Only a Picture Stops Time

1930s-40s in Color , a set by The Library of Congress on Flickr.  I love vintage photography. Some amazing shots can be found online on the Library of Congress site and commercials sites such as Shorpy and Flickr .

I've been waiting a long time to use that title for a blog posting. Every 14 years we are lucky enough to witness a perigee- syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system or in human parlance a Super Moon. I fitted my Four Thirds Olympus 70-300mm f/4.0-f/5.6 ED lens on a Olympus E-PL5 using a Panasonic adapter. All together it weighs in at a hefty 2 pounds 7 ounces. The lens dwarfs the camera. I tried a few different exposures and even a few HDR shots which ended up being a waste of effort. 1/15 Second f/5.6 263mm 3:50 AM (why am I awake?) I think this is my favorite shot of the series, it was getting light so the sky had a tinge of blue. I can see some crater ridges. However it also has some artifacts around the left side. Not sure whether that is the lens, sensor or software. 1/250 Second f/5.6 300mm 2:53 AM (Yikes) This is a 3 shot HDR image which I tried as an experiment. It was totally unnecessary since the only thing HDR does is bring out sensor noise (even with an ...

The big sky event for this #SkySunday will be the "SuperMoon", the perigee- syzygy of the Earth-Moon system which will happen this evening.With a chance of thundershowers I'm posting a photo taken in 2011. Super Moon - March 19, 2011 1/250 Sec f/5.6 The big surprise with photographing the moon is that you need to IGNORE your automatic exposure. The moon is a bright object on a dark field. The auto exposure will blow out the details. Shoot in manual mode. Also use manual focus. I wish more digital lens would have actual infinity markings on them. The predominant subject for the Sky Sunday photo themes are clouds in their many forms. They are great subjects for photos and a bit challenging. It's difficult to catch the grandeur of a billowing thunderhead in a photo. The actual event can take your breath away. My daughter was running in the Falmouth Road Race on a nearly cloudless day. This cloud stayed put over the bay. It's tough to photograph...