All the World’s Sunrises and Sunsets

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Were you able to see the total lunar eclipse on April 14th-15th?   I was fortunate enough to be out in Vegas teaching the Dusk to Dawn Workshop, and we were able get some pretty spectacular images as well as witness the whole 3+ hour event.   As I was doing my research in preparation for shooting the moon, I came across this wonderful description as to why the moon appears red during the eclipse.   Imagine yourself witnessing the eclipse from the moon – during the darkest time of the eclipse, when the earth is totally in front of the sun – you would still see a ring of fire – the sun around the earth.  What you’d be witnessing is all of earth’s sunrises and sunsets.  And it is that red and orange light skimming along the edge of the earth’s atmosphere that is reflecting off the moon.  Pretty cool, right?

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Here is one of the few images that we have of the earth eclipsing the sun – from the moon’s point of view.  Taken on February 10th 2009 by the Japan’s Lunar Explorer “Kaguya (Selene)”.  The “circle of sunlight” is “a ring of a thousand simultaneous sunrises and sunsets

This “Blood Moon” as it was originally dubbed by Christian pastors John Hagee and Mark Blitz, prophesized that this was the beginning of the end of the world.  I think just the opposite.  It seems to have renewed an interest in astronomy and an excitement of planning where you will be during the next Blood Moon.  You see, this is the first of four, or a tetrad, that will occur over the next 1 ½ years.

Shooting the eclipse can be a tricky thing, so here are a few ideas to consider before capture.

Lens selection: When shooting the moon you need a fairly long lens, at least a 300mm or preferably a 500-600mm on a full frame camera, especially if you want to get a nice big moon with lots of detail.

Composited Multi Moons:
This seems to be the rage with eclipses now and it is fairly easy to do with digital.  You need patience and time for this one, as you have to commit one camera to shooting the moon as it changes over 1-3 hours.  You’ll have to pay close attention, as the exposures will vary dramatically as the bright white changes to the darker rust red moon.  Afterwards, you’ll pick the best moons and layer them onto one image.  One of my favorites was done by my good friend Jeff Cable and he goes into great description on how he composited it together here.

Blood Moon

Foreground considerations:
Another cool way to capture the multi-moon eclipse is by  including the foreground.  This requires a little bit more photoshop skills as you will need to shoot the foreground separately and realistically as the base layer and then add the moons later.  My favorite shot of the eclipse with an interesting foreground was by Sean Duggan – check out his blog for more details on his amazing image.

Sean Duggan ~ Lunar Eclipse Over Donner Peak

We were finishing up our light painting shoot at the Neon Boneyard when the eclipse started.  It would have been cool to capture the entire eclipse there but unfortunately they didn’t want to stay open late for us until 1:30am!  We had the option to either head out to Red Rock and get a darker sky with the moon over mountains, but I thought it would be more interesting to play the moon against the newest star of Las Vegas  – the High Roller Ferris Wheel.

This provided a challenging and space age foreground for us to combine with the moon.  My image was shot with the Sony A7r and a Metabones adapter with a Nikon 70-200 and 1.4 teleconverter.  This gave me an equivalent focal length of 300mm and it’s a composite of two images – one exposed for the moon at 4 seconds at f/4 and the other freezing the lunar pod at 1/15 second.

Lunar Landing ~ Sony A7r with Nikon 70-200 2.8 lens

As most of you know, I also love to play with time, and a little later I wondered what it would look like to capture a 15-minute evolution of the moon and revolution of the wheel.

Revolution and Evolution ~ Sony A7r and 55 1.8 lens ~ 15m at f/8 ~ ISO 400

I hope these images have inspired you to get ready for the next few lunar eclipses!  The upcoming dates are October 8th, April 4th, and then September 28th.

Rumor has it I’ll be in Iceland for the last one…

– Carpe Noctem!

Vegas to Zion – Dusk until Dawn Workshop

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DowntownI will be publishing my 2014 workshop schedule soon – but one solid date that only has few spots left is Vegas to Zion from Dusk to Dawn from 4/13-4/18/14.  I teach this with Tim Cooper, who also co-authored our book – Night Photography:  From Snapshots to Great Shots.  This will be our third year teaching this weeklong workshop through the Rocky Mountain School of Photography.

It is one of my favorite workshops  – mainly because we go to a variety of really cool locations that are often difficult to get access to at night.

Just to give you a taste of how creative and fun this workshop can be…here are some shots that Tim and I have taken over the years.

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Lensbaby is one of our sponsors and provides the entire Lensbaby family to try out  during the workshop.  This will really help you see and interpret the neon boulevards in a brand new way.

Speaking of Neon…we are the only workshop that offers night access to the Neon Boneyard.  This is a fantastic location to learn or finesse your light painting techniques as we breath new life into these historic signs of Vegas legends.

RH, Neon Graveyard

Ghost towns are most appropriately photographed at night, and we have access to two totally different spots!  The first one has an amazing collection old cars, Wild West buildings, a fallen airplane from an old movie set, and this triple decker bus just to name a few!

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After we have mastered the bright lights, we head east to the cosmic canopy of Zion National Park.  There is a cool old ghost town where you can practice more light painting or 1+ hour exposures to get epic star trails.  Tim has been exploring Zion for many years and we have several choice spots to create spectacular nightscapes against the full moon and stars.

LoneTree_Star_Trails

I will warn you, it is an intensive and full 5 days of lectures, critiques, shooting, and if you know Tim and I…plenty of laughs!  You can check out past students testimonials here.  Vegas to Zion is really a wonderful way to improve your night photography skills and have fun doing it!  You are guaranteed to leave with a unique portfolio of nocturnal images.

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For more info or to register click here

 

Carpe Noctem!

Photobooth shots from the Snapshots Opening

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Wow.

What a party!

I think we redefined how cool a book launch could be!  Tim Cooper – so psyched that you were able to come up and truly co-author the launch of our book!

At long last I have posted the spectacular photobooth pictures that Cliff “it isn’t a party until Cliff Hausner photobooths your party” shot.  Cliff – you are the man!

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I also want to give a big shout out to Sandra Carrion and the Soho Photo Gallery for letting me have the party in their awesome gallery space in…you guessed it – Soho!

 

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Moshe Zusman and the 3 Amigos getting Giffy! 

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Nancy and the Scoop-er Stars past and present!
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Great to have Devin Osorio and SALT NYC come out and show their support!

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 This couple didn’t seem to be having much fun….

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That is one handsome Phoblographer

 

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The EAW black and white team in full effect! 

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 Some of my favorite COSMOpolitans! 

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Michael, Allison, and Jess in one of their more serious moments…

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Barry and the Brooklyn Bidermans – Susan and Laura

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Ya, it was pretty hardcore!  

Thanks David for the capturing the photo of NanGabe below!

Photo by David Brommer

Nancy, my beautiful wife who was dressed in a pop-tab dress – I couldn’t have thrown this party (or written the book) without you – thanks so much for helping keep the stars aligned and the ship straight!  

And finally – to the 100+ people – my friends, family, students, and strangers who joined in the festivities that night – thank you!  You made me feel like more of a rock star than an author – I really appreciate the love and support!

You can see and download all the Photobooth photos here: 

https://plus.google.com/photos/109979031070180173602/albums/5972594816271809041?authkey=CIfiscOysJmYugE

Carpe Noctem!

 

Book Signing and Gallery Show – B&H Event Space Lecture

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Gabe Tim Invite

 

If you are in NYC on December 4th and 5th,  we’d love to see you at either one or both of the book launch events that we have scheduled.

The first “party” will be a gallery show/book signing on December 4th at the Soho Photo Gallery.  You’ll be able to bring your book to get signed, as well as purchase one if you haven’t already.  Tim and I will have 15 of our images printed on aluminum for your viewing pleasure.  Dress up, as you will have the opportunity to get your portrait taken by the legendary Cliff Hausner, who will be running a photo booth at the event as well!

On December 5th, Tim and I will be speaking at the B&H Event Space from 6pm-8pm.  We are going to take a closer look at our photographs that were shot in a variety of nocturnal environments.   We will go into the details of how the photos were created, share our techniques, and hopefully inspire you to take better images once the sun goes down!  Register for the seminar here.  If the event is sold out – come anyway; just arrive 15-20 minutes early as you can generally get in on the wait list.

Night Photography:  From Snapshots to Great Shots is now in stock at Amazon and Peachpit Press.  Amazon is offering their Kindle version and Peachpit has an open format Ebook if you’d like a digital version.  The best way you can support me is by purchasing the book via one of the links I have set up here.

I would also like to also encourage those of you who own the book to take the time to write a review on Amazon – I appreciate the feedback and support.

I hope to thank you in person at one of these events!

Carpe Noctem!

Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots – by Gabriel Biderman and Tim Cooper

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Snapshots Book Cover

Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots – by Gabriel Biderman and Tim Cooper - from Peachpit   Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots – by Gabriel Biderman and Tim Cooper - from Peachpit   Night Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots – by Gabriel Biderman and Tim Cooper - from Peachpit

It’s official – I am an author!  

For those of you who have been wondering where Gabe has been on ruinism… well I’ve been using all my words for this new book on Night Photography!   I should be getting my copy any day now and it will be in stock at all the major bookstores by the end of November.  I’m planning a couple book signing and gallery parties with co-author Tim Cooper in NYC at the beginning of December, so stay tuned!

I will say, the writing was tough going, I have a new-found respect for educators who are able to eloquently put their thoughts down on paper.  Translating Gabe to English can be a challenge, but Pearson Press did an amazing job and the layout is simply fantastic.  It is chock full of inspirational images, as well as plenty of tips for people interested in improving their pictures once the sun goes down.  There are so many who helped with this book – from friends on night shoots, to students at workshops, and all the family and peers who have inspired and supported my late night habits over the years!   I want to thank Tim Cooper, who without his help, I’d still be in the writing phase!  Tim is my co-teacher on RMSP’s Dusk to Dawn- Vegas to Zion workshop and he took over two chapters – one on composition and the other on processing your night images.  And then of course, my wife Nancy, who wanted to see this done (and have her husband back!) more than anyone.  She really supported me throughout the process and I owe her many movie nights and hugs!

If you would like to support me further, please help spread the word and purchase the book through one of the below links:

Buy it direct from:  

Carpe Noctem!