Moon Shot Fail, and, of course, Tennis Ball Action

Last night's moon photo shoot was a bit of a bust.  My kit 80-300mm telephoto lens really isn't that good, and while my 50-200mm lens is good, the 2x adapter (that we had laying around) is junk.  So, if I ever decide to get serious about shooting a full moon (or any other moon), I think I'll spend the $70 and rent a 15-600mm lens for a week and see how that goes.

However, in full disclosure, here are my moon shots...

The best of the lot....

Not bad, eh? 

Okay, that wasn't exactly the photo that I shot....

**Warning** If you don't want to know the secret behind that shot (and every big moon with a visible foreground photography you've ever seen), skip down to the dog photos....  Because, of course, that really isn't one shot.  Here's the moon, in as much detail as I could get (which wasn't much...).

Yes, it is the moon, but it's not very sharp, and that's as zoomed in as I can get.  Nothing to write home about.

And here I've adjusted the aperture and shutter speed and try to see if I could get a little bit of the foreground.

Interesting.  Sort of.

EVERY photography book/website says to do to get the clear moon with visible foreground shot - take two photos and use Photoshop.  No, really, that's what they say.  Which gave me the first shot.  Hey, at least I learned something - I know how all those breath-taking moon shots are done.  But it would be fun to rent a big lens some time and see if the moon really is made of green cheese!

But since those photos were shot yesterday (at 9:30-10pm, as the ambient day light was vanishing and the moon was rising), I had to get some photos for today to fulfill the 'shot-a-day' goal.  So, here are some doggie shots.

Super dog!

Tennis ball zoomies!

Keep your eye on the ball!

Ear flappage!

Stealthy, like a mountain lion.  Or a Hippobottomus.

Get under the ball!

When in doubt, employ crazy eyes!

The tennis ball action had its desired effect!

Day 194/365.