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Leo Charette | all galleries >> Kitchen Sink >> Picture A Day Project >> PAD (Year 1) > By the Light of the Moon
(11.27.04)
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27-NOV-2004

By the Light of the Moon
(11.27.04)

(Day 52) I'm continuing my experiments with low-light photography. This is the moon taken about 1/2 hour before sunrise with an 8 second exposure. I still haven't figured out how to get the moon in focus.... Across the road this was the scene facing east.


Nikon Coolpix 5700
8s f/5.2 at 10.7mm iso100 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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Dan31-Jul-2005 01:25
Excellent. The image makes you feel as if you are there.
snootydog29-Jul-2005 15:24
This is a beautiful photo regardless of whether the moon has sharp edges or not. I have just read Dave's very useful explanation and thought I would share my story with lunar lighting. One night I was attempting to shoot the moon when it was doing its red thing. I set everything up on a very sturdy tripod and attempted to capture a sharp focused moon. Every exposure I made was a few seconds long. No matter what I did I could not make a focused shot. I must have had 50 blurry little red orb photos. After much discouragement I finally packed up my gear and headed home and then it hit me... if the moon was rising of course I couldn't get a focused shot -- I was doing a long exposure on a moving object. I felt more than just a wee bit stupid.
Dave Wyman26-Feb-2005 05:34
Beautiful picture.

I don't know if you've figured this out since you posted this picture, but the moon most definitely IS in focus. However, because you've made such a long exposure, you have completely burned out any detail in the moon, while recording detail in the landscape. The moon in fact reflects daylight - what we see is sunlight bounced off the moon, and it requires a "normal" daylight exposure.

At ISO 100, which you used, proper exposure would be something around 1/250 sec at f/11. But your exposure for the foreground was 8 full seconds at f5.2! The difference is too great for the sensor in your camera to work with.

There are some ways out of this problem. For example, one would be to simply wait a couple of minutes, giving the moon time to move to a new position. Make a second exposure. Combine the two pictures, but clone out the original, "burned out" moon with the surrounding sky.

Sorry if I've said more than I should, but this is a cool photo and you only need to try a little experimentation to put the moon in the right light.

Dave
Guest 20-Feb-2005 21:36
Wow, this is spectacular!
Stu28-Nov-2004 23:39
Beautifully done.
Karen Stuebing28-Nov-2004 14:55
Wow this is wonderful. Do you ever take a bad photo? :)
Robin Reid28-Nov-2004 06:22
When you get that figured out let me know will ya? Nice image.
northstar3728-Nov-2004 05:17
un-earthly moon!
Guest 28-Nov-2004 05:09
What an amazing photo! The moon doesn't need to be in focus here - it works quite well as a big luminous ball of heavenly light. Well done!
Elaine (etfitz)28-Nov-2004 03:21
Great low light! Beautiful scene!
Gary Blanchette28-Nov-2004 02:32
I love this image!
Pedro Libório27-Nov-2004 23:04
both beautiful indeed!
regards.
Larry Ahern27-Nov-2004 22:30
Both are very beautiful shots!!
jude27-Nov-2004 22:28
Very nice photo - very frameable. I had trouble with my moon shot last night. Had to put it in manual and then i had trouble focusing.. trial and error I guess. You seem to have gotten this down great though
laine8227-Nov-2004 22:16
WEll the moon might be blurred but the rest is perfectly clear. Beautiful looking place.
Gayle P. Clement27-Nov-2004 21:53
The scene and lighting are wonderful.
René Gysi27-Nov-2004 21:47
Beautiful composition. Good work.
Cindy27-Nov-2004 21:43
They are both beautiful, with an 8 sec. exposure, I don't believe you can get the moon in focus, it would overexpose as it did here, but I like it, I love both pics actually. Wonderful work.
markvm27-Nov-2004 20:12
Looks like your experimenting has paid off. Lighting is very nice!