Day: July 2, 2015

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Waterton Lakes by Moonlight


Cassiopeia and the northern stars over Red Rock Canyon in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, with illumination from a waxing gibbous Moon. This is a composite of three 30-second exposures for the ground to smooth noise and one 30-second exposure for the sky, all with the 24mm lens at f/3.5 and Canon 6D at ISO 1600.

Mountain scenes take on a new look when photographed by moonlight.

Last week I spent four wonderful nights shooting the landscapes of Waterton Lakes National Park under the light of the waxing Moon. For two of the evenings I taught small groups of photographers eager to learn how to extend their photo skills into the night.

A nightscape photographer from one of my workshops, shooting in the moonlight at Red Rock Canyon, in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. Clouds partly obscure the gibbous Moon but add a colourful iridescent corona around the Moon, which is reflected in the Red Rock Canyon Creek. This is an HDR stack of 5 exposures with the 14mm lens and Canon 6D, to preserve detail in the bright clouds and the disk of the Moon, and in the dark shadows.

We shot at Red Rock Canyon both nights, an ideal spot for its many composition options for shooting both toward and away from the Moon.

The lead image is a view looking up the canyon, with Cassiopeia in view. Always nice to have a recognizable constellation so well positioned.

The image just above looks toward the Moon, partly hidden by colourful clouds diffracting the moonlight. A student is at left trying out a composition.

Photographers at a Nightscapes Workshop at Red Rock Canyon in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, June 2015, in the moonlight.

Here, students, silhouetted by the Moon, use the footbridge as their vantage point to photograph moonlight on the canyon waters and walls.

Alpine flowers in the moonlight at Red Rock Canyon, in Waterton Lakes National Park, with the scene lit by light from the waxing gibbous Moon. The “Matterhorn” style peak is Anderson Peak. This is a blend of two exposures: 30 seconds for the sky and 50 seconds for the ground, all with the 24mm lens at f/5 and Canon 6D at ISO 3200.

My workshops were part of the annual Waterton Wildflower Festival. So, a number of us tried to shoot flowers by moonlight, no easy task considering the wide apertures and shallow depth of field usually required, even under bright moonlight.

But the photo above is my take on summer alpine flowers in a meadow with the iconic Anderson Peak in the distance.

A panorama of the flower-filled Blakiston Valley on a moody moonlit cloudy night at Waterton Lakes National Park, June 24, 2015. The Big Dipper is at upper right, with its handle pointing to Arcturus at left of centre. Spica is at far left. A subtle halo surrounds the first quarter Moon which has just set behind Crandell Mountain at left. This is a 9-segment panorama with the Nikon D750 and 24mm lens, mounted portrait, and stitched with Photoshop using spherical geometry and corrected with Wide Angle Adaptive Lens Correction to straighten the scene. Liberal use of Highlight and Shadow recovery in ACR and Shadows and Highlights in PS brought out the flower-filled foreground while retaining detail in the bright sky. Each segment was 30 seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 1600.

Three nights were wonderfully clear. But my first night, set aside for scouting locations for the Workshops, was beset by some clouds. However, I made use of them to create a moody moonlit cloudscape panorama of the Big Dipper over Blakiston Valley.

I’ll be back in Waterton in September for the Wildlife Festival. We won’t try to shoot bears by moonlight! One did wander by at the start of our Saturday Workshop!

Instead, we’ll concentrate on photographing the Milky Way. That’s Friday, September 18.

– Alan, July 3, 2015 / © 2015 Alan Dyer / www.amazingsky.com 

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