My 10,000 photo mistakes get more pronounced as I write the novel, Cranberry Moon Empire. While collaborating with a developer to create the novel to an iPhone App, I have also taken on another project.
I am following each of my character’s hobbies in the Cranberry Moon Empire. Since CB in the Cranberry Moon Empire loves to do photography, I took it upon myself to do some adventures of my own, adventures she would jump at the chance. What adventure did I go on? You could say I am still on that adventure. I am taking shots of the moon and would like to share what I learned and the progress I have made.
I had been wanting to learn how to photograph the moon. So I did, and it looked like this at first.
And second…
And third…
Although my moon looked more like a smudge ball, then an oval white ball in the pitch dark, and then an illuminating blob, for an amateur photographer, I didn’t give up hope. Instead, I started reading up about the moon, studying the images of the moon.
After becoming more informed about the moon, a few things were missing on my photos. For one, the moon has craters that didn’t show up on my photos.
How disheartening to see that my pictures didn’t reflect the true image of the moon. But I still continued… with an iPhone.
Getting better…Not really.
Maybe if I capture it during the daytime, I thought I might have a different effect. I did. In the picture below, I love how the moon just appeared in the sky with a curve on its front side, but my camera still didn’t reach the moon. The colors are brilliant, but the moon is too little. She looks the tiniest in the picture even though she is bigger than the standalone leafy tree and the groves of silhouetted evergreens. Even with a different camera, I may not capture her vast size, but I would like to do some small justice.
While I was still thinking of getting a better moon camera, I just grabbed what I had with me and shot the moon, no matter where I was or where it was. If my eyes met the moon, there was going to be a picture that day, no matter how the photo turned out.
While mulling over the idea of getting a moon camera, I started splash artistic tones to the moon.
After realizing how even amateur poets praise the moon, my moon didn’t float well. It turns out that the solitary moon was getting too blue and abstract to be appreciated. No, I don’t want that. The moon is a glorious shapeshifter ball in the sky that deserves so much more than this mixed bag of abstract with a base of reality .
In the meantime, I studied my 10,000 photo mistakes with a friend of mine who had a better camera.
“So you want to go to the moon?” my friend asked.
“Let’s go. How can we make that possible?”
But this was my opportunity now. I was tied
In studying my mistakes, I learned about people’s beliefs about the moon. Some people say that “the moon is made out of cheese.”
Others say “it is just a rock floating in space,” and even others say, “the moon holds amazing astronomical powers.”
How much power does the moon really have from way up there? It controls the tides on earth. What would be the ocean be without the rise and the fall of the waves? If I could control the tides like that I think I will be a mermaid surfer in the vast and grungy Pacific Ocean.
Some moon worshippers believe that there is a different energy with the full moon. In some cultures, like in the Cranberry Moon Empire, they believe that the moon holds other powers. They say that…
As I write the story, I feel like I have reasons to get to know the moon better. It gives me reason to go out and shoot the moon at midnight, at daytime, during, all times, now with a better camera.
I am going crazy trying to wave at the moon, telling it to wait for just a second, let me go grab my camera. When I finally do, nay, it has other plans, like eloping with the wispy clouds. No, I won’t be seeing the moon today, and tomorrow doesn’t look good either according the weather lady. The weather man on a different channel agrees.
I don’t care what the weather reporters say, I am going to look for the moon, I must go see the moon.
It is little after midnight. Well, I will be looking till the skies turn clear. It is the Pacific Northwest, where you will know not know if it is a clear night until the last minute, but I will be looking out for the moon. There could be a moon break. Nope, not tonight. No, I am not a moon worshiper, just a distant moon observer who now has turned into a moon admirer.
Days later, the moon decides to show itself. Ready or not, I am out. It amazes me that some days I can see the moon over a parking lot just when I look up. On other days, if I walk over just about less than 1000 feet from my house, I can see the moon looking down at me. I am happy to see it anytime.
A few years later, my friend and I decide to take some moon shots together.
Let’s take another shot.
Not quite right. The light was too bright from the moon.
Another try.
Getting better…but it could be better.
Another take.
Not quite there…but some progress is showing.
Getting much better.
About six months later, while shooting the moon, I met a lady by the lake. We were both standing on a grassy patch staring at the sky. She pointed out to me that small tiny dot on the left lower corner of the moon is Mars. That night, they looked so close, and I couldn’t fathom how far they were.
The other dot was a plane zipping over the water.
After learning about how Mars was just chill out with the moon, I was going gung-ho for the cosmos.
A couple of months later, I was gifted with an app,
Now we are back on waning gibbous.
I must wait another 29 days and some hours for a full moon. The phase of the full moon only lasts three days, and hopefully, the skies are bright and clear, when it returns next month.
Until then, I am happy to see the crescent, the waxing, the half, and the waning moon. Staring at them during the day or night gives me a sense of what a wonderful subtle force the moon is (with the sun’s ener
What I learned by shooting the moon with three different cameras: The iPhone, the LX100, and GH3.
Some more pictures of the moon with LX 100
I will continue to take more pictures of the moon. To view more moon photos, visit my Pinterest. I will add more of the Pacific Northwest Moon on the blog and on other social media channels.
Now, getting back to the camera. The last camera that I used was the Panasonic DMC-GH3.
I had to first learn how to operate the new camera because my pictures looked more like heads of men wearing wigs from the 1700s. See right below for pictures.
Breaking Down The Essentials of Taking Moon Photography
Tripod
I plan to continue to shoot and to improve my moon photos. However, one thing I learned is that it is imperative to have a tripod when I take moon pictures. A tripod gets a better shots than handheld, because any moment, even the breath I take, has an impact on the way I hold the camera, and the result will be snapped and processed into my shot.
Or like this.
Some of the day shots, I didn’t use a tripod, but when I did, the pictures of the moon looked crisper.
Lens
There are bruises or dark spots too all over the moon. They are called “Maria, Latin for Sea.” You can see the dark spots without the long lens, but the lens will provide a little more clarity.
The moon seems to have a story of its own of how it got all those scars and bruises. With each generation, we get to find a little more about the moon, but the scars and bruises remain the same.
Zoom
The zooming feature is a great one; however, when I zoom all I usually capture is the moon. I enjoy viewing the grand moon, but at the same time, I like to capture the landscape around it––the clouds that dance around it, the house that it is looming over, or the water that it lights up with its beautiful glow from way, way up there.
IS0
All the decent shots of the moon I took were at ISO 200. I had a few shots where the ISO was at 1600, and those pictures were grainy.
Most of the shots were at f 5.6.
Shutter speed
My shutter speed ranged from 1/200thto 1/640 th. When it was at 1/8th, my moon turned out to look like half moon blueberry pie.
I strive to be better, but most importantly, I learned to go outside and look up and enjoy the moon, no matter what phase it is in or what phase I am going through.
When I am out on the street, I try to pair the moon up with the surrounding landscape.
Even after taking about over a 1000 shots of the moon, I feel a deep wonder standing on the ground looking up to the moon’s crescent, half of full round face with my obsessed eyes.
I will look up at the day and the night skies just to say hello to the moon, even when I am not camera ready.
Recently, after I started getting more confidence shooting the moon in my terrain, I visited Oregon, There, I looked up at the skies and saw the moon beaming above the Columbia River Gorge.
The moon looked way too good for me not to go grab the tripod for that sunset shot with the moon trying to party and trying to put a show with the sun, but I couldn’t grab the tripod. I was in a car with friends going to an event. From the passenger side, I just reached for the first camera and shot it with my handphone.
So, hello moon and goodnight moon. See you again.
Now,
To the Cranberry Moon Empire, I must go. I must go and finish it soon.
