Monday, Jan. 9, the day of this writing, is the day of the Wolf Moon-January’s full moon.  There is something magical about winter full moon photos, so I encourage everyone to take their best shot tonight.

Of course, any night shot is better when there is more than just a moon in the dark sky, so if you can include some ground elements, such as reflections in the water, or tree branches, all the better. But at the very least you would want to work on good exposure, and the Sunny16 rule will get you started on the right foot.

According to Wikipedia, the basic rule is, “On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed [or ISO setting] for a subject in direct sunlight.”^[1] For example:

• On a sunny day and with ISO 100 film / setting in the camera, one sets the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second (on some cameras 1/125 second is the available setting nearest to 1/100 second).
• On a sunny day with ISO 200 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250.
• On a sunny day with ISO 400 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.

I can hear you scratching your head, asking yourself  “How does this apply to full moon photography? The sky is dark, not sunny!”  Well yes, that is true. But the moon is visible because of the sun’s reflection on it, so a proper exposure of the moon, when lit by the sun, would require the application of the Sunny16 Rule. Try it-you’ll see. Then post your results on the Cameras, Computers, Cyberspace Flickr page.

Here are two of my recent moon shots-not full moons, I know, but I wanted to illustrate how having some texture-the tree branches-in the foreground, along with a light sky near the ground helps show off the moon better. And by the way, these are taken without a tripod–the shutter speed was fast enough at 125. I’ll post my Wolf Moon shots after I get them tonight!

Depending on the season and the location, rainbows can be a rather regular sight. I once heard that Hawaiians boasted that their tropical state had at least one per day. Here on eastern Long Island they are not quite that common, but this summer and fall, there have been more sightings, and photos, than usual it seems. Capturing them in a compelling photograph is not an easy task, however. The successful photographer must be ready at a moment’s notice.

Finding the rainbow is half the task. Your camera settings need to take in to account the variable light, and the relatively flat colors of the rainbow. I have the best success when I under expose by almost a full stop, and shoot raw, if your camera has that capability. If not, you’ll be ok. You also need a narrow aperture to have a deep depth of field. Use Aperture priority, set it to f/16 and find a steady spot to stand. Oh, and be ready to do some post-processing. Almost never great straight out of the camera, and if you want to get the whole rainbow, you will likely need to make a panorama.

So here are my two efforts. First image is one of the shot of the right side of the rainbow. I used Lightroom to boost saturation, crop out the junk and also boosted the black point a tad to make it pop.

The second image is a panorama of two shots-merged in Photoshop CS5. After the merge, I did the exposure and color adjustments. I used a levels adjustment layer to get the rainbow just right and then put a black to transparent gradient on it so the effect applies to the rainbow but not the rest of the image. When shooting for a panorama, it is critical that you don’t change your position or the angle of the camera. Just plant your feet and then pivot at the hip to capture the scene in as many images as needed. The fewer the better for rainbows, I find.

Double Rainbow over Goose Creek

So have a look and let us know what you think! If you have any favorite rainbow images of your own, post the link and let us check them out!

The Learning Center members will be exhibiting their favorite and best work in month long show at the Mattituck Library coming in March 2012. New members in good standing as of December 2011  will be eligible to submit their own work to the exhibit. Join now to participate!

Had another outing today with new Nikon D7000 and the 18-200 VR lens. You may recall my post of Sept. 4, 2011 where I sang the virtues of this great lens-how sharp it is even extended all the way to the long end of its telephoto range. That post included a photo that was taken in cloudy (read low contrast) lighting, so I was already a step ahead of the game with no need to worry about blown highlights. Today’s shoot, however, was a white heron, in bright sunny conditions-and blown highlights were a very real possibility with complete loss of detail in the zoom. I’m pleased to note that I was pleasantly surprised!  The first image a full crop zoomed to the heron, with no blown highlights and plenty of detail in the face, beak, and eyes. And, this crop was taken from an image with the zoom racked all the way to 200mm. See the second image for the original untouched photo to compare.   So, I’ll say it again–it’s the glass that makes the difference

I led a small group of the Learning Center’s members on a wildlife photography hike through Morton Wildlife Refuge in Noyac. This location is a great place to hone tracking and photography skills needed to capture images of fast moving little critters like chipmunks and flitting birds like chickadees. Of course there are many other species there, but the chickadees and tufted titmice along with the adorable chipmunks are brave enough to come right up to anyone with a snack of their favorite food-sunflower seeds. So, even photographers without a long zoom lens can get great images.

The weather was gloomy for our visit, but the rain stayed away while we enjoyed the hike through the woods and marsh. So much to see there-fallen logs with mushrooms of all sorts, bittersweet berries in various stages of ripeness, and a few leaves already dressed in autumn colors.

See below for a gallery of my favorites, and visit the Flickr page for more.

A commonly known guide for photography, or art in general for that matter, is that light areas draw the eye away shadowed, dark areas. So, if you are photographing highly reflective subjects, such as a mirror, metal, through a window, or other surface that could show your reflection, plan to wear subdued dark clothing. Your chances of showing up in the reflection will be greatly minimized.

Who found some time this evening as the Harvest Moon rose over the Peconic Bay? This photographer did, but was disapponted that the sky still had too much haze to capture the moon just rising over the horizon. No worries. Photography is about improvising, so I worked with what I had. The thing to remember about moon photos, is that the light on the moon is reflected sunlight so if you want to keep to the detail in the moon, you need to expose as though it is high noon. You will lose detail in the foreground, but HDR features in the cameras and some clever retouching in Lightroom (faster) or Photoshop (more precise) salvages the scene so you can see  the setting.

Hope you like these. Taken at the Causeway – Little Creek in Cutchogue the road to Nassau Point. Enjoy!

The first big leap most photographers with a new D-SLR make is moving their camera settings from full automatic to semi-automatic by turning the dial from Auto to P. This is a giant first step, and if you have done that, I heartily congratulate you! That means that you are now controlling your ISO settings and taking over the decision of when to use the flash. Usually in full automatic, the camera decides the ISO and when to use the flash.  Perhaps you have become heady with the new sense of power you now have over your image capture.<grin>

Well, there are still a couple more options in manual assist that you can access, while still keeping the settings in semi-automatic state–Aperture priority mode and Shutter priority mode. These two modes allow you to set your aperture (f/stop) or shutter speed respectively, so you can get reliable, repeatable results. Using these are a great way to understand the relationship between the two settings, and also see how the different settings affect the final image.

You may already know that if you want to control your depth of field, you need to control your aperture (f/stop). A small number (f/2.8) means a large opening, and therefore a shallow depth of field (amount of image in focus-good for portraits). A large number (f/16) means a small opening and therefore a wide depth of field (good for landscapes).  So, if you want to make sure that your image always has a shallow depth of field, you would set your camera to Aperture priority (AV or A on the dial), set the the f/stop where you want it -perhaps f/4- and then start shooting. The camera will set the shutter speed where needed to allow proper exposure while keeping the f/stop where YOU set it.

By the same token if you want to control your shutter speed to avoid motions blur or camera shake (or create it for that matter), you would set your camera to Shutter Priority (TV or S on the dial), set the speed you want and then let the camera decide what aperture (f/stop) to use.  A great use of shutter priority would be at a soccer game where you want to make sure the players are sharp when you capture the image, but the light changes as you point the camera a different parts of the field.

But be aware of these caveats: The camera can only work within its own thresholds. If you set the shutter speed too fast (high number), you may not be able to open the aperture enough to let in the right amount of light. And if you open the aperture too wide (lots of background blur), your shutter speeds may not go fast enough to compensate for all that extra light on a bright sunny day.  The best way to know how your priority modes will behave is to test them. Doing this in a setting where you can control the light is best. I have a mini studio set up in the basement so I can remove all light if necessary.  I then set up a still life on the tabletop, set my camera to the first f/stop available and then start shooting. I check each image in the back of the camera (called Chimping for CHeck IMage Preview), and adjust as needed. I will also download the images to the computer and check them closely after the practice session is done. I will also do the same tests outside on a bright sunny day, and on a cloudy day.

So shutterbugs, are you ready to stroll down the path to manual settings? Aperture and Shutter Priority modes are the first stop on your journey. Tell us about your experiences or post in the Cameras Computers Cyberspace Flickr group, and we’ll critique it for you.

Happy shooting!