dark makes them awesome, not that they wouldn't be otherwise! Selfishly speaking I am sorry to hear that you left AZ! But I'm sure you will get fresh inspiration!

rainbow

Welcome to the Golden State! You should find that the variety of photo ops has increased tremendously.

Absolutely love these shots -- all of them! Did you have to deal with major noise reduction?

anwmn1

Well I have to congratulate Joel on several things. One he surprised me by showing up at Bowling Ball beach Saturday morning without letting me know in advance, two he didn't need too much convincing to stay out until midnight shooting coastal shots (on a narrow ledge to boot), and he got shots up before me. The third is the least impressive though as I have been sleeping in a car the past two nights in my California adventure but I'll still give him credit.
Great shots my friend.

eoren1

Joel-
You've inspired me. Heading out at midnight to try my hand at these. Not looking forward to doing math at the beach but a small price to pay.

Doug Solis

Great shots Joel, when I first looked at your images I though they were shot during the day with a 10 stopper, but this is amazing how much light you got at night I really like #3 & #5, great compositions. Welcome to Calif, its a great state to live in.

kdog

imprtslyer wrote: »

These are fantastic!

Thanks!

choudhrysaab wrote: »

BEAUTIFUL shots and I CANNOT believe these were shot at night time. I know 8 minute exposure means a lot of light but these have such details which I thought can only be seen in day light :-s

Actually, the detail is probably better than you'd have in daylight, at least during mid-day. The moon seems to give a nice soft light for some reason.

WiscoFrank wrote: »

Really nice .. now I'm going to have to try this at a lake near my house. All I'll need is the moon and some bug spray.

Thanks, WiscoFrank. Hope to see some of your work.

PGM wrote: »

Joel, I can't believe these were moonlight shots! They are really lovely! Moving is more work than you think, isn't it? So glad you have found great photo subjects so fast! Best, Pam

Hey thanks so much,, Pam! Moving is awful. There's nothing worse than a house full of boxes.

canghuixu wrote: »

Amazing. I like #3. Given the circumstances, I'm surprised that the color cast looks so natural.

Thanks, canghuixu! Moonlight is basically reflected sunlight, so I don't see why there would be a color cast. However, a good friend of mine who worked at Adobe for many years made the same observation as you, so what do I know.

Eia wrote: »

Knowing these were taken in the dark makes them awesome, not that they wouldn't be otherwise! Selfishly speaking I am sorry to hear that you left AZ! But I'm sure you will get fresh inspiration!

Thanks, Eia. That's very kind. I wish we'd had a chance to meet up for a shoot some time.

rainbow wrote: »

Welcome to the Golden State! You should find that the variety of photo ops has increased tremendously.

Absolutely love these shots -- all of them! Did you have to deal with major noise reduction?

Thanks, Rainbow! Nope, the shots were pretty clean because the exposures were good. I have a bunch I shot at higher ISOs that were also underexposed and they're so noisy that I won't post them.

anwmn1 wrote: »

Well I have to congratulate Joel on several things. One he surprised me by showing up at Bowling Ball beach Saturday morning without letting me know in advance, two he didn't need too much convincing to stay out until midnight shooting coastal shots (on a narrow ledge to boot), and he got shots up before me. The third is the least impressive though as I have been sleeping in a car the past two nights in my California adventure but I'll still give him credit.
Great shots my friend.

Hey thanks, Aaron. Great shooting with you as always and you are an area researcher par excellence.
Oh, and I did text you that I was coming, you just never got the text.

Cheers,
-joel

canghuixu

kdog wrote: »

Thanks!

Thanks, canghuixu! Moonlight is basically reflected sunlight, so I don't see why there would be a color cast. However, a good friend of mine who worked at Adobe for many years made the same observation as you, so what do I know.

-joel

Since the moon's not a perfect mirror, but rather a big lump of rock, I would have expected it to reflect more in some areas of the spectrum than others, so that the composition of the light coming off of it would be different than the light hitting it. Apparently though it is neutral. Unfortunately, I don't know much about optics or physics.

One way or the other, the shots are just amazing.

grimace

Beautiful work Joel.

kdog

canghuixu wrote: »

Since the moon's not a perfect mirror, but rather a big lump of rock, I would have expected it to reflect more in some areas of the spectrum than others, so that the composition of the light coming off of it would be different than the light hitting it. Apparently though it is neutral. Unfortunately, I don't know much about optics or physics.

One way or the other, the shots are just amazing.

Thanks again canghuixu. I'm glad you like the shots. I understand what you're saying and the reason that the reflected sunlight off the moon doesn't impart a color-cast on the earth is because oddly enough the moon's surface happens to be exactly 18% gray, just like a gray card. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

kdog

eoren1 wrote: »

Joel-
You've inspired me. Heading out at midnight to try my hand at these. Not looking forward to doing math at the beach but a small price to pay.

kdog

Doug Solis wrote: »

Great shots Joel, when I first looked at your images I though they were shot during the day with a 10 stopper, but this is amazing how much light you got at night I really like #3 & #5, great compositions. Welcome to Calif, its a great state to live in.

Hey Doug, thanks a bunch for the kind comments. I just realized you live in Ukiah, which means these places are practically in your backyard. Lucky you!

eMOJO

Amazing shots Joel, great detail esp for an 8min exposure... well done

hamster

these are truly amazing - I love the cool tones of #2 and 3. Wow. WOW!

Vinceh

kdog wrote: »

Thanks, Vince. They really do look like they were taken during the day, right? It was actually so dark out that it was hard to compose. In fact, I was originally disappointed when I saw #3 because I'd planned to get in more of the shoreline. But, turns out I like it after seeing it on the computer. These were 8 minute exposures so feedback was not so instant. Not as bad as film though. :giggle

Oh, and welcome to Dgrin! I'm honored that you would choose my thread to make your first post.

Your welcome and thanks! Something very compelling about the light in these shots... I have looked at them almost everday.