Project 27: by the light of the moon

Although I am not especially pleased with the photograph, I am absolutely amazed at the result, although it was what I expected.  It looks just as if it was taken in daylight, even down to the shadows cast by the moon.  I chose a night of a full moon to do this project, in fact it was a full moon that rose just after the sun had set so I had hoped for some spectacular images for project 26 but, unfortunately the weather had different ideas and the sky was covered with cloud and it was raining.  By 8.00 pm, though the sky had cleared somewhat and I decided to attempt this project.  I drove out of town so that the picture would not be affected by the light pollution.  I placed the camera  on the tripod, set mirror lock-up and enabled noise reduction for long exposures.  Then using bulb and my electronic release took an exposure of 8 minutes at f4 having used the course notes as a guide.  The red dot on the right of the horizon is the aircraft warning light on to top of a nearby mast.

What have I learned?
Firstly I have learned that it is entirely feasible to take photographs in the darkness given a long enough exposure.  Our eyes have two different types of sensory cells: rods and cones.  Cones are responsive to bright light and provide us with our colour vision during the day.  Rods are very sensitive to light and allow us to see at night and under low light conditions but do not respond well to colour; hence a moonlit scene appears almost colourless and the sky black.  The camera film or sensor does not have this restriction, however, and given a long enough exposure will produce an image as if it were daylight.
I found focusing somewhat of a problem and, consequently, the picture is not as sharp as I would have liked.  Composing the shot was also a bit of guesswork.  Although there were clouds, it was quite breezy and they were moving quickly across the sky and so do not appear sharp.  I had hoped that I might have captured some star trails but there were very few stars present.
I am now intrigued by this procedure and shall certainly have another go.  It has always been an ambition to photograph star trails and I shall take the next opportunity.