[Leica] Any pointers on taking full moon photos?

[kingfisher at halcyon.com (Larry Bullis)]

OOOPS. Forgot something.

The T'ang dynasty poet who is called in the west "Li Po" (someone in 
China will tell us what the Chinese call him - it's different) 
supposedly died when he, seeing the moon reflected in the water, 
attempted to embrace the image. He drowned.

NOBODY would die for a moon which projected an image the same value as 
the Safeway Parking Lot! Nobody! Not me, not you! Nobody!

So, let's think a little basic Zoney Baloney.

If you expose for the moon, using "sunny 16" you will get a moon that is 
ZONE 5! How supremely unromantic!

So, increase your exposure by two stops. That is, let's say you are 
shooting at ISO 100. Your exposure should not be 1/100 @ f/16 (gray 
moon), but 1/100 at f/8. That will give you your zone 7 (white with 
detail) exposure. Then, see if your terrestrial landscape would meter at 
about 1/100 @ f/5.6, or if you wouldn't mind a darker earth, f/4.

I hope to see what you end up with.

> 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>