Thanks Ken, your hints are very helpful. I've done a lot of full moon
test shots the last few months to get the exposure worked out properly. You
are absolutely right, the day before complete full moon is best. Getting a
test shot of the lighthouse is a bit more difficult. The island is only
accessible by boat and even with a boat, it requires a long convoluted path
behind the island to get there. There is another possibility. The September
full moon should be in the right lighthouse position from the very inland
tip of the next barrier island (Folly Beach) which is accessible by car and
foot. It does require quite a hike and, with high tide, may require leaving
the beach and bushwhacking a bit. But it will put me about five times
further away from the lighthouse.
Charlie
On Tue, Jul 30, 2013 at 4:12 PM, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > This discussion is getting pretty close to something I plan to try and
> > do. There is a lighthouse off the coast of Morris Island near here. I
> have
> > an idea to photograph the top of the lighthouse with the rising full moon
> > directly behind it. Using TPE it is easy to locate the position and
> > time/date where I need to be to get the proper alignment. I plan to shoot
> > it with a 480mm/f4 refracting scope attached to my Olympus E-body. I know
> > from experience that the full moon will occupy about one third of the
> frame
> > with this setup. My question is: how large will the top of the lighthouse
> > appear at this magnification? The lighthouse is about 1600 feet from the
> > beach where I will be shooting and the top of the lighthouse is about 12
> > feet high and 12 feet wide.
>
> Ah, a geometry question. I'll leave the correct answer to our vast
> number of REAL engineers on this list. (I'm in name only).
>
> However, a couple of thoughts do come to mind:
>
> 1. 1600 feet is probably going to be a bit close as the moon will
> probably end up getting mostly obscured. The only way to be sure is to
> test this ahead of time with a shot of any moon and a shoot of the
> lighthouse. Merge in your favorite editor. You may find that you're
> better off with a slightly shorter lens (I use 300mm on 4/3 as my
> standard setup). You may also be a little close to the lighthouse and
> would be better served backup up a bit.
>
> 2. For a moonrise in the northern hemisphere, you want to start out
> high and to the right of where you'll end up. As the moon rises, you
> can keep shifting your position downward and slightly to your left and
> get more shots. A single-position, locked-down shot will give you all
> of about five seconds to get the shot and that's it. I almost
> exclusively use the monopod now as I can keep hoofing. If your beach
> has a slope, you'll start out in the position where the moon breaking
> the horizon will be immediate behind the lighthouse (get it as low on
> the horizon as possible) and as it rises, just walk down the beach and
> keep shooting. When photographing radio towers and other structures, I
> try to shoot along an east-west road so I can just walk down the
> shoulder of the road and keep shooting. As the moon rises, I get
> closer and closer to the tower. Sometimes, I end up quite a ways down
> the road.
>
> 3. For moonrises, you want to shoot BEFORE the full-moon. The day
> before seems to be about ideal for most locations, but depending on
> terrain, you can back it up another day. This way, you'll get sunlight
> on the lighthouse as well. Once the full-moon occurs, you'll end up
> with a silhouette shot.
>
> 4. Lock your focus. Seriously. I gaffer-tape my lens now. In the heat
> of the moment, you're timing has to be perfect, otherwise the moon
> will be slightly off position from where you want it to be. If you are
> hoofing it down the beach, the last thing you want to do is fight the
> focus. Frame and shoot. Frame and shoot.
>
> 5. Manual exposure. With the E-thingies, I personally find that I have
> to protect my highlights a lot--especially if the moon is warm
> colored. I generally keep the histogram peak at least a full stop away
> from clipping. I fix my aperture and shutter speed and then vary the
> ISO as necessary. To me, the aperture and shutter speed are the most
> important items to get right.
>
> 6. Invariably, there will be a distant cloud deck or haze layer that
> prevents the moon from being visible right at moonrise. Trust the
> numbers. Get a good understanding of elevation angles using your
> fingers. (BTW, for most humans, when you hold your hand out at arms
> length with the fingers just slightly loose, each finger is around 15
> minutes of moon/sun travel near the horizon at mid-latitudes--a great
> way to guess when a sunset will occur if you don't have your
> electronic toys at your disposal).
>
>
> --
> Ken Norton
> ken@xxxxxxxxxxx
> http://www.zone-10.com
> --
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