The Full Moon at Walker Lake, Nevada
The month of August has proven to be a good time for me to photograph full moons. Since we are due for one on the 24th, I thought I’d provide some information on how I took one of my favorite full moon photos, the “August Moon” at Walker Lake, Nevada. On an August night in 1999, I was driving on the highway from Twenty Mile Beach after taking twilight photos of the full moon, when I noticed the glow on the water from the moon. I immediately pulled over to a level area, and set my Nikon back up on the tripod. At this time, I was still shooting film, long before I made the transition to digital.
During the film days, many of my full moon landscape photos were taken by creating a multiple exposure in my Nikon 8008s camera. The reason for multiple exposures on full moon photography is two-fold: the moon is much brighter than the night landscape and very far away. A multiple exposure allows the moon to show up life size in the photo and not be overexposed due to the difference in lighting. To photograph a multiple exposure, the film is not advanced to the next frame, which allows more than one exposure to be taken on that frame.
On the “August Moon” photograph, I positioned my Nikon 35-70mm 2.8 lens to include only the lake with the moon glow on the water, and a portion of the sky over head without the moon. I metered the landscape at f/5.6 with a 4 second exposure. After taking this first exposure, I changed to a Nikon 500mm 4.0 lens, and metered the moon at f/5.6 for a 1/250 second shutter speed. Here comes the tricky part, which is to carefully position the moon in the correct area of the sky, over the moon glow! Once the moon has been positioned in the frame, a final click of the shutter is made and the frame is advanced. If my estimations are correct, I’ll have a beautiful “August Moon” photograph.
In conclusion, I’ll let you in on an insight: I always take more than one photograph during a full moon multiple exposure just to make sure that the moon’s in the right place. Through experience, I’ve had my moon show up in some pretty strange places, over clouds, on top of buildings and in front of mountains. At this point, you might be wondering how it’s done with digital, well that’s a future post. So come back often for a visit!
What
an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been. I love
it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get
treated to new experiences.
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Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.
"Reflecting Nature's Artistry"
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So informative. And another beautiful photograph.
ReplyDeleteThank you.