Image of the Week: Moonlit Palms, Anza-Borrego State Park, California

Today's digital cameras have come a long way.

I love photographing the night sky; so much so that for the past few years, as I've made the transition from film to digital, I've kept an all-manual, 35mm or medium format camera in my bag capable of the long exposure times necessary to capture the low light levels of the starry sky, or moonlit landscape. The mechanical shutters require no batteries to operate and can be held open for hours and hours.

You see, until recently, digital cameras just weren't up to the task. Their imagers weren't sensitive enough to register fine detail at low light levels, and the long exposures resulted in extremely noisy photographs, sometimes exhibiting discolored areas near the sensor edges where electrical charge from the chip's power supply bled onto the pixels. Of course, that would only happen if the camera's battery lasted more than 10 or 15 minutes.

Things have changed in the last couple of years. Imaging chips are more sensitive, they're producing images with incredibly low noise, and doing it more efficiently than ever.

This week's image was an eye opener for me. During the full moon in Anza-Borrego State Park in California, I used a 4x5 Field Camera and a Nikon D300 to shoot some moonlit landscapes. The dynamic range of the Nikon beat the pants off of the 4x5 Fuji Provia film.

From now on, at least at night, the film cameras are staying at home.

Technical Data

Moonlit Palms, Anza-Borrego State Park, California was photographed with a Nikon D300 camera and 17-35mm ƒ/2.8 lens. The exposure was 3 minutes at ƒ/5.6 at ISO 200.

Other Images of the Week

Moonrise and Abandoned Trailers, Anza-Borrego Desert, California UVM Mallory, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont, Palladium Print Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Melissa and Parker, Columbia, South Carolina Old Stone Row in Winter, Middlebury, Vermont Worth Mountain Ski Lift in a Snowstorm, Middlebury College Snow Bowl, Green Mountains, Vermont Farmer and Pilot Ed Peet, Cornwall, Vermont
Birches, Middlebury, Vermont Mountain Palm Springs, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Bullseye, Citronelle, Alabama Lunging UVM Orlando, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont Barns IV, Middlebury, Vermont Fallen Tree in the Creek, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Blacksmith Lee Beckwith, Weybridge, Vermont
Snow Angel, Middlebury, Vermont Slack Line, Middlebury, Vermont Coffee Splash Barns III, Middlebury, Vermont Beulah in the Carrizo Badlands, Anza-Borrego Desert, California Chapel of the Transfiguration, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Cross-Country Runner Alexandra Krieg, Middlebury, Vermont
Horse Bath, Morgan Horse Farm, Weybridge, Vermont Whitney, Citronelle, Alabama The North Window from Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah Jeff, Middlebury College, Vermont Hostas II, Middlebury, Vermont Hikers in Coyote Gulch I, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah Ocotillo Shadow, Abandoned Cabin, Anza-Borrego State Park, California
Moonlit Palms, Anza-Borrego State Park, California Park Avenue, Arches National Park, Utah Ashton and Whitney, Citronelle, Alabama Steven Halladay Road III Fall colors and ivy-covered wall, Middlebury College, Vermont Maple Tree, Middlebury, Vermont
Jesse Hamner at Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone NP Aon Center from Millenium Park, Chicago Mountain Biking I Boulders II, Canyonlands National Park, Utah Hosta Leaves Joe The Pour
Skylar

Moonlit Palms, Anza-Borrego State Park, California. Click on image to view larger.