Last night we embarked on a field trip to photograph the landscape by the light of a nearly full moon rather than the sun. Trying to explain in detail my intentions to the rest of the members of the club seemed to fall on deaf ears. Everyone thought we were shooting the milky way, or the full moon, or a meteor shower or something celestial. I had to explain over again, no, we were attempting to shoot the landscape by the light of the moon. Of course, I said, you can photograph whatever you like, but the milky way wouldn’t ‘rise’ until after midnight, and the moon was much too full to see it even if we waited for it. The same went for any meteors that might fly by us.
So we started out at our usual meeting spot, the Ernest Coe Visitor’s center parking lot in the Everglades southern entrance (aka Homestead entrance) to meet up with the rest of the gang. We’d start with a sunset shoot. I was hoping to visit an area I hadn’t been to in quite a while, when another member said that they had a prescribed burn not long ago in that area and it’s pretty charred and crispy. Well, there went my idea! I was hoping to shoot the sunset AND our moonlit landscapes in the same area. So I explained my Plan B.
We would look for a clearing on the road to PaHayOkee and shoot the sunset, then move to the PaHayOkee boardwalk to photograph the moonlit landscapes, and that everyone just follow me. Well, do you think I could find an open area facing west on the road TO PaHayOkee? Of course not. Plenty of spaces facing east though. Too bad it wasn’t a sunrise shoot. haha So on to Plan C (or maybe Plan B 1/2)? We would head further south on the Main Road and find a clearing where we could see the sun setting over the horizon. And just a few miles down the road, we found it.
A couple of interesting cypress trees with lightly lit clouds in the background. The sun was setting at nearly due west, to the left of this image. The sun nicely lit the grasses and the bushes.
We had some beautiful streaming light coming from slightly north of due west, some big billowy clouds to the north and northwest, and a few interesting cypress and slash pine trees to photograph if one wasn’t interested in the big orange ball dropping (ah, that would be me).
Not wanting to shoot the sun, I crossed the road and this tree spoke to me. I took a shot, looked at it, and realized these two outstretched branches were ‘touching’ other features in the scene. I maneuvered a bit and found a way to keep them suspended in the scene.
A grove of slash pines directly opposite to the sun. The bright orange sun lit the trunks of the trees nicely. Too bad there wasn’t the cloud cover from the north over these trees. That would have been quite the shot! But, I settled for this. Still a beautiful image.
After the light disappeared from the trees, I went back across the street to see if anything else looked interesting. I got a shot of a group of trees with an interesting cloud formation, and then I photographed what was left of the sunset. Its funny what you see here, many many spider webs and tons of dragonflies!
An image that didn’t quite cut it. But you can see how the clouds looked just before sunset.
If you can see close up, those orange dots are hundreds of dragonflies!
The wind was blowing a bit more than I’d like and moving these little plants that they were setting on. Made it difficult to shoot in the low light. I got lucky and was able to capture it in a lull. I DO love the Halloween Pennant Dragonflies.
Our sunset photography went off beautifully. I shot a few trees, we had some nice conversations, and was pleasant. During our time, I explained what my main goal was for the night shoot. Long exposures, boardwalks, trees, landscapes. That’s what we’d be up against. So everyone was aware.
After the sun dipped below the horizon, we packed it up and went back to PaHayOkee to wait out the rest of the golden hour and prepare for the moonlit scape. It was a beautiful evening. The wind died down after the sun set so we wouldn’t have to deal with moving branches etc. I started up above the prairie on the overlook platform. In hindsight, that was a bad position to be in. I could see the moon was illuminating the structure nicely, but I couldn’t see anything on the prairie, no matter how long my shutter speed was. I came to the conclusion that I needed to be down below on the lower boardwalk to get my photos.
My unsuccessful attempt at photographing the prairie from the overlook platform. That light to the right is not the sun, it’s Miami.
So down the steps I went. It was here that I realized a headlamp or flashlight would have been quite handy but of course, I didn’t have one. As much as I harp on everyone being prepared, I was the one who was ill prepared. No flashlights, mosquito spray was out, and I was on my last canister of ThermaCell juice (that ran out before the night was over… ugh)!
After getting some light on the subject, I was able to get my lens in focus. The previous images were just awful!
Down on the lower boardwalk, I could finally see what the moon was lighting. Again, in hindsight, I realized the closer I was to the lit subject, the better the photo would turn out. I was getting just ok exposure on the trees I was shooting, but my focus was awful. I NEEDED MORE light! I kept plugging away at my subject though. Trying to find a way to get my camera to focus with the light from my phone (pathetic). When three of our members decided to go home, I called to the last remaining member and he joined me on the lower boardwalk. Luckily, he had 2 sources of light and let me borrow his little clicker flashlight. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked enough where I could get a decent focus on the trees. Ahhh, success, sort of. By this time, I was getting eaten alive and cursed my ThermaCell. The curse was on me though, the TC was out of fuel. Again, Ray to the rescue! He brought a spare bottle. Phew… Saved again.
A few less than stellar images. But a great learning experience.
A few less than stellar images. But a great learning experience.
A few less than stellar images. But a great learning experience.
A few less than stellar images. But a great learning experience.
So I showed him a few things on his camera that he was having trouble with, and I think we both walked away with decent shots. None of my night shots were portfolio worthy, but it was an evening of lessons learned. About 9:30ish we called it a night and left.
I finished the night with a shot of my favorite tree on the boardwalk. It’s not awesome, but its better than the ones I took earlier in the evening!
So, what did I learn (besides to NOT forget essential equipment)? Like any night photography, a fast lens would have been better than what I was using. It was an f4 lens. Great for normal landscapes, but at night we need all the light that a lens can let in. I have a 20mm f1.8 and a 105mm macro that’s f2.8 that would have worked nicely in this situation. Also, I think the 100-400 lens was too much. Like I said, being closer to the subject made a big difference. But I could only get so close with a minimum distance of 100mm. Again, the 20mm paired with my macro would have been a good work-around. Or if I didn’t want to switch, I could grab my F mount 24-70 f2.8 and use it with the adapter. That would have worked too.
Another issue was the fullness of the moon. We were 3-4 days out from a full moon and only at 92%. I had been out previously doing this type of photography. That was a day after the full moon and we had the benefit of shooting with a nearly 98% full moon. Not sure how much more those percentage points would have mattered. I was also shooting with a f2.8 lens back then. So I guess next time I try, I’ll know whether it was the fullness of the moon, or the speed of my lens, or both? Either or, it was good to experiment with a different type of photography and to learn new techniques.