slides: James Clayton Sattel’s RI Summer: Moon Over Aquidneck

Saturday, August 04, 2012

James Clayton Sattel, GoLocalProv Contributor

Photographer James Clayton Sattel is passionate about Rhode Island, particularly those shores, crags, and vistas of his home island: Aquidneck. GoLocalProv is delighted to be collaborating with Jim this summer on curated sets of his images that capture coastal life so vividly.

With a big summer moon up in the sky this weekend, Jim chose a selection of his favorite lunar shots on the island. "Photographing the moon is a real challenge," he said. "Initially I would completely open the aperture, set an ISO of 300 and set a shutter speed of say 1 sec... and my results were simply awful. I'd get a big white disk and a washed-out backround. As I experimented, I began to decrease the shutter speed say to 125 and set the aperture to f16 or so. The result of those settings gave me good definition, texture, and color. Next, I wanted to catch the moon within 15 minutes of moon-rise and create a composition that included the moon and an interesting back-drop. You really want to plan your best angle and shoot from lighthouses, the bridges, coves, etc., which provide a good opportunity to take some unique shots.

To see more of or purchase Sattel's distinctive views, go here.

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Pell Bridge

The silvery moon is offset in this view of the bridge by the twinkling lights that define the span. Is there any prettier bridge in America?

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Mt. Hope Bridge

This was a morning, moon-set shot. There is some nice color from the rising sun. The height of the bridge allowed me to juxtapose the moon with the bridge, otherwise, there is so much distance between the moon and the bay that it would make the composition rule of 3's impossible.

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Sachuest Beach

The moon really does play on every surface of the water, and the low, rolling waves at Sachuest gave the light ample places to refract.

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Pink Moon

As many people are taking photos of the sunset, I always look in the opposite direction. I love the bend of the light, making for pink tinges, like these in the thin clouds obscuring the rising moon.

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Sails Under Moon

That same pink does its work here, creating a bright ribbon between the bright moon and the sails beneath.

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Swan and Moon

I took advantage of a very calm bay to photograph this swan at Island Park in Portsmouth. It's fun to compose a subject, the moon's reflection and the water.

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Moonlit Masts

This otherwordly scene was in the dark of night in the harbor. I think the moon's halo adds a whole spooky dimenion to those dark masts.

We get that interesting ring around the moon thanks to thin clouds of crystals high in the Earth's atmosphere. When the light passes through them, it's bent in a way similar to a light passing through a lens.