Morning photo: By the light of the moon …

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Rocky Mountain glow

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Morning alpenglow on the Gore Range, Summit County, Colorado.

FRISCO —Friday brought a lovely April morning to go out and capture a few images of the full moon setting over the Gore Range. Sure, the snow is a bit crusty for hiking, but it’ll be melted soon enough — at least at lower elevations. But for now, it was one more wintry scene from the flanks of Tenderfoot Mountain, and a spectacular alpenglow to go along with the spectacle of the setting moon. If you like these images, please visit our online Summit County gallery at Imagekind, and also at FineArt America, featuring an amazing selection of Summit County landscapes. (more…)

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Morning photo: ‘Pink’ moon?

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Clearing skies …

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The almost-full moon rising over the snow-covered Rockies.

FRISCO —April’s full moon is sometimes called the pink moon for slightly obscure reasons, according to my sources, who say the name is related to pink flowers that start blooming this time of year. The April moon is sometimes also called the egg moon, the full sprouting-grass moon or the full fish moon. Regardless of what it’s called, it was nice to see clear skies once again after a spate of stormy April weather.
(more…)

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Morning photo: Paschal moon

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

First full moon of spring

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Bright night light.

FRISCO —I’ve missed the last few full moon rises, with stormy skies obscuring that critical view to east, but last night, a quick jaunt down to the corner of Lagoon and Meadow Creek Drive paid off with a nice view of the orb ascending over Swan Mountain. There was just enough of a gap at the horizon to give a clear view, and enough thin cloud cover to help balance the light, enabling the camera sensor to capture some of the moon’s details. Here’s hoping for a clear-skies moonset tomorrow morning! (more…)

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Morning photo: More moon!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Almost full …

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Alpenglow on Buffalo and the setting moon.

FRISCO —The weather hasn’t exactly been cooperating on the day of the full moon the last couple of months. I totally missed in January, and this month, it was obscured by welcome storm clouds. But finally, Thursday morning, I was able to catch a glimpse our lunar neighbor. Sure, it was a few days past full, but it’s always a dreamy sight. The first three shots were taken from along the Ptarmigan Trail above Silverthorne, a great place to watch the moon drop behind the Gore Range. To round out the set, I added a few moon shots from late autumn and early winter. (more…)

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Morning photo: Marvelous moon

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Last full moon of 2012

December's full moon sets over the Gore Range in Summit County, Colorado.

December’s full moon sets over the Gore Range in Summit County, Colorado.

FRISCO —Even though I got skunked on the full moon rise this month, I did make it out early Saturday to watch it set over the Gore Range. With temps well below zero, it wasn’t easy to work the camera controls and I had a hard time changing exposure settings while trying to keep up with the changing light, because the Earth and moon never stop their graceful dance. When you see a picture of the orb hanging in the sky, it looks static, but things certainly seem to speed up when you’re trying to capture it with a camera. And there are only a few minutes when the background and foreground light, and the moonlight, are balanced enough to get details in the entire exposure. I’m also amazed at how much the light changes in a short time. The images in this set were all taken in a half-hour span.

Many of the images in Summit Voice photo essays are available in our Fine Art America online gallery, and there’s also Summit County gallery at our ImageKind website. You can also order images by contacting me directly at bberwyn@comcast.net. It’s a great way to support independent online journalism! (more…)

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Morning photo: Moonlight madness

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Is it the beaver moon or the hunter’s moon?

There was just enough light remaining early during moonrise for the iPhone camera to grab a decent image.

Leigh enjoys the November moonrise with Ringo and Comet.

FRISCO —After getting shut out by thick clouds last month, the November full moon cooperated, rising into a colorful sky with just enough clouds to balance the light. In fact, the wispy wave clouds on the eastern horizon helped make the features on the face of them moon visible to the camera, giving the pale orb some relief and definition instead of the washed-out glow that often marks moonrise shots. And earlier in the afternoon, the setting sun illuminated a thin wave cloud over the Tenmile Range, with high altitude ice particles refracting the light into a full rainbow spectrum. All in all, not a bad day for photography. And it’s a good thing Leigh went along to mind the dogs, because Ringo was intent on chasing a handsome fox through the meadows. Be sure to check out the Summit Voice online photo gallery, where you can images from this moonrise and other spectacular Summit County landscapes for sale. (more…)

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Morning photo: Lunar visions

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Full moon hunting …

Our lunar orb, with a somewhat detailed view of mountain, craters and other surface features.

FRISCO — Every month for a couple of days, I head out to try and catch a good moon image or three. Aside from the challenge of shooting the moon, it’s a good excuse to go out somewhere peaceful and just watch as our satellite either climbs away from, or drops toward the horizon.

There’s always a still beauty associated with the full moon phase, and it’s really grounding to feel the rhythm of the sun, the Earth and the moon locked by gravity into their eternal dance. The best time to try and catch a good moonrise shot is the night before the full moon, when it comes up just as the sun is setting, and the best time to catch the moon setting is the day after the full moon, when once again, the moon goes down just as the sun is coming up. That’s when you’re most likely to catch good light balance, which means you can see some of the moon’s features, as well as some color in the foreground. It’s not easy, at least for me, but always worth the try. (more…)

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Morning photo: Full moon!

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Sweet moonrise in Colorado

Floating on a bed of clouds.

FRISCO — Catching the full moon rise is always a special treat, especially when there are some wispy clouds in the sky to help frame the glowing orb. But trying to expose properly for the sky, the moon and the foreground is tricky. More often than not, the moon ends up as a featureless white disk, unless you use special trickery, like multiple exposures or HDR. Saturday night, moon played peek-a-boo through several layers of clouds, so it was like watching the moon rise several times.

I had both DSLRs with me, as well as an iPhone. The older Canon with a somewhat sketchy 300 mm zoom did a decent job of capturing a semi-closeup of the moon floating on a bed of clouds in a one-second exposure, using a rock as a tripod – yes, I forgot the tripod when I jumped on the bike to get to the reservoir for the session. The iPhone camera, as much as I love it, definitely is not ideal for low-light landscape shots. Even with moderate lighting, it loses definition and gets grainy real fast. The workhorse Nikon did a decent job, but it was interesting to see how the colors and sharpness were affected as I jacked up the ISO setting. (more…)

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Morning photo: Moonshine

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

The night before the ‘supermoon’

Moonlight glitters on Dillon Reservoir in a grainy Instagram image.

SUMMIT COUNTY — With a ‘supermoon’ coming tonight, I went out to do some low-light iPhone test shots. Turns out the little camera does some interesting things as the sky transitions from daylight to night. It wants to light up the scene as if it were daylight. I haven’t delved into all the various apps yet, though I’m sure there are some that would help capture a more “real” lightscape, but it was still fun using the Instagram filters to add some effects to the evening show along the shore of Dillon Reservoir. The supermoon, by the way, is when the full moon coincides with our satellite’s closest approach to Earth. Astronomers say the orb can appear 14 percent bigger and 20 percent than a standard full moon. (more…)

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Colorado: ‘Supermoon’ to light up the sky this weekend

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Moon reaches closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit

December, 2011 full moon rising over Dillon Reservoir. PHOTO BY BOB BERWYN.

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — About once a year, the moon, in its elliptical orbit, reaches its closest point to the Earth the same time as the full moon. This year’s so-called supermoon is this weekend, and skywatchers will be treated to a moon that appears 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than the average full moon.

At its perigee, the moon is about 30,000 miles closer to Earth then when it’s at its apogee, which explains why the so-called supermoon looks especially bright and large, especially at moonrise, when viewed against a foreground. (more…)

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