Timing the Sun and Moon

Our ancestors quarried and hauled gargantuan stones many miles to build monuments that could predict where the sun and moon would rise and set. Photographers now days have it a little easier.

The Photographer's Ephemeris is one tool that combines centuries of observed astronomical and gravitational data with Google maps and shows you in exqusite detail where the sun and moon will be directing their light and the corresponding shadows, at any time of the day or night, at any place on earth, even allowing for elevation of the surrounding terrain. Well, maybe not every coordinate on earth, yet. I have not tested it's limits.

Stephen Trainor is the author of this free program. An iPod app will also be available on April 17.

Watching the short tutorials reveals the power of this program. Mark my words, this is something we all will applaud today, take for granted tomorrow and some will actually complain about in the future. Since this will actually save you time and money, Stephen provides a donation link to help maintain the service. Please consider contributing.

Here is the link to his blog or click the picture above. Thank you Stephen, for making my life that much simpler.

Kite Aerial Photography

Kite Aerial Photography is a technique I am itching to try and this photograph taken by George Lawrence after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco is inspiring. Someone (at the USGS?) did a great job of creating a zoomable high resolution version.

Golden Hour

Ah, the golden hour, that period of time 1 hour after sunrise and 1 hour before sunset when our ultimate light source filters through the maximum amount of atmosphere. There are only 2 in a day. I took this picture in Bossier City, Louisiana during the evening version. More often then not, I miss the morning occurance. The musician in me refuses to recognize two 7 o'clocks in the same day. I do take advantage if I am forced to rise early, if I must take someone to the airport at 0 dark thirty for instance. I rationalize and balance what I miss by staying up late and developing pictures in the dark of night.



If you want the Golden Gate Bridge to be lit from the city side, you have to be there before noon. If you want to take advantage of that atmospheric phenomenon instead of buying filters or warming it in post production, get there early. This shot was taken at 07:30 am, not too bad. Click on it to get the full effect.

Facebook Fan Page

On Facebook? Follow my page for quick news and gallery updates!

Stuart Nafey Photography on Facebook

Why lenses cost so much.

The Canon Library gives you a "How They Do It" tour of a virtual lens factory, showing every step, from raw material to a finished product of producing a 500mm lens.

Pictures from Antarctica

Gentoo Penguin_DSC4143, originally uploaded by jc_on_vacation.

Friend Justine Carson recently returned from a month long, photography workshop/trip to Argentina, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Island and Antarctica and brought back incredibly beautiful and amazingly close-up pictures of penguins, seals, birds, ice and mountains. When they were not on land taking pictures, they were studying wildlife photography techniques and listening to lectures about the animals and geology they had travelled so far to see.

Only back a few days, Justine kindly threw together an excellent presentation for our February workshop. Those pictures and many more are now up in her Flickr gallery. Thank you Justine!

King Penguin_DSC4613, originally uploaded by jc_on_vacation.

Maverick's Photo Roundup

Several people have asked if I was able to photograph the Maverick’s surf contest this weekend. I was on my way to ski Kirkwood when I heard the Maverick’s competition was on. We had an excellent time skiing and I have no pictures from the contest.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

But there are plenty great pictures to view. The weather was excellent and the waves were huge. It’s not easy getting these shots since the breaks are about ½ mile offshore. Either you climb the slippery cliffs with a very long lens or you beg, borrow or pay your way on a boat to get the close-ups. As of Sunday night, here are some links to the pictures that I have been able to find.

Flickr has a “Maverick’s Surf Contest 2010” group with over 300 pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mavericks2010/pool/

I like to watch the group as a slideshow. It fills your browser window with the largest picture it can and border’s it in black. Maximize your browser and try it.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/mavericks2010/pool/show/

Several encore videos of the live action and commentary is on Mavericksurf.com.
http://www.maverickssurf.com/contest/see/webcast.php

Check out this raw video footage taken from the Channel 5 news copter.
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=61790@kpix.dayport.com
Note: look for the "Chopper 5 News of Maverick's Surf Contest" video

The Sunday Chronicle has 2 stories on Maverick’s, one on the front page and another in the sports section.
Huge waves at Mavericks injure spectators
and
MAVERICKS - Biggest of the big waves

And the Chronicle also has 2 photo galleries of the event with over 200 pictures combined.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/02/14/SPBQ1C1FN9.DTL&o=
and
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2010/02/14/MNTA1C1AAA.DTL&o=

Regulo Zapata Jr. has pictures up on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056640&id=1215168613&l=3ff43523e4

Slideshow in the Santa Cruz Sentinel:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_14396254

That’s a start and there are more out there. Some of the pictures are absolutely fantastic. The photographers caught beautiful angles with surfers framed by the curl of the wave, shots of wipeouts are captured second by second in burst mode and the spectators and the spirit of the event. It looks like Mavericks delivered big time this year and there are some award winning pictures that document it.