Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/12/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Techie, shmechie. You guys have got me confused. Does the moon *look* bigger in a photograph taken with it near the horizon, as opposed to a picture with it high in the sky? Does it "fool" the camera like it fools our eyes? We all know, I think, that it isn't really bigger in size when we view it in the different positions. But if it fools the camera, then this illusion can be used to good effect in picture making. Julian, bucking for resident lunar-tic - ----- Original Message ----- From: Ted Grant <tedgrant@islandnet.com> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Friday, December 17, 1999 8:58 PM Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: full moon Marc wrote: >This is certainly an "optical effect" but it is one as real to chemistry as >to the eye. That is, shooting a picture of the moon near the horizon makes >it seem larger than it really is, due to the effect of refraction through >the greater envelope of atmosphere, rather than the niggardly one when the >moon is overhead. (The difference is something along the lines of 100 >miles of air vertically versus 350 or 400 miles horizontally.) Hi Marc, I figured the atmosphere must have something to do with it, the same as the sun rise / set effect of bigger as it comes over or disappears from the horizon. But you know me and technical things! :) ted. Ted Grant This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler. http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant