Milly moon...

It has been about a year since I first discussed techniques with my friend Nic about photographing the moon (Milly, as she calls it), and the pitfalls that inexperienced photographers fall into when attempting it for the first (and often subsequent) times. In the days of film; and especially with reversal (transparency) emulsions, the photographer had to make the decision to either keep cloud detail and sacrifice the lunar features, or expose for the bright disc in the sky and lose everything else. Of course, not all moon shots need cloud, but it does make for a more dramatic image if it is there. The digital age has made that choice redundant for the wise shooter.

I had not planned to shoot at all, today, but during late afternoon I had to nip out of the house for a short while on business (cat food, actually). It was on my way home that I first caught sight of the full moon through broken cloud, and was taken by the drama of it all. I knew it would produce good pictures if I was able to get home quickly enough, but feared it might well be all over by the time I was able to get home and set up. I quickened my step in anticipation. As it turned out, things looked even more promising once I had got back, so it was out with a tripod and big lens.

I started shooting with a teleconverter on the lens; the idea being to get the biggest image possible, but quickly realised that I was missing the effect of moonlight on the scudding clouds, and removed it. I was careful to make sure I kept the detail of the moon by adjusting the exposure until I no longer had the 'blinkies'* on the rear screen of my camera, and timed my exposures for when things looked interesting through the viewfinder.

Having produced RAW files, I was able to have total control over the final image, and brought up the far dimmer clouds using the editing software technique of 'dodging', since the information was there all along. It just needed finding.



300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor. 1/60th second at f/4. ISO 200. Manual exposure. Mirror lock up and remote release. Tripod


*The 'blinkies' are seen as parts of an image highlight on the rear screen of a camera that blink after a photograph has been taken, indicating to the photographer that there is no information (pixels with detail) in those areas. Adjustments can then be made should it be deemed necessary.



© 2012