I included the moon in this dawn shot in San Marco Square in Venice, and it adds a nice quality to the image. But there is one problem -- there is no detail in the lunar surface. It is solid white. A blown out moon like this never works in my opinion. The challenge is that if you expose correctly for the foreground elements, as I did here, the moon is always going to be overexposed. The only exceptions are when the moon is included in a daylight shot or when the full moon is just rising above the horizon and it's not dark yet. Otherwise, if you want detail in the lunar surface, you must shoot it separately and then composite it into the landscape or cityscape using Photoshop. The correct exposure for the moon is 1/250 at f/8 with 200 ISO. My camera settings for this picture were 1/40, f/4.5, and 5000 ISO. I hand held the shot.
3 Comments
Feb 10, 2016, 10:01:30 AM
Rosemary Sheel - What? It works for me. Do these people in costume wander about at dawn hoping to be photographed? Or are they just heading home after a party?
Feb 10, 2016, 8:27:31 AM
Jim - You're welcome, Margaret. Many people think Photoshop only alters reality, but in this case it brings reality back to the photo because we never see a solid white moon with our eyes.
Feb 10, 2016, 6:51:22 AM
Margaret Page - Thank you! All along I thought it was me not paying close attention to refocusing on the moon as it rose. This makes perfect sense. Only with PS can you have both. That's easy enough!