Big Smilie, a photo from New South Wales, East

Photographer's Note

A few days ago we had a rare cosmic alignment in the skies over Sydney. The crescent moon, Venus, on the left, and Jupiter, on the right (the three brightest objects in the sky) came together in the same patch of sky to form a 𦽳milie� or emoticon, depending on your generation. According to Sydney Observatory𠏋 astronomer, Nick Lomb we won㦙 see this again until the early hours of July 21, 2036.
I learnt some valuable lessons from this night shot, (1) don㦙 put your tripod on thick spongy grass, (2) don㦙 try to do this type of setup without a remote shutter release and (3) don㦙 forget to have a small torch handy. Some of you will recognise the same old POV off my back yard, I must get out more often. Not a technically perfect shot, I couldn㦙 get the right balance in the exposure between the practical lights, the moon (very bright) and the two planets, all three were flaring from over-exposure. I tried to get just the crescent moon without the rest of the moon but not enough skills I𠍿 afraid, unlike hay_keys (hAyAti) who managed his exposure perfectly, http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/photo998110.htm. Anyway this is the best out of the many shots I tried. As usual, I couldn㦙 decide between the landscape and the vertical crop so I𠐔e posted the vertical crop as a workshop.
Hope you enjoy both of the shots, it𠏋 a long time before we get too see this again.

indoka28, I_WanderingSoul, rginer, ifege, jhm, SridharRao75, gunbud, Kielia, Gerrit, cfreire, Clementi, ribeiroantonio, Silversnow, skippy007, macondo, chiaretta, Sne011, litiancai, daddo, hispic, azaf1, chirasak, alftrek, vmf-214, vasilpro, judesta, Budapestman, Waylim, Sistercosmo, stego, giorgimer, Didi, patdeph, vinicio has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

indoka28 (5261) 2008-12-03 0:08

Hello Peter,

I was waiting for this ....we also were witness to this phenomenon the day before yesterday but it was not possible to take a shot because of the smog which made the whole view a bit blurred....this one is great..!! I loved the texture of this shot a lot..and the stars with those three lights on the shopre with its reflection are great..!!

thanks a lot for sharing this one..!!

Regards,
Indro

[2]

bracasha75 (24591) 2008-12-03 0:17

Helo Peter
The sky over Sydney is beautiful and the Moon with this star is very symbolic for Arab people.
Nice sommer evening Peter ,we have rain and winter here
All best ,Bratislav

I_WanderingSoul (686) 2008-12-03 0:30

Hello peter!
Wonderful capture.We saw it here too.
The smiley face was amazing and equally intriguing.
You have managed the night shot well. Even though you feel the technical details are bit messed up, the subject matter more than makes up for it.
TFS,Neelima.

jimkilgallon (0) 2008-12-03 0:48

Simply wonderful Peter, and you managed to capture the blue very well in this dark scene. Love this shot.
Regards
Jim

Buin (42580) 2008-12-03 0:57

Hallo Peter!
You show us an impressive and not everyday photo here. Besides this rare cosmic alignment it in addition has a wonderful, nearly solemn atmosphere. A great contributuion to TE!
Greetings from Germany where it is snowing the whole day!
Frank

rginer (881) 2008-12-03 1:09

Hi Peter,
Me too, I was waiting for this. Unfortunatelly at home, in Barcelona, I could not see the vision in full. Just Venus came up, bjt not Jupiter. I prefer this one. Great shot. Thank you to share it with us.

aadilj (18102) 2008-12-03 1:11

Hi peter, so you've got the phenomenon on your camera! Youve done good to get so much out of the darkness.

vmukherjee (614) 2008-12-03 1:14

Great shot of a rare event. The long exposure has worked wonders. I like the colour of the sky with the sparkling planets and moon. Also the reflections have added extrabeauty to the image. Thanks for sharing.

ifege (49539) 2008-12-03 1:19

Well done Peter,
we saw the prelude the day before and the postscript the night after but on the night.....clouds!
Having the lake to provide a reflection was an added bonus.
regards
Ian

carper (96) 2008-12-03 4:04

good arginal nightshot here,
the sharpnes is great, good composition and a nice atmosphere, good photojob, have a nice day.
regard jaap

jhm (211738) 2008-12-03 4:12

Hello Peter,

Perhaps a little bit dark bur absolutely a very nice picture for look it.
Nice perspective through the excellent choice of your angle.
This is a perfect photo alright, perfect day for photographing indeed!
The reflection is a great bonus towards this a excellent composition, very well done, TFS.

Have a nice day,
John.

Greg1949 (9011) 2008-12-03 4:35

Nice one Peter, up here the moon was on top in the view that I had. Wonderful night shot, not so over exposed as to try and make it into a day shot, well done.

Greg

SridharRao75 (280) 2008-12-03 4:43

Peter my friend:

Once again, you excel yourself. I love the colours... they're smooth - if you know what I mean. Like ebony.

A person looking only for the sky would probably prefer the vertical - but for me it's the horizontal any day.

BTW, I saw a similar alignment here - the moon with two stars below it. A smiley too but definitely not as dramatic as this. Tried photographing, but by the time I got the camera out, a cloud cover took over and put paid to my efforts.

Cheers!

Sridhar

gunbud (34066) 2008-12-03 6:31

Hi Pete,
Gotta hang a star on this one (no pun intended)! Great night sky shot with all the celestule bodies hanging in perfect harmony in this stunning night sky.
The heavenly bodies reflecting in the calm lake is a big bonus to this majestic image.
Regards, Tom

Nicou (193814) 2008-12-03 8:50

Hello,

quelle image nocturene fantastique, cette ma褾rise de lumi鋨es, ces lumi鋨e, ces 彋oiles dna le ciel et avec le reflet, grandiose, un tr鋊 belle compo.

Amiti�

Nicou

Kielia (24077) 2008-12-03 11:01

Hi Peter,
both versions are fascinating, but I prefer this one too. Great atmosphere of the night in your backyard and an excellent capture of cosmic alignment. My compliments!
Warm regards
Harriet

Nelu_Goia (3116) 2008-12-03 11:46

Hi Peter,
What a "mystical" shot you have here...The composition is great and although there is hardly any light in there, it draws the attention and makes me look for it.
Is it a night shot? I don`t know,but I like its originality.
It`s always good to be here, in your gallery:)
Thanks,
Nelu

Gerrit (62042) 2008-12-03 11:54

Hi Peter,
very succesful achievement to get this difficult job done. Excellent and very interesting work.
Regards, Gerrit

cfreire (11741) 2008-12-03 12:21

Hi Peter,
This a splendid capture; really, it's outstanding. You applied a smart pov and you obtained a wonderful result. Congratulations for your good job. Best regards, Consuelo

Clementi (52514) 2008-12-03 16:48

Ciao Peter,
thanks for showing us this unbelievable cosmic phenomenon. very beautiful the photo and very well executed.
a masterpiece
Giorgio

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2008-12-03 17:28

You did something that I also tried but could not achieve at all. My main problem was the fact that I did not have a nice view and was not able to go to where I could get it. So, my photos are just the planets on a back sky. I hope I can be here and better prepared in 2036!!! Your picture is fantastic and shows very well the event and, what is the most important for me, has a nice background. I am adding a WS with a closer view of the 鐈appy Face�. Hope you do not mind. Well done.
Antonio

[workshop] [compare] +

Silversnow (2319) 2008-12-03 18:55

Very good work on the long exposure, it's not easy to balance the brightness of the moon with that of the stars to keep enough details.

skippy007 (12510) 2008-12-03 20:53

Hello Peter, I like this, I had a go at it but mine does not have the interesting silhouette that your has, thats why mine are still in the camera.
I like the water with the reflections & prefer this one. An interesting occurrence & well captured.
Cheers
Santo

macondo (20449) 2008-12-03 21:30

Hi Peter.
You did very well, and were very lucky - here in North Melbourne it was completely clouded over.
Your long exposure worked superbly to produce a sharp and clear picture of the sky, and the other stars look marvellous too. I wouldn't complain about the moon; we usually see the rest of it with the naked eye anyway. I certainly concur with your point about the remote shutter release, something which I have bought but not yet used. You certainly have a great view from your back yard. Well done.
Regards,
Andrew

batalay (41261) 2008-12-03 22:18

Hello Peter,,

Thank you for alerting me to this fabulous image of the near syzygy that you saw in New South Wales. There have been a number of excellent posts, and this is clearly one of them. 30 seconds appears to give you a very good exposure, although with a telescope, one would normally have an electric drive to negate the earth's rotation. Here you can see the elliptical shapes created of the normally circular (or simply points),

Take a look at Hakan Delic's shot of the night sky exposed for 10 minutes, Erciyas Night. In astronomy textbooks, they will frequently include images of the night sky, shot from a mountaintop observatory far from city lights, exposed over several hours. What becomes apparent then are the concentric arcs seen as the traces of stars, evidence that the the earth is rotating.

Warm regards, and thank you again for a superb shot.

Bulent

litiancai (1048) 2008-12-04 0:45

Hi Peter,
I think you're being a little harsh on yourself, I think the photo is a technical triumph! Anything less and you would have lost the great blue colours and many of the star details, and anything more, you would have blown out the details in the sky. Actually, I much prefer this shot to the other you recommend in your notes! One thing I might have corrected though is the vignetting. The corners are clearly much darker than the rest of the photo, but that's all.
All the best
Lee

daddo (28748) 2008-12-04 1:00

Hi peter. This is a fine effort, it shows the phenomenon clearly and in addition we can enjoy the lovely atmosphere- something most suitable as we approach Christmas. Regards. Klaudio.

hispic (9658) 2008-12-04 1:05

Hello Peter,
Fantastic night image with big smilie, nice choice of the shutter speed to stop the motion of the planets and the moon. The remain light on the horizon has been exquisitely captured.
Best wishes, Hisashi

azaf1 (15931) 2008-12-04 1:39

Hi Peter
Nice advice about night shots as I can see here a very good one. Interesting info about the alignment and sharp details with the moon well depicted.
Have a nice day and TFS
Argiris

chirasak (2) 2008-12-04 2:58

Hello Peter
very nice you can make this shot because i have try to take a picture of smiling sky but i couldn't because my camera not very good
i like the most is your WS that's look perfect and very nice smile, here your note is so informative, very bad i didn't spent much time on TE lately
very nice shot TFS

Best Regards
Chirasak

alftrek (3270) 2008-12-04 6:14

Hello Peter,
Its a terrible news! I have to wait for another 28 years till I am 73 to witness this again. By then, my hands will be too shaky to hold a camera.

You really do not have to go far to get great shots such as this. Almost the same POV for your 3 postings so far but they all look exceedingly interesting. I believe you can still come out with more good shots from your picturesque backyard.

Despite the circumstantial setback, you have produced a superb image of this rare event, although the sharpness suffers a bit only on a large format. The night sky lit by the lights from the city across the horizon provides a wonderful backdrop for the 3 smilie-planets. In taking night shots, I had experienced the same problem as you mentioned. However, to reduce camera shake, you could opt for timer shutter release(say 5sec)in lieu of the remote shutter release. Understandably, without torch light you probably could not even see to change the camera setting. Thanks for sharing the event.

Regards
Alfred

foozi (7101) 2008-12-04 20:12

Hi Peter,
an excellent shot of the night. Very soft and subtle night. Very calm and peaceful nite.
Excellent composition and very impressive shot.

Regards,
Foozi

hay_kes (31439) 2008-12-04 23:23

Hi Peter,
What a stunning night image vith magnificent shot.TFS.
Cheers,

hAyAti

Sne011 (3084) 2008-12-05 2:24

Hello Peter,
This is magical scenery! I missed to see it live :( Thanks for showing this spectacular phenomena!
Have a nice weekend,
Sneza

baba_flies (8829) 2008-12-05 4:54

Hello Peter! We learn, we learn, we all do, from own experiences, but also from others, this is why we are here. But: It IS a great shot, impressive, something not everybody got to see for various reasons. Wonderful mood, it feels like standing in the grass with you trying to make this shot. The sky seems so cristal clear, it must have been a wonderful night and the sky over Sydney is still so clean, amazing. Fantastic photo, congratulations! Have a nice weekend, Barbara.

vmf-214 (1648) 2008-12-05 7:35

Hi Peter,

really out did your self with this shot and the note you posted was very helpful. I carry a small flash light and set the timer on my camera so I don't move the camera by accident. You did a excellent job capturing a great event. The reflection on the water is wonderful. Great job Peter.

Regards
Jason.

vasilpro (41801) 2008-12-05 8:50

Hello Peter
Excellent night shot, very useful notes i learned something more.
Thanks, Vasilis.

judesta (1006) 2008-12-05 16:16

Hi Peter
I was on night shift when this occurred so thanks for posting this fantastic photo. I've yet to master a great night shot of the sky and this has inspired me to get out and keep trying. The inclusion of the silhouette of the tree and reflections on the water complement this composition.
Cheers
Jude

Budapestman (82620) 2008-12-06 3:48

Hi Peter,
Wonderful photo from this special natural phenomenon. The composition spectacular, the details well discernible. I should wait for a lot until 2036... Thank you for sharing. Have a nice weekend!
George

ahmetgedikli (25609) 2008-12-06 13:12

Hi Peter,
Excellent long exposure and capture! Superb colours, lighting and very good POV. Great job!
Have a good weekend.
Ahmet

npecanhuk (79329) 2008-12-08 0:05

Hello Peter!
What a catch! You knew it, you planned it all and you were there at the perfect moment to register such interesting and beautiful scene!
Yes, the title fits wonderfully the astronomical phenomenon!
TFS - Congratulations!
Warmest regards!
Have a great week!
Neyvan

adores (46979) 2008-12-08 15:00

Hi Peter!
Good night shot! The reflection is very good and the blue sky is perfect with the moon and the stars. The exposure is very good and it's not very easy in those conditions.

Waylim (25436) 2008-12-08 18:52

Hi Peter,
I saw this as I was driving back from San Francisco. Except it was a little off not as good and it was of a reverse smiley face, since we are up in the norther Hemersphere. Great shot with excellent details, love the night mood without much light, still maintain a very good essense of the area. thanks. This off course is worth a big smile from me too.
Way

rodgerg (55767) 2008-12-09 2:39

Hello Petre,

Very original, very impressive, very nice.
A very good photowork with a good managment of a not easy light. I like the play of elements in the sky and especially the nice reflections in the water.
Best regards,
Roger

Sistercosmo (242) 2008-12-09 15:43

Hi Peter,
wow, this is simply amazing. Not the kind of subject you get to shoot very often and you've seized the moment and done a fantastic job. Amazing! Congrats on this wonderful capture!
Take care,
Linda

stego (24132) 2008-12-10 14:55

Hi Peter,
Whoever reads your note (very comprehensive and informative, I must say) without having seen the photo or even its thumbnail will expect something really bad. I don't understand why you are so disappointed, as you got a great image in all aspects, clear, well composed, beautiful and an excellent presentation of that unique phenomenon. Thank you for producing it and sharing it with us!
I agree that hay_keys has produced a wonderful image also, a kind of geometrical compo made with those heavenly bodies and the urban lights, but I suspect that he cleaned much things in PP, something you rightfully didn't.
Regards, Jos�.

COSTANTINO (117884) 2008-12-13 11:26

Hello Peter,
An original version from you and a good effort to present
to us this phenomenon...I like your subject and your useful notes...I like the moon with this star,good idea for a good shot
compliments
Costantino

westozman (0) 2008-12-14 15:23

G'day Pete!
I was going to have a crack at photographing this event, too, but I knew you'd be out there with the mozzies and the new Nikon gear, and doing a much better job, too! I'm curious to know what ISO's you tried shooting with - this image is pretty much free of noise on my monitor? July 2036, eh? That'll make me 52 again (I wish!!!).
Cheers,
Jeff

patshoo (952) 2008-12-15 0:19

Amazing natural event,Very well capture of this subject in beautiful and controlable POV with suitable position in frame,Well sharpness and good clarity too.Good work,TFS.

mauro61 (53429) 2008-12-15 0:43

ciao Peter,
complimenti, uno spettacolare notturno.
Grande definizione e perfetta gestione delle luci,
un capolavoro
buiona giornata
maurizio

giorgimer (35017) 2008-12-16 13:57

Hi Peter,

what an incredible shot! Stars and ground in a great combination, perfect exposure.

Well done!

Gio

Graal (103040) 2008-12-17 23:33

Hi Peter,
unusual night photo, good photojob. I like the finaly effect after long exposure. Nice reflections and amazing mood. Well WS also. Congratulations.
Gr., Aleksander

Nana-S (644) 2008-12-21 22:50

O M G!!! amazing!!!

Propofol (1790) 2008-12-30 19:36

Nicely done, Peter - this set up was quite difficult to capture and you have done so admirably. Clever composition to make the most of it. Well done and TFS.

Didi (61591) 2009-01-19 9:10

Hello Peter
I agree about the exposure difficult but it's a very good night shot.
Very interesting picture indeed.
Best regards.

patdeph (35750) 2009-01-30 8:27

hello Peter
superb photo!I love the brightness of the stars and the Moon in the dark blue sky,and their wonderful reflexion in the water!The black silhouettes and the yellow house light are a superb complement for the picture!Wonderful!
Regards
Pascale

Hellas (7123) 2009-04-06 4:24

Peter,
you did a very good work, indeed.
A spectacle photo, rare but real! You lived the moment and we all appreciate your will to share it with all of us.

Keep trying and keep posting beautiful images.
Thank you very much.

vinicio (23423) 2009-05-04 2:33

Very nice title and beautiful image with interesting workshops, I like this a lot, compliments Peter.
Have a nice week
Ciao
Vinicio

mafegan (8626) 2009-11-20 17:50

Hello Peter
I remember this event in the sky! I think you captured it very well from your backyard. The housing lights and their reflections add to the mood of the scene. A really nice composition. Tfs, Marlene

diomed (13926) 2010-03-05 11:53

Hi Peter,
I lost this capture in your gallery: it is a nocturn composition so perfect that you could say here you can feel all the enchantement of a dreamy night. Congratulations!
Nice WE
Antonio

gmg (4202) 2010-05-26 15:12

Magical atmosphere, a very well done night shot with something more....
TFS
gmg