Shoot the moon

[Grandpa Ron]

I am sure that every beginner has asked the question.

Let me say that over the years I have photographed the moon through my telescope, with a telephoto lens and even the last eclipse. Most of which was with B&W film.

My problem is all my photos are of the moon, not the moon as part of the settings. On my property the moon rises through the tree line and can be framed with some of the holes it the branches. It would make a great shot but.....

By the time the moon rises high enough to photograph in the trees, it is white and bright. So much so that if I set the exposure slow enough to catch the leaf out lines the moon detail is washed out completely. If I stop down the exposure to see the man-in-the-moon details, the leaves are lost in the black.

I am shooting an Olympic DSLR on the manual setting, the best moon shots are f8 at 1/60 with an ISO of 100. The best leaf shots are f8 at 2 seconds. The camera does not have changeable lenses, the max f stop is f8, I believe the ISO will go down to 50, and the shutter can be extended to several seconds.

It may be more than the camera can do but at this point I am open to suggestions with either digital or film format. I really did not want to have to use a photo-shop type program to manipulate the image, if it can be done with the camera.

Any suggestions?

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi there,
what you need to do is light your foreground - the leafs, so that it matches the exposure of the moon. You would probably need a flash, but you could try with a rather strong continous light source. If you don´t like the color of the light, you can use gel filters to change it.
My guess however would be that the foreground would be blurry due to rather shallow depth and maybe the wind moving the branches.
I hope that helps.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

I thought of the light but the flash is far to weak and it is too far from the house to try extension cords, however your hint made me think of the truck lights; worth a try.

Thanks,

 

[photo1x1.com]

Sounds like an interesting project .
Btw: the truck lights probably won't light in the correct direction. But you can use mirrors to direct it accordingly.
And for the flash: you could wirelessly trigger it if this is something you really want to do. Some rental houses offer the right equipment.
I would be happy to see your result

I thought of the light but the flash is far to weak and it is too far from the house to try extension cords, however your hint made me think of the truck lights; worth a try.

Thanks,

 

[DarkShadow]

High power Spotlight rechargeable or one that plugs in the power source of the vehicle then just find a place to support it like between the window and door frame in the direction you want or do individual shots and do a composite if you work with PS.

 

[zombiesniper]

The other way to do this is set a slower shutter speed, say 3 seconds and then paint in the trees with a flashlight.

Jr. and I have done this in the past with stars and trees.

 

[wfooshee]

You've discovered dynamic range, or rather the lack thereof. The camera can't take in anywhere near as wide a light range as your eye. (Well, technically, neither can your eye, for a full scene - you only "see" the part you're actually looking at, but your eye can move around the scene, compensating as it goes. The camera has to render the complete scene.)

Are you trying to silhouette the leaves, or have them visible as a landscape? You may be forced into compositing your image... taking a shot of the moon, then at another time, when the moon isn't in the shot, taking a shot of the landscape, then assembling the image in your photo editing software.

 

[TreeofLifeStairs]

You've discovered dynamic range, or rather the lack thereof. The camera can't take in anywhere near as wide a light range as your eye. (Well, technically, neither can your eye, for a full scene - you only "see" the part you're actually looking at, but your eye can move around the scene, compensating as it goes. The camera has to render the complete scene.)

Are you trying to silhouette the leaves, or have them visible as a landscape? You may be forced into compositing your image... taking a shot of the moon, then at another time, when the moon isn't in the shot, taking a shot of the landscape, then assembling the image in your photo editing software.

I would do a composite of it. If you know where the moon will be you can take pictures as the sun is setting and then one of the moon when it passes into the frame then composite the two images that match the best.


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app

 

[TCampbell]

f/8 & 1/80th seems like that’ll be a bit bright for the moon. A moon should expose correct at f/11 if the shutter speed is the inverse of the ISO. (E.g. ISO 100, f/11, 1/100th ... or any equivalent such as ISO 100, f/8, 1/200ths).

This is only over-exposed by about 1.5 stops... and given the dynamic range of the camera, it can probably recover from that.

For foreground... one technique is to shoot during the “blue hour” (that dusky time roughly 1/2 hour after the sunset.) The ambient light is still enough to provide some light on the foreground, but the moon competes well enough with the dusky blue sky to stand out.

The moon rises roughly 1 hour later each day (not quite a full hour... but close). So if you wanted a “full” moon in the photo, you could grab that shot 1 day *before* the actual full moon. The moon will still appear “full” but will up when the sky is still dusky blue ... instead of black... and tends to make a more interesting shot because it has rich color.

Once it’s completely “dark” the moon is the strongest source of light. Any foreground object will basically be silhouettte.

 

[photoflyer]

Double exposure? Shoot the foreground. Then wait until the moon rises and shoot the moon and then combine the images. Just a thought.