I made a couple of trips down to the Bernardo State Waterfowl Area this winter. The second was shortly before the last full moon; my plan was to continue working on my years-long effort to get a shot of a crane (or cranes) in front of an almost-full moon.
It’s an amazingly difficult type of shot to pull off. If I focus on the moon and wait for cranes to cross in front of it, the moon will be in focus but the cranes won’t be. Conversely, if I track the cranes through my viewfinder and focus on them, my reflexes are almost never quick enough to get the shutter button down before they’ve cleared the moon. Nevertheless, I persist in trying.
I took lots of photos while I waited for the moon to rise. It’s unusual to see cranes flying in as perfect a formation as they did in the image above. And I was somehow able to get extra-close to the crane below, who was sticking to the edges of the pond.
Alas, I never saw the moon rise while I was in Bernardo a few weeks ago; it stayed behind an impenetrable wall of clouds until well after dark. However, I had seen it in January and, while I wasn’t able to catch any cranes, I did get a shot of snow geese in front of the moon.
As it turned out, all the clouds that prevented me from seeing the moonrise made for a beautiful sunset instead.
I shot video with one camera while I took wider-angle stills with another. As is true of most (perhaps all) of my videos, there’s very little plot, and even less character development, in the video below. However, if you’re looking for a peaceful and contemplative break, it might just work for you.
Thanks for the meditation video. I'll save it and also send it along to some birding friends. Snow cranes on demand!!!
Wow! The sunset colors are breathtaking! We never tire of the birds or any nature photos for that matter.