Ron Reefman
Lets Go Snorkeling!
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Tampa Bay Reef Keepers
MAC of SW Florida
I've been an avid amateur photographer for most of my life. The rise of digital photography pushed me even more into the hobby. Four years ago I got a cool photo of the sun going down behind the Sanibel Lighthouse in SW Florida.
I started doing more and more sunsets and sun rises. After I had captured most of the sun photos I wanted, I decided I wanted to get a full moon behind the Sanibel Lighthouse. It has to be the full moon as that is the only day the sky is lit up from an almost rising sun so you can see foreground objects rather than having them all black any day before the full moon. And the day after the full moon, the sun has been up for an hour an the moon gets very dim as it gets to the horizon.
Then there is the issue of lining up the lighthouse and the moon. The moon travels north and south along the western horizon a little over 60 degrees each monthly cycle. I have 2 long beaches Ft Myers Beach and Bunche Beach) that are 3 to 4 miles across the water away from the lighthouse. That allows me to get it lined up about 8 full moons over a year.
The weather is also a big issue here in SW Florida. Since the moon is going down over the Gulf of Mexico I have to deal with clouds, haze and fog out over the water. There have been many mornings that I've been out and there is a big, bright, beautiful moon in the western sky. But when it gets down close to the horizon, it disappears behind the clouds or haze.
On the day or two before or after the full moon I got some cool photos of the moon.
Moon rise over Ft Myers Beach.
Moon rise over an open field.
Moon rise over the top of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge.
I even had a couple of close calls with the Lighthouse. As this moon got lower in the sky it faded from view into a haze. (arrrgh!) You can just barely see some haze below the moon.
Two days before theis most recent full moon I got a good sky and a clear moon, but it was 2 hours before sunrise. So, the sky was black and you can't see any detail of the island or even tell the island from the water. I was pretty happy with the photo as it was the best I had captured in over 2 years of trying! It's a cool shot, but not quite what I was looking for.
This May 1st was the full moon I've been waiting for over the past 2+ years. The moon was setting just before the sun cleared the eastern horizon. The air was very clear. There were no clouds over the Gulf. Perfect for my shot.
This is the one I wanted.
But only a handful of seconds later I got this one that I like even better.
These are all taken with a Nikon P1000 'bridge camera'. It's called a bridge because it kind of fits in between a smaller point & shoot camera and a 35mm SLR with a big zoom. Like a point & shoot, the lens does not come off the camera. But the lens is a crazy 24mm wide angle to a 3000mm extreme telephoto. Most of these photos were taken with the lens at around 600mm to 800mm. If anybody has any questions or comments, I love to hear them.
I started doing more and more sunsets and sun rises. After I had captured most of the sun photos I wanted, I decided I wanted to get a full moon behind the Sanibel Lighthouse. It has to be the full moon as that is the only day the sky is lit up from an almost rising sun so you can see foreground objects rather than having them all black any day before the full moon. And the day after the full moon, the sun has been up for an hour an the moon gets very dim as it gets to the horizon.
Then there is the issue of lining up the lighthouse and the moon. The moon travels north and south along the western horizon a little over 60 degrees each monthly cycle. I have 2 long beaches Ft Myers Beach and Bunche Beach) that are 3 to 4 miles across the water away from the lighthouse. That allows me to get it lined up about 8 full moons over a year.
The weather is also a big issue here in SW Florida. Since the moon is going down over the Gulf of Mexico I have to deal with clouds, haze and fog out over the water. There have been many mornings that I've been out and there is a big, bright, beautiful moon in the western sky. But when it gets down close to the horizon, it disappears behind the clouds or haze.
On the day or two before or after the full moon I got some cool photos of the moon.
Moon rise over Ft Myers Beach.
Moon rise over an open field.
Moon rise over the top of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge.
I even had a couple of close calls with the Lighthouse. As this moon got lower in the sky it faded from view into a haze. (arrrgh!) You can just barely see some haze below the moon.
Two days before theis most recent full moon I got a good sky and a clear moon, but it was 2 hours before sunrise. So, the sky was black and you can't see any detail of the island or even tell the island from the water. I was pretty happy with the photo as it was the best I had captured in over 2 years of trying! It's a cool shot, but not quite what I was looking for.
This May 1st was the full moon I've been waiting for over the past 2+ years. The moon was setting just before the sun cleared the eastern horizon. The air was very clear. There were no clouds over the Gulf. Perfect for my shot.
This is the one I wanted.
But only a handful of seconds later I got this one that I like even better.
These are all taken with a Nikon P1000 'bridge camera'. It's called a bridge because it kind of fits in between a smaller point & shoot camera and a 35mm SLR with a big zoom. Like a point & shoot, the lens does not come off the camera. But the lens is a crazy 24mm wide angle to a 3000mm extreme telephoto. Most of these photos were taken with the lens at around 600mm to 800mm. If anybody has any questions or comments, I love to hear them.
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