Murphy at work. The night before and after the lunar eclipse showed clear skies. But clouds teased and built all day to mostly obscure the lunar eclipse above the western edge of the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.
I hadn’t taken the camper out since the July visit to the North Rim and Bryce Canyon. The old propane tanks couldn’t be re-certified, or legally filled any more. Two new 5-gallon horizontal tanks were installed Friday, $380 of ouch. They look pretty complete with gauges, though the old tanks worked fine. But gotta’ have propane for refrigeration, cooking, and heat when boondocking.
Awoke to a soft Yarnell sunrise on Saturday and waited for the chill to dissipate before final packing. Last in the cat.
That sea of white in the valley is 1000s of RVs
A relaxing two hour desert drive brought me into the overcrowded mess of first day of the Big Tent RV Show in Quartzsite. If I could have avoided any part of Quartzsite without 100s of miles’ detour I would have. Yet it only took me 15 minutes to get from I10 about three miles to SR95.
I didn’t notice less or more RVs parked on the always crowded BLM (Bureau of Land Management) long-term or short-term camping south of town. Made a stop where friends who’ve worked at Grand Canyon meet every winter. Over an hour of visiting later I continued on to Kofa.
Arrived under typical Arizona blue skies and found the ‘perfect’ camp along Palm Canyon Road. I wanted to see desert landscape and the mountains for moon rise photos. It’s not crowded although there were RVs which I’d like not to be in my landscape shots, or view for that matter, to be picky.
Played around with where I and PhotoPills thought the moon would come up in relation to some foreground and the horizon line of the Kofa Mountains.
I do love the Sonoran Desert, though this area is still pretty tame compared to further south.
With camera set on tripod pointing in basically the right direction I waited, and the moon rise caught me a little off guard. Not quite full, the moon rose in a pale blue sky before sunset. Notice the rise was further east than PhotoPills thought.
Without clouds to the west the sunset wasn’t overly exciting.
Hoping for no clouds for the next night’s lunar eclipse I wanted to photograph desert foreground with a line of moon shots above the mountains in the same composition. But the eclipse would start hours later than moon rise so even if clear would be out of even a vertical frame set at 50mm. Plus that would be a tiny looking moon. (200mm above and 24mm below) Hmmmm….
Can you see the moon?
I liked the camera location and view enough so marked it with some rocks and wood for the next night’s setup.
After reviewing the photos I decided horizontal and panorama might work shooting every 10 minutes with shutter adjustments. With barely enough signal to get online let alone post a photo from the laptop I called it an early night.
Dirty window view
Clouds offered a touch of color for Sunday’s sunrise.
And increased throughout the day.
Didn’t use this at all
I set up the camera and shot the moon peeking between the clouds every 10-15 minutes for the first half of the lunar eclipse. Sadly, my camera settings were way off and totally out of focus. The second half was solid clouds. I went to bed late and missed the morning moon set.
Wind blew all of Monday and I stayed inside reading.
Come evening it was clear enough to see the moon so snapped a few shots.
Tuesday I woke up chilled and achy. With the night predicted to drop near freezing and wind still rocking the camper I said no thanks. So I battened down and rolled out about 11:30am and was home by 2pm.
Welcome home in the kitchen sink
As I unpacked the camper, Sierra followed me back and forth seemingly not sure where she lived until her food and litter box were in the house.
Spent Wednesday catching up with life and trying to put together a composite/collage of what I kinda’ saw of the lunar eclipse. I don’t do Photoshop so this is the best I could do.
Orion
What I learned
Good idea to arrive at destination at least a day before event. Pay closer attention to the histogram because when it falls off the left–too dark–or the right–too bright–the settings are wrong. Don’t trust the LED screen for that. However, do use the LED viewer to check focus, repeatedly. I need way more practice in night photography. Photoshop should be on my list of things to learn. Wash the camper windows. Continue to practice with Sierra on her leash. And keep on having fun.
Linking to Skywatch Friday
This is a valiant effort. I really enjoyed the process!
Thanks Jenn. Life is a process.
Nice shot of Orion. I couldn’t manage to stay up for the eclipse.
Thanks. Maybe 2021.
Patience is a virtue Gaelyn, and you have plenty of that. You finaly got the eclipse . Great shot.!! Happy weekend.
Thanks, but funny, I never think of myself as patient.
The good effort was made… kudos for not sitting on your hands.
Photoshop will consume you as it is so creatively Fun. I used to get on it after sunset and still be on it at sunrise. You can subscribe for about $10.00 a month or buy the program. Recommended if you can part with the cash.
You will need a pretty good video card in your puter and use a satellite monitor optimized for photo work. I have a dedicated setup just for Photoshop. And it is not cheating, photos have been manipulated during the shoot or in the darkroom since the beginning of photography.
I also take a laptop into the field to quickly review my shots and make adjustments. I figure you do the same. You need the bigger screen size to ascertain results so adjustments can be made. And back in the day, to store the daily shoot as the media had limited storage.
Night photography is a challenge, but the rewards are spectacular, not too mention, often profound.
Keep hitting the road and trail, for those great shots take a lot of effort, not too mention, a bit of cash.
Thanks. If I don’t try, it ain’t gonna’ happen.
I have the Adobe package for $10.62/month and Lightroom already consumes much time that I enjoy. Photos have always been processed.
I’ll just keep on getting out there as I can. Practice makes better.
Wow, I thinkyou did pretty well under the circumstances. Here there was total cloud cover. I have Jasc Paint shop Pro and I find it is pretty good, though maybe not Photoshop. I think you can down load the older edition for free. It has a lot of fun things that you can do but takes a bit of practice! I Iove your sky and night shots they are aways exceptional. Watch out for those scorpians, thought the house had been treated!! Take care Diane
Thanks, I’m not unhappy with the shots I did get. I use Lightroom and love it. Have Photoshop but don’t use it. Scorpions have been hibernating during the cold but rain and a little warmer temps brings them, I think literally, out of the walls. Spring will need to spray again and the house needs sealing. New owners, Berta’s daughter and SIL, will probably take care of that when they visit in March.
Hi, Gaelyn. Loved your narration of the trials and tribulations encountered in your quest for a site to view the eclipse, the event itself, and a welcome home by a scorpion! Another Volunteer at Mission Trails and I set up our telescopes for a Lunar Observation Event at the park. 97 visitors came to my scope. The view of the moon was often filtered by clouds which seemed to increase as the evening progressed. We were able to see the Blood Red/Copper hue of the Moon at totality but certainly not as vibrant as it would have been under clear skies. At one point during the eclipse a coyote in the distance howled a couple of times which somewhat endorsed the naming of this Full Moon as the Wolf Red Blood Moon. I did not take any photos of the event. The ISS passed over us before the eclipse started.
Thanks George, glad you enjoyed the story. Sounds like you had better luck than I. I’m glad you are still sharing the night sky with others. You’re an inspiration. Howling coyote was a nice touch.
I like your pano the best. How many people came out to join you?
Thanks Gayle. I shot alone.
Love the photos you did capture and posted here. Night photography is a huge challenge, one I might tackle this summer, so I commend you. Nature doesn’t always help, but I love your results. Gorgeous. 🙂
Thanks. Can’t predict nature so have to take what we get. Summer would at least be a warmer time to practice night photography.
I still enjoy your photos of the desert landscape and rising moon. Ben (15, oldest grandchild) has gotten serious about photography and is taking a class at school. He managed to get a good series showing the eclipse. I can never stay up long enough to do night photography! I like Sierra. Now you have a road trip companion.
Thanks. It was fun and nice to get to the desert. So Ben takes after his photographer Grandma, except stays up later. 😉 Sierra is a sweetie, just needs more travel experience.
Beautiful captures – so many wonderful skies, it’s impossible to choose my favorite. You’re very patient.
Thanks Carol.
I think you did well considering all the things that worked against you. I’d love to be able to photograph the moon with a landscape but am going to have to up my game to get that done.
Your cat kills me.
Take care.
I’m happy with the shots I got just disappointed about the clouded eclipse. It’s a long wait to the next one. You did good getting the blood red moon. So we still have challenges in front of us. Do you think your kitties would go camping?
Ah. The reason I haven’t attempted night photography. Way too much work. Even though you didn’t get the eclipse, the photos were fun and lovely. We have been at that spot. I loved the barrel cactus shot
That’s the challenge. Can’t do anything about what nature gave me. You should soon be surrounded by a much more dense Sonoran Desert.
Wow – your shots are just marvellous!
Thanks.
Hi G, haven’t been around for awhile but it looks like you are doing ok. Nice shots you got and I like the moon shots too. We could see the eclipse here but not the red moon—clouds covered mid eclipse
MB
Thanks. Life is good. I’m never surprised when it’s cloudy in the PNW.
Thought about you when the clouds were getting thicker as the day of the eclipse went on. At least you had a little road trip and got some nice shots anyway.
It could have been worse. Sure was nice to get into the desert, even if only briefly.
A whole series of great photos, Gaelyn! I love the moonrise shots. I’ve used PhotoPills a couple times, and even after calibrating, it’s a little off. But still helpful!
Thanks Peter. I like PhotoPills yet it does have a large learning curve, plus goes out of calibration.
The key to all photographic exposures is the light ‘Triangle’. F-stop/Speed/ISO. We are schooled that in low light conditions to increase the aperture, reduce speed and raise the ISO. All good, Except the ISO for night sky/celestial images. Here we want to lower the ISO.
For more info on the exposure ‘Triangle’
… Google.
I’m behind as always. Although you were disappointed about this trip. I give you two thumbs up. Beautiful shots. Kitty on a harness – always a tragic (in their kitty brain) sight! Ha, ha
Any trip is good and Kofa is a welcome refuge.