[Leica] Yosemite Moonbow

[jplaurel at gmail.com (Jim Laurel)]

Oh wow, Aram. These are really beautiful. I?m interested in nighttime 
landscapes, so it?s great to see these and read the technical details.

?Jim Laurel


On May 23, 2014, at 8:12 AM, Aram Langhans <leica_r8 at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I had photographed the upper falls moonbow a few years ago, so decided to 
> try something new and start at the lower falls.  Hiked out to the bridge 
> at night to find a small group of photographers.  I was 1 day early, and 
> did so on purpose because I had heard it gets crowded out there on full 
> moon day, even though for all practical purposes you could never tell the 
> difference.  Besides, you don't have to stay up as late a day or two 
> before.
> 
> This was actually the last shot I took as I had to climb out on some rocks 
> (in the dark) and had not wanted to interfere with the few serious 
> photographers that had been there.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0526.jpg.html
> 
> A little closer view:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0524.jpg.html
> 
> However, I find that perhaps one could think these were taken during the 
> day and just faked to look a bit darker. So, I think it is important to 
> include some sky so you can see it really is night.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0534.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/moonbow+lower+falls-0525.jpg.html
> 
> What do you like?  More or less sky?  Or maybe you like no sky?
> 
> Interesting side note.  Quite a few non-photographers had wandered out to 
> the bridge after hearing of the moonbow, just to have a look.  They, of 
> course, could not really see anything but a smear of white light.  They 
> were inquisitive, and always being the science teacher, I showed them my 
> photos and told them that the light was too dim for most people to see any 
> color there at all.  Looks rather plane with the naked eye, but the camera 
> does not have that limitation.  Many whipped out there cellphones, but 
> were not successful in photographing the event.  Then there were the flash 
> crew, but I won't comment further on them.
> 
> On the night of the full moon we went to Cook's Meadow for the upper 
> falls.  It was not a good year.  Not that much water, so not that much 
> spray, and also, the angle of the moon this month must have been pretty 
> high, as the bow just barely showed up at the very base of the upper 
> falls.  
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Upper+Falls+Moonbow-0680.jpg.html
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Upper+Falls+Moonbow-0682.jpg.html
> 
> I gave up and found a tree to add a bit of compositional variation to what 
> I was seeing.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Aram/s4/y/n/Upper+Falls+Moonbow-0684-Edit.jpg.html
> 
> 
> All taken with D600 at 30 seconds, f/4.
> 
> Note - darn hard to line things up through the viewfinder.  I could see 
> well enough to get close then modify what I wanted.  With live view all 
> you saw was a black screen.  I also tried my wife's new Olympus D  M10 and 
> could see absolutely nothing through the EVF.  I was impressed with the 
> outcome at ISO 1200 for a 4/3 sensor.  And of course, focusing to infinity 
> has the same problem and solution as with the D600.
> 
> On one of these nights we tried prefocusing in daylight, switching the 
> lens to manual focus and taping the focus ring so it would not move.  I 
> know my 24-120 has a sever focus shift when zooming and I loose infinity, 
> but I thought my 16-36 and my 70-200 were true zooms, but found out 
> otherwise.  Good old trusty Leica 35-70/4, as stated in previous post.
> 
> Comments welcome
> 
> Aram
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Aram Langhans
> (Semi) Retired (retarded?) Science Teacher
> & Unemployed photographer
> 
> "The Human Genome Project has proved Darwin more right than Darwin himself 
> would ever have dared dream."   James D. Watson 
> 
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