Sunset-Moonrise

OK, after a long, hot summer, it's finally starting to cool off here in FL. Well, not so much cool off, since the thermometer in the car said 105 when I got in it this afternoon, but at least the humidity isn't so bad. The upshot of all that means I can get excited about going outside and taking pictures again! So I went down to North Lido Beach tonight and got a whole series of great shots. And since I'm so happy about that, I'm going to share a whole pile of them with you tonight. This first shot above is right as I arrived. The sea oats are just a little past their prime, so they've lost some of their seeds, but they still look pretty good in silhouette. And the lifeguard tower is pretty much always the same.

It only took a few more minutes for the sun to set, and I missed most of it while I was fiddling with my camera. I even saw a bit of a flash out of the corner of my eye that looked like something other than orange, but I missed it. There was plenty of orange left in the sky, though, as this second silhouette shows.

And, after watching this great sunset, I turn around, and get to see moonrise! Yep, it's October, which I think makes this a harvest moon. (Maybe? Maybe not...) Anyhow, there it was, big as life and twice as beautiful. It was even still light enough in the sky that you can see the trees just below. Usually, when I shoot the moon, it's by far the brightest object in the field of view, and everything else is just reduced to black.

I kept bouncing back and forth, shooting the moon on one side, and the sunset on the other. I almost missed this shot as a lady walked her dog into a massive flock of seagulls. They erupted into the air like those films you see of bats leaving their cave for the night.

Have you ever seen pictures where something is silhouetted against the moon? Have you ever wondered how they do it? Well, most of the time I think it's faked, but sometimes you can make it work. I happened to catch the top of this tree against the moon, and they are both relatively in focus. I was maybe a quarter mile from the tree, and the moon of course is roughly 238,000 miles away, so it can be difficult to get both things in focus, and in line. But with some jockeying for position, I managed to get it. I'm sure this wasn't how Steven Spielberg did it in ET, but it's a start. Oh, I neglected to mention that the tip of that tree is something like 60 feet up in the air. It just gets harder and harder to do.

Is that it? Yeah, pretty much. By the time I got back to the car it was pretty dark, but I was happy because I knew I had some good shots in the can. Well, on the chip anyhow. And then on the way home I found gas for $2.17 a gallon! It took less than $40 to fill the tank. What a bargain!