Three Crescents ( moon )

[rahsoft]

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How I took it

Subject: Capture of half moon framed by stone masonry.

This is a situation whereby an attempt to capture a moon shot framed by stone ( or indeed with any outdoor object ) is very difficult because of two problems

1. The great difference in shutter speed required.
2. The different DOF required for both subjects ( a single great DOF covering both results in a long shutter speed which reduces the lighting for the foreground object and slows shutter speed to the point whereby the moon is no longer sharp.
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How to resolve this ?

By shooting two photographs of the same subject at different shutter speeds and manually refocusing with spot metering for the moon. This means that for each photo one of the subjects will be out of focus and over / under exposed.
There is also the added problem of having to recompose regularly e.g. move the tripod because the moon moves out of shot inside the stone frame.
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Camera settings:

AV mode set to F8
Focal Length: 205mm (75mm-300mm lenses f5.6 )
ISO400 (note that this was set so that I could have a fast shutter speed without any motion blur from the moon shot)
Tripod
Some outside tungsten lighting on the masonry (behind)
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Location: my garden.
Took first photo at 1/125 exposure.
Took second photo at 1.5 seconds exposure.

1st photo is of a correctly exposed sharp moon, but with an under exposed out of focus stone wall.
2nd photo is of correctly exposed stone wall, but with an overexposed out of focus moon.
In each case I manually adjusted the focus because the focus lock couldn’t decide what to focus on – the moon or the stone.
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Post Production:
This situation does require post processing in the form of layers. The two shots are stacked together with the sharp image of the moon on top. Then a mask is created to allow only the correctly exposed masonry from the second photo underneath to show through.
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Why compose this way:
It was a bit of gamble to try a shot framing the moon. Had thought about it before, wondered if it would work but didn’t take the opportunity to explore it. It’s not until you process the photo that you can begin to appreciate the composition better. I formated photo in lighroom using the golden spiral ratio.
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What was done well?
I think a half moon shot is better in this instance than a full moon, not only because of the lower brightness of a half moon, but also because the crescent shape is more sympathetic with the framing around it .
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Improvement:
I also realised that better planning is required since the shot kept moving and its helps to know what settings (exposure, aperture, ISO etc) beforehand so that you don’t have to keep recomposing.

This was an opportunity shot since I saw it in the garden and I figured it would be a while before chance came around again.

[JustinB]

Very trippy.. lol I stared at this for about 2 minutes before really grasping the detail. Nice shot and great guide.

[IlSan]

Great shot - really keeps the viewer looking!

And the technique - cool. Was wondering how it was done, and the solution, very interesting approach.

[Barbara V]

What a wonderfully artistic shot.

[Mr.Intensity]

I know that's a lot of work (and I do appreciate it) but just to have someone say: " That design is red hot! I thought it was a cg thing at first glance- Very well seen.

[Glayva]

Very artistic shot and certainly one you look at for some time. I do like it a lot. Your explanation is very well put together too and thanks a lot for sharing it with us.