Topic Author's Original Post - Mar 5, 2012 - 10:53pm PT
Yosemite Moon Rise
March 5, 2012
I keep track of the moon rise since in the grand scheme of things I'm down to my last 391 or so... every month I crunch the numbers and see if the moon rise in Yosemite will be on a day I can be there. As the day approaches, I get more serious with the numbers, and also looking at the weather.
Here is my calculation for the view in Ahwanhee Meadow
the red line is the horizon from the meadows, and the blue line is the trajectory of the Moon.
This month's moon rise was going to be on a Monday, and the weather looked dicey with the storm coming in, but it seemed to hold as I prepared to go up for climbing on Sunday... I made the call to stay and hope for a clear enough sky to shoot it coming up over Half Dome.
After climbing with Linda, driving out to the Sand Lot I stopped off in El Cap Meadow, the moon was up, it was around 7:30pm and I took some "Moon shots" of the normal sights...
no one on the walls that night.
The next morning I got up to shoot cliffs for "the project." I eventually went to the Deli for breakfast around 10:30am and wandered over to talk to Werner and Merry for a bit.
After that I went off in search of a good angle to shoot Chapel Cliffs near Church Bowl, but didn't really find anything. During my search I noticed a team on Bishop's Terrace, a rather odd place to put a belay (though I'm used to using an 80m rope for this, in one pitch), here is the leader in the crux, sending fine.
(if they read this and they want some images they should email me via STForum mail).
Well back to the purpose of the day, the moon rise.
No matter how many times I do the calculation, I'm never sure that I have done it right, and having positioned myself in a place slightly south of my calculation, I wondered if I positioned the Moon behind Half Dome and wouldn't know about it until it popped up over the summit, too late to correct.
So I notice what I first thought was a cloud in the notch, and realized quickly that it was the Moon, rising exactly where it should according to calculation.
and it's trajectory just along the skyline
and up to "Ansel's Moon" position
I was the only one there, another photog/tourist showed up because they liked the light of sunset on Half Dome and as they wandered into the meadow realized they got the moon too!
My black and white film will go off to the lab tomorrow and I'll have some images to scan when I get back from travel.
My pledge is not to miss any of those 390 odd moonrises remaining...
I know a bunch of the photography people have figured out when they should show up for the firefall and such by trial and error, but I wonder how many actually do astronomical trig to figure out when to shoot?
Thanks for the share, Ed. I love seeing that you are up to doing nice things. M
hey there say, ed.... wow! i could NOT sleep tonight, just thought i'd
check the ol' taco, really fast, before trying again (got to babysit in the morning) and:
oh my and wow, again...
i love this post... thanks so very VERY much for sharing all this!!
*my mom and i always loved going out to the see the moon rise--she is in calif, though, and me, out here in mich, so:
we don't get to share this fun...
and NEVER got to share it in yosemite, :O
lovely and wonderful share, say... i will have to go find that
ed-appreciation thread, next!!
*well, tomorrow, as, sleep or not, i need to get up early...
thank you so much!!!! keep on sharing these trips, when you
get a chance!
night to all, now...
god bless...
glad i couldn't sleep... more fun to get in on the TOP of this
fresh post, :)
So cool, Ed, thanks for the share! The moon was quite lovely last night. I hiked a friend back to the Foresta Road via the Old Coulterville Road (aka the new Yosemite employee commute hiking route!), and noticed the lovely moon.
And for the record, today's moonrise is "raining".
you see that the moon is at the summit of Half Dome around 6:30pm about a half hour after sunset.. so not great for images, but a great sight none the less
the best spot to watch today would be Glacier Point (bearing 98º) better would be Union Point, and be there a bit earlier because of the altitude difference...
if you don't go because of rain, watch it on the Sentinel Dome webcam, moon rise is just after 4:30pm you can sample the cam images during that time if the weather isn't completely dreadful.
Fascinating... I tried to take some moonrise photos from near Union Point (somewhere between Union and Glacier Point), but I didn't really know how to use the camera, didn't have a tripod, and didn't have a good view from a steady rock. So I didn't get any good images...
But I'm looking at them and thinking - gee - this might have been a target for Ed's photography based on the position relative to Half Dome!
I'm also guessing that Ed can pinpoint the date - one (2) clue is obviously the position of the moon, and my location. There is another big clue in the picture that I won't mention. And finally - these photos were taken in, oh, the last 6 months.
One show Half Dome, and the moon is behind the cloud. The other shows both, with the moon behind the tree (yes, that IS Half Dome on the right)
Here's what the TPE shows for yesterday march 5th.
Credit: mikeyschaefer
The photo below took me hours to map out and plan. I even went the couple nights before with a GPS and compass to make sure my research on TPE was correct
wonderful image Mikey!
I've used that tool too, but have my own Excel spread sheet that provides the information in a way that I can use most efficiently...
...I've been slowly working up to a Google Earth application that would be "dirt simple" to use and provide the scene on a particular day at a particular location as specified by the user...
however, it does take some time to do, so no one should hold their breath!
But all this work is a part of "creating an image" and not just "taking a picture."
really cool Ed. next is a google earth app - that's impressive. post up a few more of the orchestrated moon shots. have you done them mainly from the meadow ?
great shot Mikey. if i saw that without knowing i'd swear that was shopped in ( which is kind of sad )
you can check out this thread, which was my first effort... the weather did not cooperate, but the image was interesting. This was from Ahwanhee meadow
Mikey... you photoshopped that shot of Dean!!
Ha, that is what Dean said to me when he saw my signature shot of
"Climber in the moon". It does take considerable work to get a good Moon shot and yours is a great one... thanks for doing all the work, natural shots are so much better than the manipulated ones!!
Ed's photos and his process are eye and mind opening. The one of the moon in the notch is particularly fine.
Anders posted my mash-up of moon and Atwell, but too small to see the wolf silhouetted. Oh, well, all my pictures are really only ideas of pictures that could be taken, with more talent and patience.
Anders got us started, but I now have the last 4 near-full moons. Quite a fluke for Vancouver. One is actually from Wyomissing, Pa, even more of a fluke.
For the most recent opportunity, the site I used to check the timing and phase of the moon had a link to tips for moonrise photography. A common way to enhance the shot was to have the moon over a mountain or city. Why not both?
Let us know!