Camera Labs

My goal was a simple photo of the moon.

So I ended up with 2 photos - one picked up the night sky as it appeared, the 2nd shot picked up the moon as it appeared.

What am I doing wrong that I end up with one or the other - but not both?

Tips? Thoughts?

Photo 1:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryangarmon/3263413043/

Photo 2:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryangarmon/3263408747/

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A computer geek trying to expand his photographic horizons with a Nikon D90

How far apart in time were these taken?

Nothing is wrong as such, the moon is very bright in comparison with the rest, and the range is too much for a camera to handle directly. You could look at HDR processing or a bit of manipulation in photoshop.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Michael E,

The photos were taken a few seconds apart from each other.

Popo,

What is HDR processing?

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A computer geek trying to expand his photographic horizons with a Nikon D90

There is nothing wrong with the 2nd one,obviously a very small image scale but I love to see a big sky with a small moon.

I used spot metering on the moon this morning with my little Panasonic TZ2 and a sunny setting White Balance.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/httpwwwfli ... adanbrood/

HDR: High Dynamic Range. You take more than one shot at different exposures to capture all the light detail you want. Software then combines them and you can then map it into something that can be displayed.

I haven't tried it on the moon, but in general you ideally need to take the shots without moving the camera. As the moon itself is moving, you should do it quickly.

So with your two shots, assuming they were aligned, software would be able to map the dynamic range into something visible and keep both the treeline and moon detail.

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.