Project 26: shooting the moon 2

Although I have still not succeeded in capturing the shot I am looking for for this project I have had a second go, this time whilst away for the weekend in North Yorkshire.  Although it was a clear sky and nearly full moon, it rose slightly too late to catch twighlight and I didn't have a good view of the horizon. Consequently I had a lot of difference in light values between the moon and the foreground.  The other problem was that my foreground was too close to have both it and the moon sharp with the 400.

I am pleased with the composition of this shot, although I would have preferred the moon to be slightly higher.  The moon itself is sharp and correctly exposed but, unfortunately the tree in the foreground is out of focus.

Again a pleasingly exposed and sharp moon but the foreground tree is just a blur.

Because I have zoomed out here the foreground is acceptably sharp with the exception of the branches on the left which I should have excluded.  The moon is reasonably exposed but I would have liked it to be larger.

 

A shot of the moon alone taken at 400mm, a much easier shot to capture.

What have I learned? In a nutshell I have learned that this is not as easy as it sounds. To secure a shot of the moon itself it relatively easy.  A long lens, the 500 is best, and a reasonably fast shutter speed is all that is required along with careful focusing.  Including a foreground is more difficutly.  It is not so bad if a shortish focal length is used as then it is relatively easy to keep everything sharp.  However, in order to capture a large moon the camera needs to be quite a long way from the foreground to keep everything sharp.  Balancing light values is also difficult, especially with a full moon, and twilight maybe better.  My next shot at this according to The Photographer's Ephemeris is 28th and 29th November so I am hoping for clear skies.  I have it in mind to go down to Cleethorpes and photograph the moon rising over the sea, perhaps with the light reflected in the sea/wet sand.  The other option would be to photograph a crescent moon higher in the sky.  I would also intend to try the spire of Louth church as a foreground.  As the spire is floodlit, this may also help to balance the light values.

 

So it's back to the drawing board.