Not just Nikon

Moderated by: chrisbet,

The Moon and Venus over Coniston WaterLocation: Parkamoor Jetty

Author	Post

Posted by Robert: Tue Jan 3rd, 2017 03:34

1^st Post

Clear skies dictated a minor expedition to Coniston Water to capture the sunset last night. Armed with a flask of hot chocolate Christopher and I were prepared for a cool evening.

We were a little late for the sunset but we were treated to a magnificent display of the Moon and Venus. Initially heavy cloud threatened but it melted away to present a bright crescent Moon together with Venus.

I was a tad lazy, I set the D3 up on my heavy tripod taking images every 30 seconds and retired to the car to enjoy the hot chocolate!

The lighting was continually changing so I needed to adjust the exposure from time to time. I also changed the battery once, before it ran out, because I wasn't sure how charged it was to start with.

Taken on 2nd January 2017 at 18:18 with Nikon D3, 24-120 f4 lens, @35mm, 3 seconds at f7.1 ISO1600

Of course I have several others, but this seemed a nice example at a quick glance. Will probably upload another later.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Tue Jan 3rd, 2017 04:34

2^nd Post

Glad that you are trusting the 24-120 and D3 for serious work.
Great image. The thin cloud around the moon makes for a more interesting image.

One small criticsm.
If you pull a LR gradient on the image and provide more light to the jetty it will really sparkle. Or use the Exposure brush to put a little extra exposure into the jetty area. :-)

____________________
Still learning after all these years!
https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none

Posted by Robert: Tue Jan 3rd, 2017 05:14

3^rd Post

jk wrote:
One small criticsm.
If you pull a LR gradient on the image and provide more light to the jetty it will really sparkle. Or use the Exposure brush to put a little extra exposure into the jetty area. :-)

I trust the D3 implicitly! I love it. The 24-120 is growing on me,it may well get nailed to the D3 yet!

I understand and welcome the criticism, I actually feel the jetty is an impediment especially at that angle. It was the only angle I could find in the dark to get the Moon and Venus AND the jetty, although that's probably not quite true, I could have turned the camera further to the left but then I could have got flare from car headlamps in the image from the nearby road.

I will try your suggestion and post the results later. (Kitchen worktops to finish first!)

The images I have of the unobscured Moon the it is blown out in a bright round blob, at three seconds or thereabouts f8, ISO1600 is a lot over exposed for the Moon, which should be ~1/125sec @ f11, ISO200?

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Eric: Tue Jan 3rd, 2017 09:20

4^th Post

Very nice Robert. Coincidentally I was stood outside my house talking to a neighbour yesterday and we were discusssing the Moon and Venus which were shining bright.

____________________
Eric

Posted by Robert: Wed Jan 4th, 2017 07:41

5^th Post

Thanks Eric, to be honest, although I obviously noticed the extremely bright companion near the Moon I didn't realise it was Venus.

That came next morning when I was checking the BBC news and they had an item about it. In fact another coincidence, Sarah Mills, a long ago friend of mine from Cartmel had a photo included in the BBC item.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38492551

I have taken JK's suggestion and this is another effort with the same image. I tried a graduated filter/effect in Lr but wasn't entirely happy with the result.

I opened the image in Colour Efex Pro 4 and used the detail extractor, which did an admirable job of extracting the detail of the jetty deck. I placed some minus points in the sky because it was brightening the top of the image too much. I also masked the sky and adjusted the black point of the sky a little to darken it.

____________________
Robert.

Posted by Bob Bowen: Wed Jan 4th, 2017 07:47

6^th Post

Super pic Robert. That work on the jetty just lifts foreground nicely.

____________________
Bob Bowen

Posted by Robert: Wed Jan 4th, 2017 08:37

7^th Post

Thanks Bob, I think it depends on the monitor too, I have dual monitors and the second monitor shows it much lighter than the main one, my laptop different again!

____________________
Robert.

Posted by jk: Wed Jan 4th, 2017 17:13

8^th Post

Very nice. That is even better. :-)

____________________
Still learning after all these years!
https://nikondslr.uk/gallery_view.php?user=2&folderid=none

1st new

This is topic ID = 1405
Nikon DSLR Forums > Photography > Photography > The Moon and Venus over Coniston Water	Top
Users viewing this topic

Current theme is Blue

A small amount of member data is captured and held in an attempt to reduce spammers and to manage users. This site also uses cookies to ensure ease of use. In order to comply with new DPR regulations you are required to agree/disagree with this process. If you do not agree then please email the Admins using info@nikondsl.uk Thank you.