I shot this, below, a 7 frame multiple exposure of the lunar eclipse, from Memorial Drive in Cambridge. There was no “photoshop” or “stacking” post process. This was an in-camera production. I used a tripod, a Canon EOS- 1DX camera, a Canon 100-400mm 11 lens, and a Canon 24-105mm lens. I also used a sharpie magic marker and a piece of clear tape, I will explain the tape and marker later. I used the short zoom lens to shoot the skyline. I then used the 100-400mm, at 400mm, to shoot the moon’s phases at roughly 14 minute intervals, by using the Live View function of the camera. That is, I viewed, live, the scene from the large screen on the back of the 1DX. That is how I used the tape and marker to help me line up the moon(s). The moon’s exposures started out at 500asa (iso) at 1/1000th of a second at F5.6-ish, and then I gradually had to compensate for the shadow by giving it some more time, like 1/500th, 1/250th and so on down the line unit a very slow shutter speed was needed to get the red in the last moon. There is some artistic license involved here, i.e the moons are bigger in my photo and lower than one would have seen with the naked eye. My shot appeared in the September 28th edition of the Boston Herald.
Posts Tagged ‘Massachusetts’
My Technique/Settings for Shooting Boston’s Lunar Eclipse/Super Blood Moon, 09/28/15.
by markadmin Posted: Monday, 9/28/2015
The natural world dominated my August 2015 photos of the month. I photographed lightning, many moons, and more lightning photos, along with coverage of some tragic violence in our area. As always, thanks for viewing my photos. The following were taken during and after my shift as a Boston Herald photographer.
August 20, 2015. Heavy fog over Boston’s Logan airport.
August 20, 2015. Heavy fog over Boston’s Logan airport.
August 29, 2015. Boston’s setting moon, at 5:36am.
August 29, 2015. Boston’s setting moon, at 5:33am.
August 27, 2015. An almost-full Boston moon emerges from behind a colorful cloud at sunset.
August 4, 2015. Lightning strikes over Boston’s Financial and Seaport Districts during Tuesday afternoon’s thunderstorm activity.
August 18, 2015. Lightning strikes over and to the rear of 1 International Place in Boston Tuesday afternoon as a line of thunderstorms pushed through.
August 15, 2015. Lightning strikes in back of Boston’s Prudential Center during a late afternoon thunderstorm.
August 15, 2015. Lightning strikes over a Winthrop neighborhood.
August 15, 2015. Lightning strikes to the rear of South Boston high school.
August 4, 2015. Lightning strikes behind Boston’s Back Bay.
August 4, 2015. Lightning exits Massachusetts’ coast, between Winthrop and Quincy.
August 15, 2015. Late night thunderstorm over Dorchester/Quincy, as seen from Winthrop.
August 4, 2015. Lightning strikes over South Boston during the morning commute.
August 5, 2015. The Winthrop fire department tests a new fire engine as an Air France 747 lands in the background.
08/11/2015-Boston,MA. Boston firefighters watch as a car hangs off a driveway onto Roxbury’s Cedar St. Tuesday afternoon. No serious injuries were reported.
08/13/2015-Boston,MA. People, believed to be friends and/or relatives of one or both of the men gunned down on Ernst St. last night, console each other Thursday afternoon in that Boston neighborhood.
08/29//15-Boston,MA Syla Rapaglia, age 11 years, sits at the makeshift memorial for the child known as Baby Doe, whose body was found at Deer Island on June 25. Skla’s mother organized the 2nd vigil for the missing child, held tonight.
08/07/2015-Boston,MA. Joe Casper, Boston fire dept. acting District Chief, works at the scene of a 3 alarm fire at 6 Waverly St. in Roxbury today.
August 20, 2015. Massport’s fireboat American United in #Boston/Winthrop. Named for 2 airlines in 911 attacks.
More #Boston area lightning and cloud photos from Tuesday’s weather.
by markadmin Posted: Friday, 8/7/2015Four significant thunderstorms affected the Boston area Tuesday. That’s four separate opportunities for me to photograph lightning during, and then after, my shift as a Boston Herald photographer. I chase most of the thunderstorms that come our way. We in the Boston region experience an average of 30 days of thunderstorm activity per year, according to Wikipedia. A brilliant lightning storm was the first of these Tuesday events, striking during the morning commute. The thrust of the lightning seemed to be affecting South Boston to Quincy, before exiting out over Winthrop, and the open waters. I positioned myself in a safe place in Southie and set up my tripod. I was disappointed with the results. It seemed that every place I pointed my lens at, the lightning would be in a different spot, and then when I corrected to that spot, it would then strike where I had been pointing at earlier. I did, however, get a photo of lightning over Dorchester Heights/Telegraph Hill. The second storm roared out of the Littleton area and moved toward Beverly. I chose to speed toward Marblehead, as I wanted to try for lightning over the historic Abbott Hall. This venture was unsuccessful regarding lightning, however I did capture the ominous clouds exiting Marblehead neck. I then realized that the weather radar was showing a different storm, taking a more southerly track that appeared to be heading for Boston. I viewed the radar and chose East Boston as my best bet to capture lightning over the city. I arrived in Eastie and set up the tripod and started to shoot, framing the city’s Financial and Seaport Districts. This worked well, as in a flash of 1/8th of a second, two large and branching bolts appeared. I was using a Canon 100-400mm at F.6.4 and a 50 ISO speed. The last storm was exiting the region from between Deer Island and Quincy. I chose to turn the camera black and white for this photo. Below are my photos from Tuesday. Thanks for viewing.
Above, lightning strikes in back of Southie’s Telegraph Hill/Dorchester Height, during the first of 4 thunderstorms that affected the region on Tuesday.
Above, lightning strikes over Eastie, Tuesday morning.
Above, the second of 4 thunderstorms exits the region off of Marblehead Neck.
Above, a sailboat escapes the Marblehead lightning, choosing to come into port shortly after the storm.
Above, lightning strikes over the Boston skyline, Tuesday afternoon.
Above, lightning strikes over Boston’s Financial and Seaport Districts during Tuesday afternoon’s thunderstorm activity.
Above, the Tuesday afternoon storm clears over the Tobin Bridge.
Lightning exits the Massachusetts east coast between Winthrop and Quincy, during the last of the thunderstorms, Tuesday evening.
Air traffic, arriving at Boston’s Logan airport, flies over Winthrop as firefighters test a “deck gun” hose on the brand-new Engine Co. #1
I get asked sometimes if a photo is “real”, that is, has it been photoshopped, or is the photo a multiple exposure. I do not use those techniques. Sometimes I get asked about the size of the moon, or sun in a certain photo. Why is it so large? Well, usually when I take a photo of the sun or moon, they are usually positioned low to the horizon anyway. When the moon or sun is low to the horizon, they appear bigger to the human eye. Here is a good explanation from the good people at Old Dominion University. The lens one uses also makes the object appear bigger. This photo was snapped using a Canon 100-400mm lens. 1/30th of a second at F5.6 at 5000 ASA (ISO), on December 26, 2014 at 9:49pm. The moon moves fast and is considerably brighter than the city. This city angle is not as bright as other angles, so my unique problem was to get somewhere in the middle regarding exposure. Give enough to the city in exposure without blowing out the moon. A bonus, especially for Boston, was the nice green tail of the Aer Lingus shamrock, below left. Copies for purchase, of this, and of all my photos, can be found here.
Yesterday afternoon, at 4:22pm, I photographed British Airways FL BA197, a 747-400, traveling at 500 kts and 38,000 ft above my driveway in Winthrop, Massachusetts, with a Tail # G-CIVW, flying from London to Houston. I used a 1600mm lens on a tripod at 1/640th of a second at F11 at 10,000 ISO (asa). Tonight, 24hrs and 5 minutes later, I photographed the same flight number, this time at 38,000′, and traveling a little slower, at 443 kts. This time I used the photography method called “panning.” I used a tripod, 1600mm lens, and an ISO(ASA) of 1250. My camera settings were 1/15th of a second at F11. The plane was also a 747-400 but the tail # was G-BYGD. It is amazing that tonight’s flight was only 5 minutes later than last night’s, given that this bird is 3300 miles from London. Below top is last night’s flight. Below bottom is tonight’s flight.
Allison Williams, star of tonight’s live NBC broadcast of Peter Pan, and daughter of NBC news anchor Brian Williams, is seen at the 2011 Nantucket Film Festival. I was covering the film festival with Laura Raposa, former Inside Track columnist at the Boston Herald. Williams was nice, personable. One could see her stardom coming. Brian is quite personable and extremely funny, usually telling jokes on the red carpet. I took a family portrait and emailed it to Jane Williams, Brian’s wife, who, I believe, used the photo for their Christmas card.
A plea for medicinal marijuana at the Massachusetts State House today.
by markadmin Posted: Monday, 9/22/201409/22/2014-Boston,MA. As her mother Lisa speaks passionately about the hopeful benefits of medicinal marijuana, 5 year old Madison Cole gets a hug from her father, Lonnie. Madison was just one of the several patients, who could benefit from the use of the drug, along with other activists, who presented Governor Deval Patrick’s office with a letter pleading for quicker approval of medicinal marijuana.
The crew of the fishing vessel Osprey leave Boston Harbor at sunrise.
Later, the Queen Mary 2, the huge Cunard Lines’ cruise ship, enters Boston’s Black Falcon Terminal.
The next day the rising sun, shining upon windows of Southie’s Drydock building, makes a colorful pattern.
