It’s Like Night & Day! Views From Spiliazeza

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night time view of makronisos and aegean sea

“It’s like night and day!” was an oft used idiom (I haven’t heard it in a while) to describe something that contrasted very differently from something else. For example, a teacher might say, “It’s like night and day how your marks have changed from last semester to this semester. Keep up the good work.”

I’ve posted a few photos of my daytime views from Spiliazeza (Lavreotiki, Attica), which I know I’m blessed to have. They are spectacular. But, there are some nights when the views are equally spectacular but in a different way, especially when the moon is bright. But first, for contrast – a daytime photo taken during the day on April 12th, 2022:

view of east end of makronisos looking out at the aegean sea

This was taken from in front of my house. It’s the view I see everyday, even from inside the house looking out the south windows including from the kitchen doing dishes. Who complains about doing dishes when they have this view to look at?? 🙂

For photo technical reference, it was taken with my Nikon D7000 DSLR, and a Nikkor 70-300mm lens at 95mm, 320ASA (not sure why I had it so high), aperture of f16, and shutter speed 1/250th of a second.

Night Photography

Many years ago, back in the days of non digital SLRs and 35mm film rolls, I was fascinated with night photography and read and studied as much as I could, and tried to take decent night time photos. Of course, it wasn’t as easy to do as today; film cost money as did developing and printing it. When the age of digital arrived on the scene, I was too busy to devote to learning all the ins and outs of a DSLR camera, and for another, they were way beyond my budget!

So, I’ve forgotten so much, but with this Nikon, I plan to relearn some of the things, and as much new as I can in the time I have. With that said, while the moon was not full on April 14th, 2022 but it was big enough and bright enough to provide an amazing night time view from practically the same location I was standing when I took the above day time photo.

I fumbled around with the tripod and trying to remember how to get the correct settings on the camera to work the remote shutter release, and then tried a few different shots at various exposures. One thing I forgot to check was the level horizon and as I get a little older, my eyes don’t work the same… but nevertheless, I ended up with two photos out of the several I took, that I like. Maybe you might like them as well:

Photo 1:

almost full moonlight shining on Makronisos and Aegean
Almost Full moon shining down on the Aegean Sea and Mikronisos

This was taken with the shutter open for 10 seconds with the same lens (Nikkor 70-300mm) at 70mm, f4.5, 1000ASA or ISO. It was taken as a RAW image and then “developed” with darktable (which I am still trying to figure out – and only some basic adjustments such as a mild exposure adjustment, slight haze removal for extra crispness, and local contrast applied. Also, the “Velvia” filter, which I really like)..

Photo 2:

almost full moon shining on makronisos with shutter speed of 5 seconds
Almost Full moon shining down on the Aegean Sea and Mikronisos

This photo was taken in the same place, but a few minutes later – same lens, same zoom setting of 70mm, also 1000 ISO and shutter speed of 10 seconds, but with aperture of f-11. And again, just some light developing in darktable.

Anyway, it’s the difference between night and day here, some nights. And some days, especially when they are gorgeous and there are no clouds in the sky. Do you have a preference between the above photos? I’d love to know – leave a comment below!

1 thought on “It’s Like Night & Day! Views From Spiliazeza”

  1. I prefer photo #1.
    Might have something to do with my love of purple, but it just looks better to me. Also, one can see more detail in the scene.

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