The weather forecast on the 3rd of September looked good for a sunset picture and maybe a moonrise and hopefully, some astrophotography (a picture of the Milky Way). The Moon phase was 96% Waning Gibbous and rising in the eastern sky at 08:40 PM. The Milky Way was visible in the southern sky after 08:30 PM. It was nice and calm at my house with clear skies. Clear skies were also forecast for Harkers Island, but when I got there it was windy. The wind was coming out to southwest at 20 plus knots. I had a hard time keeping my tripod secure. I was unable to keep the tripod steady, so no astrophotography for the evening. When I got home, the sky was clear, and the wind was calm. There was a trade-off, calm winds, and eaten up alive by bugs, or windy conditions and blurry pictures. A nice breeze under 10 knots would have been perfect, but not 20 plus knots. Also, I thought I had the camera acclimate to the humidity, but when I started taking pictures my lens started fogging up. So I missed a nice sunset. Next time I’ll give my camera more time to acclimate to the environment. When I departed for the shore it was 95 degree so I had the A/C on, when I got to Harkers Island the temperature was down 85 and turned my A/C off to acclimate my equipment, plus I had the camera out of the bag for 15 minutes prior to using it. It still wasn’t enough.
The sun about ready to set at Harkers Island:
Twilight at Harkers Island facing southwest after sunset:
Moon at 96% Waning Gibbous:
Equipment Used:
Nikon D7500
Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM FL (for Twilight and sunset)
Nikon DX AF-S NIkkor 55-300mm | 4.5-5.6 G ED
Tripod
B+W Circular Polarizer Filter (for sunrise)
