A selfie of me observing the waxing gibbous Moon in the evening twilight on Dec 8, 2019, using binoculars. I shot this for a book illustration. This is a blend of a long exposure for the sky and foreground and a short exposure for the Moon to retain detail in its disk. With the Canon EOS Ra and 15-35mm RF lens at 35mm.
The waxing crescent Moon and three planets in a line across the southwestern evening sky on Nov. 30, 2019, a chilly and frosty night. Saturn is below and to the right of the Moon, Venus is brightest at centre, while Jupiter is to the lower right of Venus just above the horizon. Those two planets were in conjunction a week earlier. The line of Moon and planets visibly defines the ecliptic low across the late autumn evening sky. This is from latitide 51° N. I shot this from the viewpoint at Blackfoot Crossing overlooking the Bow River in Alberta. Jupiter and Saturn are on the ecliptic, but the Moon and Venus lie below the ecliptic here, due to the inclination of their orbits. This is a panorama of two segments, with the Canon 15-35mm RF lens at 35mm, and the red-sensitive Canon EOS Ra camera, good for sunsets. The segments were stitched with Adobe Camera Raw. Clouds and snow the previous two nights prevented me from shooting the grouping when the Moon was closer to the planets, but this evening line is a fine consolation prize!
The conjunction of Venus and Jupiter of November 23, 2019, as seen over the foothills and front ranges of the Rocky Mountains in southwest Alberta. I shot this from the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, prior to their monthly Open House event that night with about 400 in attendance. But at this time it was just me and one other ardent photographer present to shoot this scene. This is an HDR blend (stacked using Adobe Camera Raw) of 5 exposures at 2/3-stop intervals, with the Rokinon 85mm lens at f/4 on the red-sensitive Canon EOS Ra camera at ISO 100. It works great on sunsets, bringing out the reds and magenta hues. The high dynamic range blending brings out details in the dark foreground without blowing out the highlights in the bright sky. A mild application of an overlay-mode dodge-and-burn layer touches up the mid-tone luminosity levels.
