[Leica] Any pointers on taking full moon photos?

[kingfisher at halcyon.com (Larry Bullis)]

Clayton is right on.

When I had students a few years back this would always become a topic, 
especially around this time of year. Somebody would always bring in a 
picture that was pretty much all black that had a tiny and very fuzzy 
white spot right in the middle of it. Tiny because when we SEE the moon 
it dominates our perception and we ignore the frame, so we forget about 
everything else. White because it is very overexposed. Fuzzy because the 
intense exposure of the moon, a tiny spot, would illuminate that part of 
the emulsion so much that it would become a light source radiating to 
the surrounding area, exposing it, incrementally diminishing in a circle 
surrounding the moon image.

One very important thing to consider is that the moon is full when it is 
directly opposite the sun. The time to shoot it if you don't want the 
result described above is just when the sun goes down. The best time of 
year to do this is most likely the September full moon, if it happens in 
late September, or the October if that happens early in the month. That 
way you can get the earth and the moon, too, in relative balance. In the 
summer, the earth will be a bit bright destroying the drama, and in the 
winter, a bit dark - also destroying the drama but in a different way. 
This month could be ideal for an earth that is a stop or maybe a bit 
more on the dark side. Just do it right when the moon comes up. 
Otherwise, what you'll get is just a picture of the moon. Next month? 
Forget it. It's gone.

It's a question of balance. As the sun goes down, the earth gets darker. 
The moon stays the same. It is just as bright as the Safeway parking lot 
at midday. Remember those moon rocks? Gray... So, set your 
aperture/shutter speed for that, and meter the landscape. If it's a stop 
or two darker than your sunny 16, you'll get some detail. More than 
that, no.

There has been a fair amount of argument about WHY the moon looks bigger 
when it just rises. It isn't bigger. It does look like it is, though. Is 
it the effect of the atmosphere's operation as a lens? Is it comparison 
with terrestrial objects? What I think that proves is that our senses 
are pretty unreliable. You know, the image on the retina is upside down 
to what we see. So you believe everything your eyes (seem to) tell you? 
come on. I think we see what we think we ought to see.

Hope this gives you something tangible to work with.

On 11/9/11 8:26 PM, lug-request at leica-users.org wrote:
> Message: 31
> Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 17:40:13 -0800
> From: Richard Man<richard at richardmanphoto.com>
> Subject: [Leica] Any pointers on taking full moon photos?
> To: Leica Users Group<lug at leica-users.org>
> Message-ID:
>       <CAF8hL-G_PzwyevZ70erGdF81Uj=jijab_P-Pt2EZtGV=2O2QtQ at 
> mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Will be trying to take some fullish moon photos in Yosemite (probably
> Glacial Point?). Any recommendation besides not use a flash and use a
> tripod?:-)
>
> -- // richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com>