The Tree of Inception
Apologies (and appreciation) to John Prine for his new album, The Tree of Forgiveness.
I arrived at this scene when it was quite dark, so the required exposure for the foreground was much longer than suitable for proper exposure of the crescent moon. Anyone who has shot under these conditions knows that the white crescent becomes ill-defined and the dark side actually records as a gray orb, so it is not a natural view of a crescent moon. The best way to shoot these is to arrive with enough daylight available so that both the foreground and moon can be recorded properly in the same exposure. Barring that, a composite is required to give a natural rendering.
I had shot the moon about 10 minutes earlier with proper exposure and used that image to replace the over-exposed one in the original photo here, which did not look bad, just less than natural. I am OK with these sorts of composites involving moons shot in too dark conditions as it is the only way to properly expose all elements. It is important to have shot the properly exposed moon near the same time, otherwise, you are just making up a photo, which is OK though if you are doing conceptual art but not if you are shooting realistic photos.
I much prefer the sharper edges of the replaced crescent moon, which has been placed in the same position within the tree as in the original and at the same size. This used to be done with film by doing a multiple exposure onto the same piece of film in camera, but we are well past that now. Our digital darkroom tools are really quite useful and save lots of time.
Since my Independence Tree has died by now probably, I may have to return to this one near a lake from time to time since it is equally old and quite nice, but it is not located in a nice field as was my old friend. Still, it is nearby and offers some nice possibilities, as I found here the other evening.
Nikkor 28/2.8 AIS for the full scene; Tamron SP 70-210/3.5 (manual) for the properly exposed crescent moon.
The Tree of Inception
Apologies (and appreciation) to John Prine for his new album, The Tree of Forgiveness.
I arrived at this scene when it was quite dark, so the required exposure for the foreground was much longer than suitable for proper exposure of the crescent moon. Anyone who has shot under these conditions knows that the white crescent becomes ill-defined and the dark side actually records as a gray orb, so it is not a natural view of a crescent moon. The best way to shoot these is to arrive with enough daylight available so that both the foreground and moon can be recorded properly in the same exposure. Barring that, a composite is required to give a natural rendering.
I had shot the moon about 10 minutes earlier with proper exposure and used that image to replace the over-exposed one in the original photo here, which did not look bad, just less than natural. I am OK with these sorts of composites involving moons shot in too dark conditions as it is the only way to properly expose all elements. It is important to have shot the properly exposed moon near the same time, otherwise, you are just making up a photo, which is OK though if you are doing conceptual art but not if you are shooting realistic photos.
I much prefer the sharper edges of the replaced crescent moon, which has been placed in the same position within the tree as in the original and at the same size. This used to be done with film by doing a multiple exposure onto the same piece of film in camera, but we are well past that now. Our digital darkroom tools are really quite useful and save lots of time.
Since my Independence Tree has died by now probably, I may have to return to this one near a lake from time to time since it is equally old and quite nice, but it is not located in a nice field as was my old friend. Still, it is nearby and offers some nice possibilities, as I found here the other evening.
Nikkor 28/2.8 AIS for the full scene; Tamron SP 70-210/3.5 (manual) for the properly exposed crescent moon.