Shooting by the light of the full Moon

[Paul Manuell]

What sort of exposure times would I need for this, please? I'd be shooting at the f8 or f11 mark on either 160 or 400 Portra, exposed at 125 and 320 respectively. The subject matter would be unlit granite buildings and standing stones. I realize exposure will be in the minutes rather than seconds range, but roughly how many?

Thank you.

 

[macfred]

For me this was very helpfull - an old but reliable tool.
Night Exposures in a Jiffy:
http://f-sunny.com/night-exposures-in-a-jiffy/
http://www.stacken.kth.se/~maxz/files/jiffy.pdf

 

[BrianShaw]

Check it the white paper on this site. Google his name for more...

http://home.earthlink.net/~kitathome/LunarLight/index.html

 

[Paul Manuell]

For me this was very helpfull - an old but reliable tool.
Night Exposures in a Jiffy:
http://f-sunny.com/night-exposures-in-a-jiffy/
http://www.stacken.kth.se/~maxz/files/jiffy.pdf

Thank you; had a look at that jiffy chart, very complicated (I'm not the brightest person on the planet) and gonna take a bit of studying to make head or tail of it.

 

[Paul Manuell]

Check it the white paper on this site. Google his name for more...

http://home.earthlink.net/~kitathome/LunarLight/index.html

The white paper link on that site just comes up as 404 not found

 

[BrianShaw]

Dang. I knew I should have checked it first. Old site. This guy is an amazing combination of engineer and artist. His white paper was really great. Sorry.

 

[Paul Manuell]

Dang. I knew I should have checked it first. Old site. This guy is an amazing combination of engineer and artist. His white paper was really great. Sorry.

Thank you again, and you've certainly no need to apologise

 

[macfred]

Try these links :
http://home.earthlink.net/~kitathome/LunarLight/moonlight_gallery/technique/technique.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~kitathome/LunarLight/moonlight_gallery/technique/moonbright.htm

 

[Sirius Glass]

For me this was very helpfull - an old but reliable tool.
Night Exposures in a Jiffy:
http://f-sunny.com/night-exposures-in-a-jiffy/
http://www.stacken.kth.se/~maxz/files/jiffy.pdf

I am so glad to see that someone else uses this very reliable tool.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

For me this was very helpfull - an old but reliable tool.
Night Exposures in a Jiffy:
http://f-sunny.com/night-exposures-in-a-jiffy/
http://www.stacken.kth.se/~maxz/files/jiffy.pdf

Awesome! Thanks for posting!

 

[tezzasmall]

The white paper link on that site just comes up as 404 not found

Try again! I just clicked the link and the site came up no problem.

Terry S

 

[Steve Smith]

It is reckoned that full moon light is about 1/1,000,000 that of bright sun. So 20 stops different.


Steve.

 

[GRHazelton]

If you have a SLR with TTL metering off the film, such as the Pentax LX among a few others, your problem is "solved." Reciprocity failure is still a concern, so bracketing is a good idea. I've shot full moonlit shots with my LX successfully, the effect on C 41 film is...strange. Since the LX monitors exposure in real time a passing cloud is of no concern. IRRC my exposure at f4 on ASA 100 film was several minutes; tripod is essential. BTW if you choose to shoot the full moon itself, it is a sunlit object, so the f11 or f16 with "1/the film speed" shutter speed should work pretty well.
I just visited Kit Courter's site, it would seem to give about all you'd need to get started.

 

[pentaxuser]

[QUOTE="GRHazelton, post: 2150778, member: 13027" BTW if you choose to shoot the full moon itself, it is a sunlit object, so the f11 or f16 with "1/the film speed" shutter speed should work pretty well.
.[/QUOTE]

GR, glad you mentioned that since I noticed that on one of the sites mentioned you need at least 1/25th -1/30th to stop the moon blurring and did then wonder how this would be possible if the moon is dimmer than the sun by the factor shown i.e. about 18 stops

pentaxuser

 

[Berkeley Mike]

Decide if the moon is the subject of he exposure or the light source.

 

[Paul Manuell]

Try again! I just clicked the link and the site came up no problem.

Terry S

Yeah, I also got the site ok, it was just the white paper link on that site that didn't work.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The Moon receives the same light that we do during the day, but its albedo reflects somewhat less than half the light it receives. Therefore instead of Sunny 16 it is more like f/11 or f/8.

 

[Paul Manuell]

If you have a SLR with TTL metering off the film, such as the Pentax LX among a few others, your problem is "solved." Reciprocity failure is still a concern, so bracketing is a good idea. I've shot full moonlit shots with my LX successfully, the effect on C 41 film is...strange. Since the LX monitors exposure in real time a passing cloud is of no concern. IRRC my exposure at f4 on ASA 100 film was several minutes; tripod is essential. BTW if you choose to shoot the full moon itself, it is a sunlit object, so the f11 or f16 with "1/the film speed" shutter speed should work pretty well.
I just visited Kit Courter's site, it would seem to give about all you'd need to get started.

Thank you, that's what I was looking for, someone's real life settings I always use a tripod, even in normal daylight shoots when the shutter speed is a lot faster than the lens's reciprocal focal length.
Edit: just realized you said several minutes, not seven like I initially thought. Ah well, back to the drawing board, haha

 

[pentaxuser]

The Moon receives the same light that we do during the day, but its albedo reflects somewhat less than half the light it receives. Therefore instead of Sunny 16 it is more like f/11 or f/8.

Thanks Sirius. Both easy to understand and remember

pentaxuser

 

[wiltw]

The Moon receives the same light that we do during the day, but its albedo reflects somewhat less than half the light it receives. Therefore instead of Sunny 16 it is more like f/11 or f/8.

But 'Mooney 11' describes what to use when the subject is the SURFACE OF THE MOON! But OP wants to have a suggestion of the amount of light falling on a SUBJECT ON EARTH when illuminated by the full moon, " The subject matter would be unlit granite buildings and standing stones."!

https://mkaz.com/2004/07/05/exposures-for-moonlight-photography/
OP, see the section "Subject in Moonlight -- Static Chart" for starters. It says ISO 100, f/8 8 min.
Turn that starter setting into ISO 400 to get f/8 2min, or f/4 30sec.

 

[Sirius Glass]

But 'Mooney 11' describes what to use when the subject is the SURFACE OF THE MOON! But OP wants to have a suggestion of the amount of light falling on a SUBJECT ON EARTH when illuminated by the full moon, " The subject matter would be unlit granite buildings and standing stones."!

https://mkaz.com/2004/07/05/exposures-for-moonlight-photography/
OP, see the section "Subject in Moonlight -- Static Chart" for starters. It says ISO 100, f/8 8 min.
Turn that starter setting into ISO 400 to get f/8 2min, or f/4 30sec.

And for that the Jiffy Calculator is a starting point.

 

[Paul Manuell]

But 'Mooney 11' describes what to use when the subject is the SURFACE OF THE MOON! But OP wants to have a suggestion of the amount of light falling on a SUBJECT ON EARTH when illuminated by the full moon, " The subject matter would be unlit granite buildings and standing stones."!

https://mkaz.com/2004/07/05/exposures-for-moonlight-photography/
OP, see the section "Subject in Moonlight -- Static Chart" for starters. It says ISO 100, f/8 8 min.
Turn that starter setting into ISO 400 to get f/8 2min, or f/4 30sec.

Brilliant, thank you for that, a good ball park figure to be going on with and bracket around. Much appreciated.

 

[pentaxuser]

But 'Mooney 11' describes what to use when the subject is the SURFACE OF THE MOON!

https://mkaz.com/2004/07/05/exposures-for-moonlight-photography/
OP, see the section "Subject in Moonlight -- Static Chart" for starters. It says ISO 100, f/8 8 min.
Turn that starter setting into ISO 400 to get f/8 2min, or f/4 30sec.

Mea culpa here, witlw. Sirius was responding to my post #14 to GR about photographing the moon

pentaxuser