Moonrise over the Arbel Cliffs (Israel)

December 31, 2012  •  Leave a Comment

This image has taken some preparation. I wanted to catch the full moon rises just on the cliff, with the valley below. It required some planning, to make sure the moon rises at least close to the cliff. I chose the location for shooting so I'll have a good angle on the valley, and a good chance of getting the moon on the cliff. Thinking of it now - I think it's the only possible location for this shot, so this image is actually quite unique.

 After an hour and a half drive, I Got to the place a little late, only around half an hour before moonrise. The first thing I saw when I arrived at the place was... power lines, right on my view. I decided to stand right below them so they won't appear in the shot. It did shorten the focal length I planned on using (so the moon became smaller in the shot), but it was that or cloning which I wanted to avoid.

 After some wondering in the muddy trails of fields and orchards, walking towards the edge of the valley, it seemed that the entire area was surrounded by a cattle fence... but after a few minutes of searching I've found a place where some dogs or jackals dug underneath, so I manged to squeeze myself and get under the fence.

 Luckily moonrise was around 17:00, which meant that there was still light to focus the camera on the cliff. But soon it became quite dark and the moon still hadn't arrived... It was hazy and there was a chance of the moon to appear only when it was completely above the cliff, but it took only several minutes of wait to find out, so I waited. Meanwhile I decided to improve my point of view and framing. It took some focus bracketing to re-focus the image, and just then the moon appeared... Contradicting every Murphy's Law available - right when I was ready. Soon after, jackals started howling right on the other side of the valley - like a movie scene... 

Well, the azimuth calculation was ok, but since the cliff is higher than the horizon, the moon shone just to the right of the edge. Nevertheless, it still made a nice image, and still leaves something to try for next year...

 

 


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