Hazy November Moon

The haze caused some glare that blew out some of the lunar detail. Inaddition, I was a little late (that is, the land was already dark, sothat even two stops of exposure compensation was not enough to keepthe moon from over-exposing), and my tripod mount was not holding--andso I used a fencepost. Combine that with the fact that the lens wasjust not quite long enough (even with this crop), and so this picturewound up being a good bit more lacking in detail than I had intended. Perhaps another time. . . . Shooting the full moon without blowingout all the detail is always a worthy challenge, in my opinion. Comments welcome.

--Lannie

I like this - the barn doesn't take away from the prominence of the moon.

Thanks, Diane.

--Lannie

such nice light balance.

Thank you, Jamie.  Every time I look at this, I think of how ill-prepared I was to shoot that night.  I had forgotten it was the full moon until it was five minutes before sunset.  I had forgotten to tighten up the head on my tripod, and so it was inoperable.  After all that, I was just happy to come away with something to remind me of the day.

Later,  I went downtown and shot railroad tracks.  It was such a beautiful night that I just didn't want to go in.

--Lannie

Thank you, Jamie.

--Lannie

Landrum, I have never seen the moon that color.  Is it possible that the sky still had color and you white balanced on the sky rather than the moon?  I tried using the moon to get white balance (it is lighted by pure sunlight so should look white) and got this.

Jerry

No, the colors are simply too saturated, Jerry, but the hue is pretty accurate.  I noticed that the moon was quite yellow, as it was the next night--at least while it was low.  Smog from Charlotte might have been a factor, since we had an inversion at the time.

--Lannie

 

 

 

Not near the horizon, Jerry. . . .

 

--Lannie

Short-term preparation never seems to be perfect.  If for no other reason, opportunities come along without warning.  But long-term preparation, good instincts, you seem to have that nailed. j

You're too generous, Jamie, but I appreciate the kind remarks.  I hope that after my shoulder heals, I will have a chance to implement some better ideas as to what it takes to get what I want: pictures in which both lunar and terrestrial detail are captured in the same frame without having to shop in a lunar image from a different shot.

--Lannie

i think you've done it well here.  i love the haze around the moon.  makes it clear that it was not a simple photoshop job.

Lannie:  I think this photo works well.  It looks very natural. The whole being prepared thing is great, but a fencepost is better than a tripod any day.  This  photo I wouldn't post process, it's good as is. Tom

Thanks, Tom, but if some fine day arrives when I get the chance to do this again (after the shoulder has completely healed, that is), then I will definitely want my tripod working right.  I also want to use a 300mm lens on a crop sensor body, so that some real detail on the lunar surface will be visible.

I really need to find a better place, though.  The moon can be easily seen from this road, but there is not much in the foreground to make the picture all that interesting.  If I could find a place with a little simple white house off to one side and below the moon, I think that that would look very nice just after sunset, while the land is still bright and the white house is reflecting the light from the western sky--with the craters of the moon visible.  I would like to live long enough to do that.

Here is Phil Walters' fine shot of the moon over an ocean pier:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=11999444&size=lg

--Lannie

Here is Bill Boyd's September moon:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=11680374

--Lannie

I've seen lots of yellow moons, and why not, everyone knows they are made of cheese!  ; - )

But seriously I like what you have set out to do here. the haze over the moon is quite attractive and adds to the atmosphere. To get even more detail in the foreground trees, try cranking the ISO up to around 3200 and experiment with exposure times untill your satisfied with the result, then without moving anything else reduce the ISO back to say 200 and take the photo as normal, you can then blend them to make a very interesting image, it works best on clear nights when theres a few stars about.

Nice work Lannie!

Best Regards

Alf

Thanks, Alf, but what I really want to do is to get it all in the same exposure, which means adjusting the light by getting out there early.  After a certain hour, the only way to get it all is indeed by blending or other Photoshop tricks.   There's nothing wrong with that, of course.  I simply want to try the other.  I have seen some fine work with the moon and earth in a single exposure, although much of it involves the daytime moon: sunny 16 working on both.  

At least you understand the challenge. Many have no idea why it is such a challenge.

--Lannie

HI LANNIE,, PLEASE KEEP THIS DARK AND MYSTERIOUS THE OTHER VERSION KINDA CARTOONISH IF YOU ASK ME. i like cartoons but only on lazy Sat. mornings  OZZY. bark at the moon,,,, samme OH YEAH AND AS FOR THE COLOR, THE MOON IS SAID TO HAVE BEEN MADE OF CHEESE....

Like this Lannie....   Happy holidays ;)

Thanks, Samme and Sheryl.  I know now what  i want to try in this vein, but I will need a more interesting foreground.

--Lannie

Lannie, this is a great dark/light contrast image. The rising moon here looked an even more brown/yellow colour the other night. It was very striking. The strange colour has been reported as being caused by ash lingering from the eruption in Alaska earlier in the year. Unfortunately we were on the expressway and I couldn't get a shot of it.

Thanks for telling me, Adrienne.  Perhaps there will be better opportunities to catch some interesting colors, and perhaps I will be better prepared.  It's always good to have you stop by.

--Lannie