English: The (almost full) Moon (29 degrees elevation, 91% Waxing Gibbous / First quarter to Full moon.) Over Morro Bay, CA., 30 Oct 2009, taken with 1200mm (600mm + 2X Tele-extender). Minimal global adjustments in Lightroom in RAW conversion.

Photomorrobay Yahoo! Group Meet-up tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/photomorrobay/ Friday 30 Oct. 2009, Morro Bay, CA - Invite said: Can you Join me/us for a Photo Meet-up Friday 10/30/09 5:30 - 7PM Morro Strand State Beach at Azure Street entrance, at water's edge... for sunset (possible green flash; birds in silhouette in front of sun) and airplane's flying past moon? Bring as long a lens as you have, and a tripod for these kinds of shots. Of course, wide-angle sunsets are terrific too. Just come and have fun! Howard Ignatius and I (Mike Baird) went out yesterday (10/29/09) on a whim and loved what we saw. 6:17 PM www.flickr.com/photos/howardignatius/4056979539/ 6:09 PM www.flickr.com/photos/mikebaird/4057468736/ Sunset: 6:11PM Civil Twilight: 6:37PM Reminder, re-set your camera clocks this weekend when daylight savings time ends! (10/31 - 11/1 2009) . Tried to reproduce Two Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) fly in front of the setting sun in silhouette off Morro Strand State Beach, in Morro Bay, CA., and Airplane Flies by the Moon in post-sunset light. Photo by Michael "Mike" L. Baird, mike at mikebaird d o t com, flickr.bairdphotos.com, Canon 1D Mark III in Liveview mode (effectively locks the mirror up), IS off, remote shutter release, with Circular Polarizer (did not even adjust it), on a Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM Super Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras on a Wimberley Head II from tripodhead.com on a Gitzo GZGT5540LS Gitzo Series 5 tripod, Systematic Tele Studex 6 X Carbon Fiber 4 Section Tripod Legs with G-Lock, Maximum Load 55.0 lbs. Maximum Height 59.4 from adorama.com

Tech note: I tried a variety of ISO's... I tried ISO 800 and 1600 (400 used here) to facilitate faster shutter speeds, as the moon was moving relative to the earth, and the long lens setup had some movement in the wind. I'm wide-open here at f/8 (the lens is f/4, but w/ 2X Tele-extension the minimum (number) aperture becomes f/8 - to again allow a faster shutter. The higher ISOs resulted in some noise in the dark areas, so I trashed those. This image was probably the best, and the 1/200th second obtained was okay, but not near the 1/1200 I'd like with a 1200mm lens... it is all about compromise. By using Liveview I effectively locked the mirror up, avoiding that source of perturbation; By using a remote shutter release I avoided any impact on the camera or tripod that might have caused vibration.