Another Boring Moon Shot
I go through spurts of trying to get nice crisp shots of the moon and I think I'm nearing the end of one such spurt. (Which means I will soon spare everyone of these rather boring moon photos!)
Full moons are the toughest to shoot because the light is so bright and yet flat. By flat, I mean that the sun is shining on the moon so straight-on that there are very few shadows being cast by all the large features on the moon's surface. It is this lack of shadow that makes for a very 'flat' image.
For instance, if I hold a tennis ball out in front of me with one hand and hold a flashlight next to my ear shining on that tennis ball, we won't see any shadows on that tennis ball. If we don't see shadows, we don't see depth.
If I hold the flashlight out in front of me, next to the tennis ball which is also in front of me, we will see a big shadow around one side of the ball as well as little shadows showing the texture of the fuzzy tennis ball. There is much more detail to be seen in the illuminated areas in this type of scene.
When we view the full moon we are really seeing a scene much like the one with the flashlight being held next to our ear which casts few shadows and subsequently highlights few details. This is a tough scene to capture with a camera.
Compounding the problem of lack of shadow and detail is the fact that the moon is a very bright reflection of our sun so it is much brighter than people think. The brighter an object is, the more difficult it is to capture fine detail because the light bleeds and flares (which is why most photos we see of the moon show just a white blob in a big black sky). Softer light is more preferable for capturing detail.
Regardless of these obstacles, I continue my quest to find that one beautiful, crisp capture of a full moon.
Tonight's full moon photo is one I captured just a couple of hours ago using an old Kodak sensor. Kodak is a company which is long out of the photography business but this rare camera with this Kodak sensor is one of my favorites.
For a photo of a full moon... no tripod... holding the camera in my freezing hands... this shot might just be one of my crispest shots of a full moon to date... not too bad!
Full moons are the toughest to shoot because the light is so bright and yet flat. By flat, I mean that the sun is shining on the moon so straight-on that there are very few shadows being cast by all the large features on the moon's surface. It is this lack of shadow that makes for a very 'flat' image.
For instance, if I hold a tennis ball out in front of me with one hand and hold a flashlight next to my ear shining on that tennis ball, we won't see any shadows on that tennis ball. If we don't see shadows, we don't see depth.
If I hold the flashlight out in front of me, next to the tennis ball which is also in front of me, we will see a big shadow around one side of the ball as well as little shadows showing the texture of the fuzzy tennis ball. There is much more detail to be seen in the illuminated areas in this type of scene.
When we view the full moon we are really seeing a scene much like the one with the flashlight being held next to our ear which casts few shadows and subsequently highlights few details. This is a tough scene to capture with a camera.
Compounding the problem of lack of shadow and detail is the fact that the moon is a very bright reflection of our sun so it is much brighter than people think. The brighter an object is, the more difficult it is to capture fine detail because the light bleeds and flares (which is why most photos we see of the moon show just a white blob in a big black sky). Softer light is more preferable for capturing detail.
Regardless of these obstacles, I continue my quest to find that one beautiful, crisp capture of a full moon.
Tonight's full moon photo is one I captured just a couple of hours ago using an old Kodak sensor. Kodak is a company which is long out of the photography business but this rare camera with this Kodak sensor is one of my favorites.
For a photo of a full moon... no tripod... holding the camera in my freezing hands... this shot might just be one of my crispest shots of a full moon to date... not too bad!
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