One Foggy Christmas Eve Eve

Mild conditions before Christmas 2023 created fog and misty rain instead of snow starting December 22 and continuing to Christmas Day. The following five images were captured near and in Boyson Park at the border of Marion and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Above, the camera looks east along Boyson Road near Boyson Park at 7:24 am CST, December 23. 1.3 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:25 am. Looking west toward Dry Run Creek in Boyson Park. 2.5 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:32 am. 1.6 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:39 am. Looking east from footbridge over Dry Run Creek. Boyson Road is in the background at left. 1 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

7:41 am. 1/2 second exposure at f/20, ISO 100, 24mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Christmastime Reflections

Light rain--not snow, was falling when these HDR (High Dynamic Range) images of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa as seen from nearby Cedar Lake were captured early in the morning of Saturday, December 16, 2023. The image above looks southwest at 4:18 am CST. It is a combination of 1.6, 1.3 and 1 second exposures at f/4, ISO 160 and 24mm focal length.

Zoomed-in version (45mm focal length) of the top image, using the same settings, captured at 4:21 am. Air temperature was 42 degrees F, preventing the possibility of a white Christmas to this point. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Near-Gem of a Geminids

 

The Geminids Meteor Shower, annually one of the year's best, did not disappoint on its peak night of December 13/14, 2023. Unlike most meteor showers which are generated from cometary debris, the Geminids comes from Asteroid 3200. I spent nearly an hour observing and photographing the event from about 2:00 am to 3:00 am December 14 from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The image above, captured at 2:06 am, looks southeast and is a 10 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 500, 35mm focal length.

This image is a composite photograph of five separate images, captured from 2:06 am-2:52 am, and with the same settings as the single image at top. The best meteor of the night unfortunately occurred outside my camera's view--very bright and with a well-defined round head. The night was chilly (22 degrees F, with 88% humidity). Nikon Z6ii camera.

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