Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.
I’m a much, much less active photographer than you, but for years and years I’ve been fascinated with capturing the moon, usually full, in specific ways. For example, daytime full moon with the craters in sharp relief. I’ve got a good one like that. For the past 5-10 years I’ve been trying to capture the full moon rising over the mountains, framing the ridge top trees’ silhouettes in the foreground. It’s at the place that I go to every year for vacation, and that means I get 1-3 nights, which must be clear, and no more than a minute or two for the moon to be in the perfect place. It’s really brought home to me how much easier such a task was with the simpler SLR’s of my college years, when none of the settings affected any of the others. I have a moderately long zoom fixed lens camera (small sensor, but quite a good lens) and I’ve maxed out what I can get with that. Over the years I’ve rented various bridge cameras, but this past time an SLR and a fairly long lens. Frustrating though, because the interfaces are complex and I only have a short time to figure them out until I have to take my shot. Next year I’m renting an SLR and a 600mm lens, and buying a decent tripod, and will see if I can attache the remote I have to it so I can trigger without the shake. This time, for sure!
That’s pretty good resolution for ISO1600. I can’t get anywhere near that with my phone. Still have my SLR and large formats in the closet, but don’t want to go back to film process.
Clicking through your uploads on Flickr, the flying egret (?) over its reflection in the water is very nice. Perhaps you already posted it on OTB and I missed it.
I’m a much, much less active photographer than you, but for years and years I’ve been fascinated with capturing the moon, usually full, in specific ways. For example, daytime full moon with the craters in sharp relief. I’ve got a good one like that. For the past 5-10 years I’ve been trying to capture the full moon rising over the mountains, framing the ridge top trees’ silhouettes in the foreground. It’s at the place that I go to every year for vacation, and that means I get 1-3 nights, which must be clear, and no more than a minute or two for the moon to be in the perfect place. It’s really brought home to me how much easier such a task was with the simpler SLR’s of my college years, when none of the settings affected any of the others. I have a moderately long zoom fixed lens camera (small sensor, but quite a good lens) and I’ve maxed out what I can get with that. Over the years I’ve rented various bridge cameras, but this past time an SLR and a fairly long lens. Frustrating though, because the interfaces are complex and I only have a short time to figure them out until I have to take my shot. Next year I’m renting an SLR and a 600mm lens, and buying a decent tripod, and will see if I can attache the remote I have to it so I can trigger without the shake. This time, for sure!
That’s pretty good resolution for ISO1600. I can’t get anywhere near that with my phone. Still have my SLR and large formats in the closet, but don’t want to go back to film process.
Clicking through your uploads on Flickr, the flying egret (?) over its reflection in the water is very nice. Perhaps you already posted it on OTB and I missed it.
It’s not silver at all! It’s more of a bronze, I think.