Full Moon in Buffalo (DSH_1216)

nobody@flickr.com (masinka) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 06:25:00 -0700

masinka posted a photo:

Copyright © 2012 Daniel Novak Photo, Buffalo Landscapes & Cityscapes | Blog | Google+

April 5, 2012: A day before the full moon. Googling the Internet, Time and Date comes up with 18:50 for the moonrise and 19:47 for the sunset. The Photographer's Ephemeris (TPE) confirms that +/- one minute and also shows the perfect place to be for the event to get the rising moon just behind downtown Buffalo.

On that note, I'd like to note that TPE is a truly great simple powerful tool that makes planning for sun and moon rises and sets much easier than anything else I had used before.

The choice was to head out this night, or to wait a day for the actual full moon and a different timing, especially of the moonrise, which would be at 20:06, more than an hour later and after the 19:48 sunset.

I decided to head out this night reasoning that the daylight would make it easier to balance the bright moon with the landscape underneath. I arrived on location about half an hour early and enjoyed the views of the Buffalo skyline bathing in the warm light of the setting sun. I've captured several individual photographs, and also some sequences to be stitched into a wide sweeping panorama of the city's waterfront. Then the watch showed the moonrise time and I kept my eyes glued on the east, not 100% sure what building to look at. As time went on I felt I should have seen the moon by now, ... and then I did! This very faint but huge ball rose right over the beautiful Buffalo City Hall. What a sight!

The primary lens of choice for this night was the Nikon 80-400mm zoom lens so that I could capture the moon as large as possible with only a building or two, but also with a moderate skyline when zoomed back out to 80mm.

That is how the first two photos were created, one close up of the Buffalo CIty Hall and one wider, capturing a large portion of the Buffalo skyline. Another thing that became obvious was that the moon was gradually getting brighter as it rose higher. With the zoom in action, the reason may not have been so obvious but looking at the wider angle, it is quite clear why. In my Flickr post, I called the layer a layer of smog but got slight pushback. Whether smog or not, it surely is air pollution that kept the moon barely visible at first, then nicely balanced. And as the moon rose higher and the daylight became dimmer, the balance vanished later.

So, did my plan work? ...

... www.danielnovakphoto.com/blog/2012/4/in_the_right_place_a...

Based on the Farmers' Almanac this was a Full Pink Moon.

Full Moon Fighting the Smog Layer over Buffalo, NY (DSH_1053)

nobody@flickr.com (masinka) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:45:00 -0700

masinka posted a photo:

Copyright © 2012 Daniel Novak Photo, Buffalo Landscapes & Cityscapes | Blog | Google+

Only when I take photos do I always realize how much smog there is even over our ‘clean’ city of Buffalo. Yesterday, the full moon had an extremely hard time shining through the low layer of smog (can you even find it?). Only when it got higher at it got darker was it the bright disc we know. In person, it was really impressive how big it looked just over the skyline! Too bad for the air pollution!! :-(

Based on the Farmers' Almanac this was a Full Pink Moon.

Full Moon over Buffalo and a Layer of ? (DSH_1080)

nobody@flickr.com (masinka) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 18:46:00 -0700

masinka posted a photo:

Copyright © 2012 Daniel Novak Photo, Buffalo Landscapes & Cityscapes | Blog | Google+

In the below posted photo, I've called the dirty-looking layer over the city smog but got feedback that it was not smog. What is it then? I'm still convinced of air pollution.

More on the topic of full moon and air pollution here:

- www.danielnovakphoto.com/blog/2012/4/in_the_right_place_a...

Based on the Farmers' Almanac this was a Full Pink Moon.

Uploads from masinka, tagged fullpinkmoon

Full Moon in Buffalo (DSH_1216)

Full Moon Fighting the Smog Layer over Buffalo, NY (DSH_1053)

Full Moon over Buffalo and a Layer of ? (DSH_1080)