Sun Halos, Moon Halos and a Tree at Sunrise

Over the past 12 hours I’ve photographed halos around the Sun and Moon and woke up early and was lucky enough to capture the amazing sunrise.

This was the first time that I can remember having halos following each other, certainly the first time I’ve captured them. The sunset was just a bonus, I hadn’t planned on waking up early I just did!

Sun Halos

I was out at Lake Eppalock in Central Victoria for a change of scenery for dinner instead of being at home, basically a late picnic with water views.

The lake is currently at just under 54% capacity and this allows for more areas to explore and the shoreline as land raises above the waterline.

While sitting and eating near the water I looked behind me towards the Sun and through my sunnies noticed a slight halo around it. This made me get up and see what my phone could see. The halo stood out a little better on the phone so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots trying to align the trees in front to get a more interesting image.

Unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the water to include it in the foreground so the shrubs and small trees would have to suffice!

Multiple captures over time as the Sun and its halo got lower on the horizon.

As. you can see I captured quite a few shots testing compositions out. I’ve only worked on a few of the images adding a little warmth into them which I think gives the image a little something extra.

Moon and Halos

I usually watch for the Moons phases but had no idea it was an almost full moon on this night and as such didn’t bring along my 40-150mm telephoto lens to capture some close up images of the moon rising over the water right next to a gum tree on the horizon.

All I had with me was my new 8-25mm lens and 25mm just doesn’t cut it for shots of the moon but I tried anyway.

When I got back home I swapped to my 40-150mm lens and snapped a few shots of the higher in the sky Moon that looked really good through the light cloud, but not as good as earlier back at the lake!

Around 11pm I went outside again and saw the halo around the Moon. Again I grabbed the camera, swapped to the 7-14mm 2.8 (great for astrophotography) and walked over to the local oval to get away from houses and most trees. After a few different photos I headed back home out of the not so cold night air.

Trying different things all captured with manual focus and in full manual mode. I’ve worked on some adjusting the colour temperature. The cool blue ones can look great sometimes!

A Tree at Sunrise

I tend to wake up around 6am a lot of mornings and on this occasion as I do with most I took a look out the window. This time there was potential for a great sunrise and with it already looking great I grabbed my camera with the 8-25mm attached. With no time to change clothes that better suit a bike ride, I started off to a location in tracksuit pants, jumper and thongs, not too far away to capture the sunrise with a favourite tree of mine in the foreground.

As I headed off on my bike with camera and excellent footwear for riding :) the sunrise looked as if it were fading. Not to be tricked by nature again (I’ve packed up too early before and missed the best light) I shot off to the location of the tree while looking out for kangaroos in the pre-dawn light.

Sunrise was at 6:30am and I had 10-15 minutes of pre-sunrise light, that was getting better and better. The light before the sun breaches the horizon is just magic!