Barbara, if you have just only a few days a year, my advice would be: use a sturdy tripod (I know it is heavy, nevertheless) bracket your exposure and shoot as many images as your cards allow you in the highest resolution.
BTW, you have ever been to Stonehenge? I’ve been there twice; once about 30 years ago and about 3 years ago. This wonderful monument has been almost unchanged for many centuries, but now unfortunately there are almost more fences than standing stones. You really need a clone tool.
Nevertheless it is still very impressive.
Leen
Hi, Leen.
I was lucky enough to be at Stonehenge many years ago when it was just isolated in a windy field and you could wander freely with nobody about anywhere.
Unfortunately, I have to stand in water for this one and a tripod would sink right into the muck. That’s one reason I muffed the shot–I was partly thinking about getting out before I mired down. Which means I’m not a true photographer, I realize. 🙂
I think we need an astronomer like Grant to answer that question, Barbara! However, I think the qualitative answer to your question is that the sun rises in the east on June 21st (the summer solstice), then rises slightly more to the south of east each day until Dec 21 (the winter solstice), then starts to rise further east again until the next June 21st. So I guess that would say there would be two days each year that the sun would rise from exactly the same direction…? NOAA has solar position calculators online that may help pinpoint the days – they made my eyes glaze over, however. Hope someone can come up with a better answer…!
Thanks, Chuck. I’ll try NOAA. Visit their site daily in the summer, but never really looked at anything but the Hurricane Center.
BTW, you have ever been to Stonehenge?
Back in 1988 I shot 3 rolls of film trying for the perfect angle/lighting etc., of Stonehenge. No kidding. 🙂 There was only one fence back then and yes, it is mighty impressive.
Joe
For anybody who’ll never make it to the real Stonehenge, there’s a replica on a bluff overlooking the Columbia River on the Washington side. Really interesting! And the view is gorgeous.
That’s fascinating, Beth. Is it a full size replica? Can you see the sun on the solstice?
Barbara, Chuck’s logic makes a lot of sense. If you took the picture 20 days before the winter solstice, the sun should probably be in a similar position 20 days after the solstice.
My Google search didn’t turn up anything very impressive, but here’s one that, I think, answers your question about the solstice. And, yes, it is a full size replica. I took some pictures when we were there in May, but they aren’t too good because I’m the one who takes snapshots and not photographs! I’ll look through the image files and see if I find anything worth posting.
<
http://www.thebarrens.com/barrens-stonehenge.html>
Beth, I think this is the same one that is on my XP machine…wallpaper. Geeze, and all this time I thought it was the actual stonehenge. The clouds are almost identical !
Really? I’ll have to go in and fire up the XP and see if I can find it!
Jodi, I think the website offers free wallpaper of several images. Perhaps you have ventured there before…
Barbara,
I think there’s a fairly simple way to find the right date in the spring. The winter solstice this year is on December 22. Let’s say the right day this fall was December 20, 2 days before the solstice. The sun will be in the same position 2 days after the solstice, or the 24th.
If the right day was November 18, that’s 34 days before the solstice. So 34 days later is Jan 25. Fun math!
Speaking of Hurricanes. This typhoon recently passed south of Guam where I work about eight weeks a year. The winds near the center were over 210 mph and the storm itself was about 1,000 miles in diameter.
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/guam/GUAMIR.JPGwrote in message
Thanks, Chuck. I’ll try NOAA. Visit their site daily in the summer, but
never really looked at anything but the Hurricane Center.
