If you live on my side of the world (well, Asia), you'd probably have noticed the sale of mooncakes and lanterns all around you - in the malls, stores, supermarkets. Basically everywhere you turn you'd be reminded about the Mid-Autumn Festival (ä¸ç§‹èŠ‚), also known as Mooncake Festival. If you were to ask me what Mid-Autumn Festival is about, all I remember is an important figure called Chang-E (嫦娥) and that her story relates to the moon...But I did come across this NLB article about the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are multiple origin stories, so I guess you can believe the one you like best!
What I do know is, Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the Lunar calendar, which always features a full moon. And having seen so many moon photos associated with the Nikon Coolpix P1000 camera, I decided to give this Moon mode a try on this full moon night.
Where Did the Moon Go?
The moon was particularly difficult to spot tonight as where I live is surrounded by tall buildings. But my husband and I managed to find a spot on an overhead bridge, with a clear view of the moon, centered between two buildings. I set the Nikon Coolpix P1000 to the Moon mode and started zooming in on the moon.
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| Picture of the Full Moon using the Grey color mode. [Settings: f/6.3, ISO-180, 1700 - 35mm focal length] |
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| Picture of the Full Moon on Mid Autumn Festival. [Settings: f/6.3, ISO-320, 1600 - 35mm focal length] |
I realized it takes an incredibly steady hand, and a complete lack of fear of embarrassment to take moon photos, as I adopted a rather unflattering stance while trying to plant my feet firmly to capture these moon shots. I just ignored all the curious stares from passerbys...It's surprising what level of detail you can capture with the Nikon Coolpix P1000, even without using the full zoom on the camera.
In comparison, here are a few moon photos taken on the 13th day of the Lunar calendar.
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| 13th Lunar Day moon. [Settings: f/6.3, ISO-400, 2000 - 35mm focal length] |
I'm still pretty amazed at seeing the lines on the moon! Stay tuned for more updates when I take the camera for another night photography spin, and learn what results the 3000mm zoom can yield.
Stay happy and positive till the next post, cheers!
