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Photographing a skyline at night with full moon in focus?


9 years 3 months ago #420639 by Blake Vogt
If I wanted to take a photo a skyline and still have the moon in focus, what is the best way of doing this?  If I lock focus on the skyline, I'm thinking the moon would be just a white dot.  Alternatively if I focus on the moon, then the skyline becomes blurry.  What's the trick to getting a shot like this? 


I can't imaging trying to focus between the two?  Then neither would be completely sharp? 
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9 years 3 months ago #420655 by garyrhook
If you are far enough away to get a skyline, your focus will be set at infinity. The trick will be exposure due to varying light levels, and your focal length.
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9 years 3 months ago #420668 by John Landolfi
:agree: . One way is to shoot two images, each of which will be properly exposed, and, using the right lenses, the moon will be large enough to matter in the final, combined  image
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9 years 3 months ago #420671 by garyrhook

John Landolfi wrote: :agree: . One way is to shoot two images, each of which will be properly exposed, and, using the right lenses, the moon will be large enough to matter in the final, combined  image


In other words, "cheat" and composite in post.
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9 years 3 months ago #420736 by John Landolfi
Why "cheat?" Do you know how to get the moon to a decent size in one shot? doing cosmetic surgery in PP doesn't count...:)
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9 years 3 months ago #420753 by Don Fischer
How come using Photoshop is cheating here but not on other photo's?
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9 years 3 months ago #420808 by garyrhook

Don Fischer wrote: How come using Photoshop is cheating here but not on other photo's?


That was a (not very subtle) dig and reference to another thread, wherein someone recently railed at the use of PS to process images.
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9 years 3 months ago #420809 by garyrhook

John Landolfi wrote: Why "cheat?" Do you know how to get the moon to a decent size in one shot? doing cosmetic surgery in PP doesn't count...:)


Well, a rather long lens, and a landscape that allows you to get far enough back to compose and capture what you want in the shot. That's not easy to do (sometimes impossible depending upon the subject matter) so a composite may make sense for some folks.
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9 years 3 months ago #420812 by JeremyS
My method of approach would be a composite approach. I'm more comfortable with that tactic now that I do my own hdr blends too. 

As for the moon thing, I'd be fine with putting the moon in, just please dear god don't make the moon stupidly big. I can't stand that when people oversize the moon and make it absolutely ridiculous in size. That bugs me lol.
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9 years 3 months ago - 9 years 3 months ago #420837 by PT Talker
I don't think focus is going to be your problem with that type of shot. You can get decent sharpness on the moon and closer objects by using a narrow aperture. IMO, the challenges with a shot like you're describing are exposure and focal length. Exposing for a night skyline is probably going to overexpose the moon. You're probably going to need to use a fairly wide angle to get the skyline, which is going to make the moon appear small.

That's why (again, IMO) you'll see a lot of composites like that, and I completely agree that there's a huge tendency to make the moon too big. I seem to remember that this video covers shooting for composites:

www.photographytalk.com/forum/tips-and-t...-photograph-the-moon

Also, for what it's worth, composites were made long before the advent of Photoshop and the moon was a common subject for them then, too. It just wasn't as easy to do in the darkroom.
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9 years 3 months ago #420855 by garyrhook
Let's play "how to / how not to". Here's my favorite bad moon image (as a URL):

img\def


So what's wrong here?
  1. The moon is far too large
  2. The moon is apparently a vampire: it has no reflection
  3. This view is looking northward / northwest-ward
I can't even enjoy any artistic aspect of something this wrong. Not that I think it's any good on any level.
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9 years 3 months ago - 9 years 3 months ago #420898 by effron
img\def




You also need to come to terms with "completely", or "acceptably" sharp.....
Why so serious?
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9 years 3 months ago #421019 by John Landolfi
Here's what I meant:

Single exposure, to include the moon as well as a cityscape:

img\def
Seattle-2012-II-From-Queen-Anne-No2 by gianbur , on Flickr

Composite, where I chose to feature the space Needle:

img\def
Seattle-2012-II-Nightscapes-As-it-should-be by gianbur , on Flickr
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9 years 3 months ago #421366 by Blake Vogt
Ahhhhhhhh much better, thank you 
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9 years 3 months ago #421369 by John Landolfi
Post what you get!:cheers:
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