It can be tough to take pictures of the sky from the city, but with a little planning, clear skies and some equipment you can capture some nice shots. Tonight the thin waxing crescent Moon and Venus were close together in the southwest just after sunset. I set up my tripod, put on the telephoto lens and took a bunch of shots. I experimented with various ISO settings and exposure times so I could see the earthshine reflecting off of the unlit parts of the Moon’s surface. I set the lens to its maximum aperture so the depth of field would be as narrow as possible. Then the trees in the foreground would be far out of focus and would be less likely to block the pinpoint Venus. Lightroom was used to do some white balance adjustments, sharpening and cropping.
