Project Road Trip - Moon Rise (help please)

[WJT]

In Broome the tides reach up to 10 meters and when they are low with a full moon the mud flats give this effect which the locals call "Stairway to the Moon". I was one of 1000 tourists trying to photograph this but I cannot seem to get the detail on the moon like I have seen with other members. Can any of you offer any advice as to how to get a clear picture of the moon please? This looks more like a sunset :-(

[Andrew1]

A neutral density filter may do the trick but just looking at it I wouldn't use a graduated one. Hard line it on the horizon. As for which power I would personally meter the moon, meter the flats, select an ND filter for the difference and cover the sky with it, cross my fingers, expose for the flats, adjust as required. It might be worth a trip before the next one just to see what the exposures are for the moon/sky as you would like to see it and practice a bit before the event. Addressing that relative difference between land and sky is pretty easy. Getting it to look like a single exposure with a smooth transition may be difficult. If you're into editing your best bet may be two separate shots put together. Good luck.

[ktuli]

To get detail in the moon, you need a shutter speed no slower than 1/10th of a second. Because the earth is rotating and the moon is orbiting the earth, you have to consider it like any other moving object. A long shutter speed like the one you have here (13s) is just going to blur the moon. You might need to take a few exposures to composite later to get the full effect that you want with all the pieces in place, but definitely for that detailed moon, you need a faster shutter speed. Also, you can't use evaluative metering for this - because it averages in so much dark sky that it tries to get "properly" exposed and thus the long shutter speed. Spot meter the moon (and even then, you'll likely have to adjust a little).

Hope this helps.

- Bill

[enaiman]

Looks indeed more like a sunrise/sunset because of the warm colour.
Move the slider toward blue a bit to make it cooler.
... and everything else others mentioned

[Blueheeler]

You may get some tips here
http://www.openphotographicsociety.o...ors&Itemid=109


Ray

[WJT]

You may get some tips here
http://www.openphotographicsociety.o...ors&Itemid=109
Hi Ray, that is exactly what was after. Thanks so much for posting it.


Ray

[Lakeridge]

I'm thinking that you wanted to get the "Stairway to the moon" in the image with detail. Exposing for that overexposed the moon to where there is no moon detail. Perhaps, at the next opportunity, you could spot meter the moon then bracket -1, 0, +1 or somewhere in that range.

Otherwise, nice sunset Wayne.

[WJT]

I asked a local today and he took two shots then stitched them, p ne of the moon, and the other of the foreground.