Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/13
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well if you think about it, it is always a sunny day on the moon! The sunny day rule will produce a technically accurate image of the moon but not a particularly psychologically accurate image. We think of the moon as white or silvery because as it is lit by the sun, it is so much brighter than the surrounding moon lit landscape. The moon is so dazzlingly bright, it also assumes an importance psychologically all out of proportion to its actual size. I am sure we all have had those disappointing shots where the moon is this tiny dot, not the large looming sphere we remembered, When the moon appears in the daytime sky it appears quite small and gray. The other fact to remember is that the moon is moving at a pretty fair clip. You would not believe how many 100 000 of miles a day this puppy travels! A sharp picture of the moon requires about 1/60 of a second or faster. Shutter times longer than that will produce blur. Now what should we do with all this info? If you want a large moon, use a long lens and switch the brain off of automatic so that you can judge how large the moon is actually going to appear in the frame. Remember the sunny day rule, but open up a stop or two to produce white with detail, or three or four to get bright white with no detail. If you do not mind detail loss exposures up to 1/2 of a second or so will still look fairly round. If you want to balance the surrounding landscape with the moon then shoot at sunset/moonrise or double expose the moon to the place and size you would like. Now I have to get my poor son dressed! Good luck and I hope its a clear evening/night Mr. Smith wrote: > Does anyone have any recommendations for exposure using ISO 125 film?