Looking towards the Sky

Great shot

You're seeing the light reflected off the Earth back on to the side of the Moon thats away from the Sun

 

Woo, I used a tripod, plus timer to reduce shake, for the new moon. I tend to use "P" setting which I prefer to the "Auto" or the various scene modes.

 

The best contrast, when looking at the Moon (e.g. binoculars or telescope) is near the Terminator (the line between Lightness and Darkness). The sun shining "through" the moon-mountains can cast shadows and create a sense of 3D. The areas in full "sun" tend to look bleached and washed out, thus hard to make out the detail.

A 1 minute exposure, that you could hand-hold, would be pretty impressive! Just holding your breath, and adopting a solid stance (e.g. elbows resting on something) should be enough for maybe as slow an exposure as 1/4s [with image stabilization]. Back in the old days, with 35mm film, I used to think that 1/60th was the limit, and 1/30th if I got a good stance. With image stabilization I don't seem to have any trouble at 1/16th, or 1/8th with good stance - so 1/4s is probably achievable if you are desperate - no tripod to hand

With these Bridge cameras you often don't need to do anything except point-and-shoot.

For example, "image stabilization" means that you can take shots with very high magnification without needing a tripod, and Macro mode (on mine at least) happens by just moving closer - no need to select any fancy / complicated function; I can move my camera until the lens is touching the object and the whole time it will keep adjusting the focus so that the image is "just right". There are loads of options that you can select for Macro mode, and everything else, but I just put it in "Auto" and leave it at that.

My camera will, supposedly, detect if it is taking a photo of people, whether they are standing still or moving, if there is light behind them, or not, and so on ... and on ... and on. I never look to see what it is telling me the "Scene" is, I just press the shutter and am rarely, if ever?, disappointed. I do know how to use pretty much all the manual-mode options on the camera (I did a photography course at school) but I just don't find the need to bother. It does help if you think about what you can see in the viewfinder - so that you don't cut people's heads, or legs, off!! and you don't get photo-bombed by someone in the background who thinks its a larf! It also helps if you know to squeeze the shutter, and hold your breath at the same time, but those things you could learn of any "Top 10 tips" website.

Worth having a go with a Bridge Camera I reckon (actually any modern digital camera, which isn't bottom-of-range, probably does much/most of what a Bridge Camera will do)

I see the same thing looking at Venus (through telescope, but probably through binoculars too). The crescent becomes visible with a bit of magnification, and then the circle of it is apparent too. (That won't be earth-shine Zigs, so maybe there is another effect in play?)

 

Good point Kristen, wonder if its due to it blocking out the light from the very feint stars behind it? I'm sure you're familiar with the millions of stars you can see by pointing a telescope at an apparently dark patch of sky.

 

Worth an addition onto the old festive list

 

Like the Hercules Cluster for example? 300,000 stars in that little area of space apparently

 

Last night the sky was special to me due to

A) a rather magical look sunset


B) full moon


C) Jupiter and Venus at their closest position

 

Love, love love your piccies Hsuh,
thank you,
Jenny

 

Wonderful photos HsuH!