El Capitan Under a Full Moon

[Rick Furmanek]

Taken this past July @ 10:00 PM under a full moon
176 second exposure @ f/4
100 ISO
24mm
EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM

Had to constantly battle tail lights and head lights passing through the valley. :)

[Robert Amoruso]

Cool shot. I like the deep blue sky and star trails. The cap looks to have excellent detail considering the log exposure. I like the diagonal the ridge makes through the image. I would have like to see a bit more of the tree tops on the bottom. A nice row of the the tops showing. I know that since it was probably real dark, refining to composition can be problematic.

Thanks for posting Rick.

[Alfred Forns]

Still can't get over this images taken at night !!!! Agree on the trees at bottom Fine image !!!!

[Rick Furmanek]

Still can't get over this images taken at night !!!! Agree on the trees at bottom Fine image !!!!

The moon was so bright that I couldn't resist trying. After ten or twelve tries with car tail lights and head lights as well as not getting a good DOF, I finally told myself that I would try only one more time, and I'm glad I did. This was the image. No cars passed by for three whole minutes. It was perfect timing. I have it as a 20x30 hanging in my home. The detail is pretty amazing. One of those rare moments when everything works as it should.

As to the trees, I still prefer it this way with the focus on the face of the mountain and the star trails. No regrets. I suppose I could have tried one more time with the camera tilted down a little, but I'm pretty happy with it as is.;) It had been a long day shooting and I still had sixty miles to go before I could hit the sack.

[Jason Hahn]

Until I read what you had to go through to get it, I would have suggested going with an even longer exposure to make the trails longer. But with the stream of car headlights you had to contend with I think you did a great job creating this image.

Jason