Once in a Blue Moon....there is a Supermoon and Eclipse

The modern definition of a blue moon (though not the first definition) is 2 full moons in one month.   One happened January 31st, 2018, another will happen in March 2018 and then it will be 2020 and 2023 for the next ones.

A supermoon is when the Moon is the closest to the Earth based on its orbit.  A full supermoon happens 3-4 times a year.  A supermoon happened to fall on January 31st, 2018.

And to top it off there was a lunar eclipse on January 31st, 2018 too.   The moon set on the East coast before the eclipse really got going, but it was an impressive night for the moon.

I found a Forbes article that showed the odds of a supermoon, bluemoon, and eclipse all on the same night.

With all that, we can combine this information to arrive at how frequently we expect all of these to occur together:

• Blue Moons make up about 3% of all full Moons,

• Supermoons are approximately 25% of all full Moons, and

• Total lunar eclipses occur during 5.6% of full Moons,

meaning that a Blue, Super, totally eclipsed Moon occurs with 0.042% of full Moons: once every 2,380 full Moons or so. On average, that corresponds to once every 265 years!

The full article can be found here:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/01/24/how-rare-is-the-all-in-one-supermoon-blue-moon-and-lunar-eclipse-really/#10bc7c843cf2

So since it is a fairly rare event I did not want to miss the photo op.  In reality a full moon is my least favorite to photograph because you don't get the sun contrast an a part of the moon that will show the craters really well.   However I used the opportunity to play around with photo stacks and HDR processing.  

HDR Moon

HDR stands for high dynamic range.   Creating an HDR photo starts with taking multiple exposures of a target in which you have at least a normal photo, an overexposed photo, and an underexposed photo.  Then you combine those photos together to an HDR photo where shadows are much more impressive.  HDR has become very popular and many phone now will do all these steps for you and give you an HDR photo automatically.  Of course I still think taking each photo and stacking them creates the best HDR images.

Here is a stack of 3 moon photos that were normal, under and over exposed.

Stacks

Since I had a large number of photos you can also stack them all and get more detail.  There is a lot of software out there that can help you with this, but I used Affinity as a one stop shop to combine the images. 

Using 1 RAW photo

DSLR cameras take RAW photos and it is pretty amazing the amount of detail you can pull out of one photo.  RAW is just a format in which the picture was minimally processes by the camera.  You have the most basic "raw" image.  This give you a lot of flexibility in doing your own processing.  With just 1 raw photo i could pull a lot of detail out of a moon shot.  

If you take photos and want to play around with stacks and HDR I would highly recommend software called Affinity.  I love photoshop, but it has become fairly expensive in my mind.  I am not a huge fan of the subscription service.   Affinity is a photoshop like software that you can buy for fairly cheap and you own it.   I am slowly switching all my normal photo processing to this software.  

The link to the website is:  https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/

You can also buy a nice book that helps you become even proficient in the software.

Taking pictures of the sun and prepping for a solar eclipse

Everywhere you look in the headlines you see something about the solar eclipse coming to the US on August 21st.   If you are like me you want to try and capture an image of this spectacular event.  Let's all hope for clear skies!  If you have a DSLR camera here is an easy way to make your own solar filter so you can take a picture of the sun.   Let me preface this by saying you have to be extremely careful.  Never look directly at the sun and even when using filters and special glasses make sure they meet the correct specifications (ISO 12312-2).

Alright let's make a filter.   This variation of a solar filter cost me 20 bucks.    The first thing I ordered was the solar filter itself in just a 4 x 4 inch sheet.   You can find this on Amazon for about 10 dollars.  It will come protected and sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard.   Here is the one I ordered.  

Next I ordered two Amazon basics UV screw on filters.   I honestly don't see much use for a UV filter in photography as far as image quality goes.  However lots of people including myself use them to protect their lens.  They are 5 dollars each on Amazon.   You need to make sure you order the correct size uUVfilter.   The easiest easy to look at the back of your lens cap and you should see the size.   In my case I ordered a 58mm UV filter.  Here they are:

Now you have everything you need.   We just need to put everything together.  Take one of the UV filters and place it on the solar filter while it it is still protected by cardboard.   I drew a circle to mark the approximate size I need to cover my lens.  

Carefully cut the solar filter in a circle.   I had to then do a little trimming, but the objective is to get it to fit in one of your UV filters.   Once you have the solar filter cut and remove the cardboard protecting it you will see it has two sides.   It has a silver side and a black side.  The silver side is the side that should face the sun.   The black side will be facing your lens.   Be careful not to touch the filter.   Tweezers can help here, but be careful not to damage the solar filter.   

Once you get the right size it will fit in the UV filter.  Take the second UV filter and screw it onto the UV filter containing the solar filter.   

Now you have a solar filter ready to attach to your camera lens.  Just screw it on.   

Even with an eclipse you can take a picture of the sun.  Just be careful not to look with your own eyes at the sun.  I use live view and tilt the LCD screen so I only view the sun through the solar filter on the screen.  

Many people are just wrapping the solar filter around the lens and holding it with a rubber band.   You can also make a similar filter with cardboard.   These will all work but the method we just went through provides a sturdy filter that will last you for years to come.   The sun is a beautiful subject to photograph even when it is not in the news.  

Photography: HDR photos

In an earlier blog post I talked about "bracketing the moon" where if you put your camera in Bracket mode it will take a picture and then also take an over and under exposed picture of that same subject.  It was helpful to quickly find the right exposure setting for a nice picture of the moon.

Bracketing photos provides another tool to produce some beautiful photos called HDR photos.  HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  One of the easiest ways to make a HDR image it to use the bracketing technique to take 3 or more photos where you have a photo plus the over and under exposed version of the photo.  HDR photos combine these three photos in one.  This combination of over and underexposed lets these photos bring out shadows and highlights that you would not be able to see in just a one shot photo.  The contrast you get with a HDR photo can really bring out details that you may not otherwise see in the normal photos.

Once you have the series of photos then you will need some software.   I use a paid software called Photomatix.  It is pretty straight forward to use.  You just load your bracketed photos into the software and play with the settings until you get the HDR photo you like.

A free way to create HDR photos is to upload your various exposures into the the Google photo auto backup app on your phone or the computer.  Google will automatically spit out a HDR for you.  This can be hit or miss on how it turns out, but sometimes it works very well for a free way to get an HDR photo.

One thing HDRs do not do well with is movement.  If there is too much movement from a blowing tree or a moving person between the shots, then blending the photos together will produce ghosting.  Sometimes you can get rid of it and sometimes it is near impossible.

I find that with landscapes, HDR can always give a photo that looks in my opinion better than the original shots.   Check out some HDR phots I took of my recent visit to some spots in the North Carolina Mountains.  Next time you are out photgraphing, try taking different exposures and see what kind of HDR photos you can get. 

Three exposures of the same waterfall

The HDR photo from those 3 exposures

Other HDR images I recently took.

Chimney Rock, NC

Chimney Rock, NC

Chimney Rock, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Hickory Nut Falls, NC

Mount Mitchell, NC

Mount Mitchell, NC

Mount Mitchell, NC