The Day of Night

per·i·gee

–noun Astronomy .

the point in the orbit of a heavenly body, esp. the moon, or of anartificial satellite at which it is nearest to the earth.

The moon never ceases to amaze me. Sometimes its just a sliver, sometimes its not even there, and sometimes its full and casts an amazing amount of light. The best nights are when you can look up and see blue in the sky because the moon is so bright. I love shooting on nights like those, the light is so different from anything you see day to day but at the same time the principles of it are still the same.

The best night of shooting I've ever had was January 29, 2010. It was the perigee of 2010 and the moon was ridiculously bright. Call me crazy but I was squinting it was so bright out. I wasn't prepared at all for that night but I'll be ready for the perigee in 2011. If you've noticed the past few nights the moon has been fairly bright so I've been practicing up. A moonlight landscape series is my goal.

The hardest part of shooting moonlight is color, yes you can just go to black and white but thats not really the point. I've been trying everything I can think of but no matter what I do they just aren't looking right. I'm starting to believe thats its just the way things look under moonlight and I'm just not adjusted to seeing colors that way.

My favorite recent moonlight image:

I could go off about why it's my favorite but instead if you like it drop me a comment with why.

Here's a few practice images so you can see what the moonlight can do(these are shot long after the sun has set):

Here's some color to brighten up you day:

And finally let these images change your day. They opened my eyes up to some new views on landscapes .