I was not able to view the blood moon and eclipse on our little trip this past week as it was pouring rain in Harpers Ferry, WV ... would have been to capture there along the river ... oh well ...
But I also know on this trip that we would be at full moon phase and was hoping to get some scenes in West Virginia under moon light. This is taken at Lindy Point about 2 hours after sunset as I waited in the dark for the moon to appear (neat moonrise shots I think but need to process them).
I wanted to get this view with a long exposure ... but I also wanted to get the sky stationary as well as I liked the stars and clouds being lit still by the retreating sun. I also needed to get an exposure to gauge how long the long exposure needed to be. Did not want to waste 10 to 20 minutes on an under exposed or over exposed shot ... had waited long enough in the cold and dark alone there on the rock face.
Set the M shot for 30 seconds and ISO 6400 (wide open on the 10mm lens at f3.5). The histogram came back looking really nice on this shot, so it was easy to calculate back the number of stops of light to ISO 100 and then figure I needed a 14 to 16 minute exposure.
This here is the ISO 6400 shot for 30s. The next shot I took at ISO 100 was in the same view so that I could switch foregrounds. I will post that shot soon. Here I kept the shadows dark as at the higher ISO the shadows were full of noise (as expected). Still an interesting single shot here with the moonrise lighting on the rocks and the night sky beyond across the canyon. It was a cool evening there to spend waiting for the moonlight to arrive.
Tags: Lindy Point Blackwater Falls WV
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... I jumped ahead last night to the last morning of our trip to process a couple of the images taken atop the Dolly Sods area in West Virginia. My daughters are home this weekend and wanted them to see what it looked like there.
We spent the night at Seneca Rocks, and then were to travel to Blackwater Falls State Park for two nights. You can drive around the mountains there to get from one place to the other ... or take the VERY scenic route along many windy steep gravel roads and go OVER the mountain. We did that in the middle of the trip and was able to visit the Dolly Sods area that is a long road that travels the peak of the mountain for several miles. I fell in love with the place there in the middle of the day. Took lots of shots with the CPL filter that I think will look really nice ... and will post some middle of the day versions once processed.
While there I started to think that sunrise or sunset here would be amazing to see. But it would mean traveling some pretty steep and gravel roads in the dark. As we left the area I kept track of the back roads route and the time it took for each leg of the trip. From this spot to the Lodge at Blackwater Falls SP took 45 minutes in the daylight. To make sure I had plenty of time for pre-sunrise shots, I wanted to be there by 5:50 (hour before sunrise), and hence also needed to leave an hour for travel time in the dark ... need to go slow to keep clear of all the deer.
We left BWFSP at 4:30, and made it to the spot I wanted by 5:20 ... worked out really well. Was able to get some moonlight shots across the area, and then sunrise itself. This capture here was taken about midway between as the colors in the sky that morning were a treat to the eye.
This WILL be one spot I hope to get back to again ... and again.
Tags: Dolly Sods Canaan Valley West Virginia Sunrise
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This is what the day looked like in the late afternoon with the pending eclipse ... not too promising. But it did make for some nice moody lighting and sky along the pretty Shenandoah River near Harpers Ferry, WV.
Tags: Shenandoah River Harpers Ferry West Virginia
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While I was not to see the eclipsing moon this evening with all the clouds around while on our trip to Harpers Ferry, WV, I was able to get some fun light trails along the Route 340 bridge that makes a nice "s" curve over the Shenandoah River. This pedestrian walkway on the bridge is also part of the famed Appalachian Trail that goes from Maine to Georgia.
Tags: Shenandoah River Harpers Ferry Appalachian Trail
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These buildings and road face the Shenandoah River ... which flood the area every so often. But on this evening the bench looked very inviting.
Tags: Harpers Ferry bench
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