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  1. #1
    Senior Member ChowChi-Ching's Avatar
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    Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    I am getting so frustrated, I just cannot seem to get moon pictures down. We had a beautiful shot tonight and I missed it because I just couldn't get it right. It is a crescent moon but I either had everything completely black with a tiny little moon or When I exposed the tree in the foreground, even a little, I just kept getting the entire moon with the crescent part glowing more then the rest. So how do I get the foreground and the moon together in the same shot??

    I read that I should do a double exposure? I don't know how to do that. BTW, I have a Nikon D70s and I was using my tripod. Please, all advice would be great!
    Summer Katz
    Katz Photography
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  2. #2
    sqrt -1 greghalliday's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    The D70s should have the capability to do a double exposure. Look in the manual,or check Google. Anyway, in one part of the frame, shoot the moon using the sunny 16 rule or thereabouts and you should get a proper exposure (after all, the moon is in direct sunlight). Then expose the foreground to what ever it needs to be. I suppose you could also get crazy overlapping ND graduated filters, but multiple exposure would work better. (you may need to use a french flag or something similar to block out the moon in the second exposure.) That all said, the easiest way is to use two images and composite them in Photoshop.

  3. #3
    Newest Nikon Samurai zrfraser's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    I believe you could also use slow sync flash. The flash isn't powerful enough to illuminate the moon, but will illuminate the foreground which would make everything in the foreground properly exposed, and leave the background and sky black.

    Z
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  4. #4
    I can't member!?!? dmm96452's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    If you use Photoshop to edit (other programs will probably do it as well) you can mount the camera on a tripod, take one shot exposed for the moon, another exposed for the foreground and blend the two shots together.
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  5. #5
    Senior Member ChowChi-Ching's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    Thanks, I have CS2 so I will see what it says in there.
    Summer Katz
    Katz Photography
    www.katzphotography.net

  6. #6
    has-been... another view's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    I haven't done much of this, but it's not easy. The moon is very bright in the night sky, and obviously nothing else is. A baseline exposure for the moon itself would be 1/125 at f11 at ISO100. A baseline exposure for shooting a tree lit by a full moon on a completely clear night would be about ISO400, f5.6 and roughly 8 minutes. There isn't any photographic medium that will handle that amount of contrast...

    The way I'm reading your post is that you didn't want the tree as a silhouette. If this is the case, I'd put the camera on a tripod and use slow sync flash - or really I'd do it in manual. Try the 1/125 at f11 at ISO 100 exposure, but with f11 you'll have to be fairly close to the tree to light it. If you had an SB800 and could do it as a remote, put the flash close enough that you can light it at f11 but far enough that you light the whole tree. Otherwise, adjust the exposure to get a larger aperture (f8 at 1/250 at ISO100 for example). I think the D70 has 1/500 flash sync which could be f5.6 at 1/500 at ISO100. Try to get the correct exposure for the moon first then work on the flash.

    I'd try to do it all in one shot because the moon actually does move pretty fast thru the frame once you set your tripod up!

  7. #7
    Senior Member ChowChi-Ching's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    Actually, I did want the tree as a silohette but everytime I would get it to where the moon was actually a crescent, it would black out everything else completely, you couldn't even see the tree. But if I exposed the tree correctly, the moon would over expose and show the entire moon, only the crescent would be blown out. Does that make sense?
    If not, I can post pictures of what was happening. This was my first attempt at ever trying it, so I was changing the settings alot.
    Summer Katz
    Katz Photography
    www.katzphotography.net

  8. #8
    has-been... another view's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    Yeah - makes sense - the moon was overexposed enough that the part of it not lit by the sun could even be seen. The only thing I can think of is to do two exposures, one for the tree and one for the moon. Blend the two together in Photoshop for the final image. You wouldn't be able to have the tree in front of the moon - there would have to be some separation between the two for it to work because there's such a difference between the two shots.

    Or - cheat! Shoot the tree not worrying anything about the tree except for leaving space in the frame to add the moon later. Take a shot of the moon only paying attention to the exposure of the moon, and having it in the spot that you left for it when shooting the trees. Cut the moon out and drop it into the other shot. Sounds terrible but people have been doing it for years - double exposures on slide film. I had to do one myself just to so that someday I could admit here that I did, and it was pretty fake looking... Problem is that people will shoot the moon with a 300mm lens and the rest of the scene with a lens much wider than that.

  9. #9
    Senior Member Ronnoco's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    Why not try a different approach? Shutter speed for a full moon can be about 1/60 to 1/125 sec at f 4. Use a slave flash on the opposite side of the tree and the rest of the foreground to create your own "moonlight" and give the foreground more of a presence in the photo.

    Ronnoco

  10. #10
    Senior Member payn817's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    Here's an example of the technique LL mentioned:

    http://gallery.photographyreview.com...iltered-11.jpg


    I shot the church as a silhouette, with matrix metering, and then shot the moon at around 300 (lol LL) and added the moon as a layer with software.

    Ronnoco has a good idea you may want to try as well. I've seen that type of work before, and am always amazed by it.

  11. #11
    Senior Member ChowChi-Ching's Avatar
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    Re: Moon Pictures!! Grrrr!!!

    Thanks! I will play around and see what I can do!!
    Summer Katz
    Katz Photography
    www.katzphotography.net

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