This morning I was getting a later start on things. I was taking Laura for a doctor appointment, so that meant I didn’t have to leave the house quite as early. As we were having coffee she looked out our back window and noticed a crescent moon and what I assume to be Venus in close proximity.
The sky was already getting lighter, and the dark portion of the moon was very visible, revealed in the reflection of sunlight from the earth. Since I had more time than the usual morning rush, I grabbed my camera to try to capture it.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a good place to take the shot. The view was perfect from our back picture window, but the glass was dirty and a bit too reflective. I headed outside. Anywhere I went was blocked by trees. In our front yard I found a place where I could at least frame the image between a couple of trees and through some limbs.
Time was against me. The sun was rising and the lighting was changing. Every moment I delayed changing a camera setting or setting up the tripod was not a good thing. If I waited until the moon cleared the trees, the sun would also be too high. I snapped a few shots, changing camera settings to get optimum exposure. In my rush, I didn’t take the ISO off of auto, so some of the shots were very noisy. The one below had a bit of flare off of the moon, but was the only other shot from the series that I liked.
Even though it was getting lighter, I moved back to the back yard to see if the moon had cleared the trees over the lake. Just about the time it had risen high enough, it moved into a cloud bank. I had lost my window of opportunity. I don’t think the images I took did the view justice, but it was fun to try to capture them.