Speaking of moon shots.....

In another thread, the subject of moon shots came up. Here is a shot of the full moon over lake Superior.


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This was a 6 image blend. Three shots were focused on the rocks, and were at f/8, with 0, -1, -2 Ev. The other three were focused on the lighthouse, with the same settings. All images were shot with partial metering.


I used Photomatix to create two individual HDRs, then did a focus stack in Photoshop to produce the final image.


The moon is definitely too bright, and even at -2 Ev, the detail is missing from it. My eyes, of course, could see the detail.


It looks more like the sun.


If I take the darkest image, and reduce the exposure by 4 stops, some of the detail of the moon will come back, but not nearly as nice as the way I saw it.


Like others have mentioned, I have a difficult time to get a realistic moon shot, especially with dusk or twilight shots.


The moon is actually quite bright and is easily overexposed when doing such shots. I've shot the moon before, by itself, but always use a manual setting, to make sure that the details aren't washed out.


Any suggestions on how to take a properly exposed moon shot, when other things are in the image? Or, am I destined to photoshop the moon into the image?

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Originally Posted by Alan

Any suggestions on how to take a properly exposed moon shot, when other things are in the image?

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In a single exposure? The one and only way to do it is timing.There is a very short window of time (less than 15 minutes) during dusk when the brightness of the moon is close enough to that of the earth to make it possible to do in a single exposure - and in my experience that is precisely the time when some other factor is going to ruin the shot (Murphey's law).

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Originally Posted by Alan

Or, am I destined to photoshop the moon into the image?

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That's what I do. [:D]

Great shot, the only thing I would do different is photoshop out the red reflection. Personally I find it distracting

Daniel, unfortunately, the horizon was filled with haze, or pollution, so it was well beyond 15 minutes before the moon became visible. When it finally appeared, it was a mottled yellow, and was very indistinct.


I'm glad to hear that you also photoshop a moon into the shot. [:)] One thing I worry about is the flare that accompanies the original shot, and trying to make the photoshopped moon blend in. I guess I'll have to experiment a bit.


John, your suggestion sounds reasonable.

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Originally Posted by Alan

Any suggestions on how to take a properly exposed moon shot, when other things are in the image? Or, am I destined to photoshop the moon into the image?

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Hi Alan,


Beautiful shot!


How about a graduated filter to decrease the brightness of the Moon?





Rich