Bret Webster wrote:I really enjoy Anthony's Parthenon shot. Seems like a lot of thoughtful pre-positioning and preparation went into it! I've always loved the Parthenon anyway. Thanks Anthony!
Bret,
Thanks for the kind words!
You are indeed correct with regards to the advance planning, for such a hit requires proper azimuth, altitude, distance and time of day to be possible as a single exposure.
The time of day is the most critical since an attempt
too early and the immediate environment dominates the exposure, thus leading to an underexposed moon. An attempt
too late and the rising full moon dominates the proper exposure and the foreground is underexposed and too dim. It took me fifteen months back in 2004-2005 to reverse engineer the proper time of day which provides balanced lighting between foreground (ex. archaeological grounds) and background (rising full moon).
More specifically, we need the Sun to be between
four and six degrees below the horizon when the full moon is rising and which leads to a perfect but delicate balance in lighting between foreground and background. Furthermore, this balance lasts for approximately
two to three minutes.
Once we have this factor out of the way, the next aspect involving such an attempt is the proper distance since we would like a balance in the apparent diameter of the foreground (ex. the Parthenon) and the rising full moon. The latter varies between apogee and perigee - see
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Lunar-Scene ... e-2010.htm - but we can use 30 arc-minutes as a general rule of thumb. Since we would also like a similar apparent diameter for the foreground (ex. the Parthenon), we use basic trigonometry to determine the (shooting) distance which will yield the Parthenon as a 30 arc-minute object in our field of view based on its physical size.
Now that we have the proper (shooting) distance, all that is left is to identify a location with our desired distance and which matches the azimuth of the rising full moon and for this location to also provide a clear view of our target (ex. the Parthenon). Once this has been identified, the final variable in the analysis is the altitude of our target and which generally is around two degrees.
Combine all of the above factors
simultaneously and you have the proper conditions for a
SINGLE exposure involving the rising full moon and your foreground of interest.
I have many examples involving such "conjunctions" on my website at
http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Landscape.htm . It is a real adrenaline rush planning such projects as well as seeing them materialize through the camera's viewfinder.
I should mention that the desired shooting distances can easily range between 2000 and 6000 meters and which means we have absolutely
NO room for error. If we are in error by, for example, 15 arc-minutes (half the width of the full moon), the amount of distance to be covered laterally in order to correct for this deviation is so great (from 2000-6000 meter distances) that one does
NOT have sufficient time to run with the equipment, reset, recenter the field of view, refocus and start shooting since the moon will have been rising while you (or I) have been running a few hundred meters to correct the error in our shooting position.
Anyway, you now have some insights as to what is required into the execution of such photos and which I pursue every month with the rising full moon .... weather permitting as always!
Anthony.
[quote="Bret Webster"]I really enjoy Anthony's Parthenon shot. Seems like a lot of thoughtful pre-positioning and preparation went into it! I've always loved the Parthenon anyway. Thanks Anthony![/quote]
Bret,
Thanks for the kind words!
You are indeed correct with regards to the advance planning, for such a hit requires proper azimuth, altitude, distance and time of day to be possible as a single exposure.
The time of day is the most critical since an attempt [u]too[/u] early and the immediate environment dominates the exposure, thus leading to an underexposed moon. An attempt [u]too[/u] late and the rising full moon dominates the proper exposure and the foreground is underexposed and too dim. It took me fifteen months back in 2004-2005 to reverse engineer the proper time of day which provides balanced lighting between foreground (ex. archaeological grounds) and background (rising full moon).
More specifically, we need the Sun to be between [b]four and six degrees[/b] [u]below[/u] the horizon when the full moon is rising and which leads to a perfect but delicate balance in lighting between foreground and background. Furthermore, this balance lasts for approximately [b]two to three minutes[/b].
Once we have this factor out of the way, the next aspect involving such an attempt is the proper distance since we would like a balance in the apparent diameter of the foreground (ex. the Parthenon) and the rising full moon. The latter varies between apogee and perigee - see http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Lunar-Scenes-Apo-Perigee-2010.htm - but we can use 30 arc-minutes as a general rule of thumb. Since we would also like a similar apparent diameter for the foreground (ex. the Parthenon), we use basic trigonometry to determine the (shooting) distance which will yield the Parthenon as a 30 arc-minute object in our field of view based on its physical size.
Now that we have the proper (shooting) distance, all that is left is to identify a location with our desired distance and which matches the azimuth of the rising full moon and for this location to also provide a clear view of our target (ex. the Parthenon). Once this has been identified, the final variable in the analysis is the altitude of our target and which generally is around two degrees.
Combine all of the above factors [u]simultaneously[/u] and you have the proper conditions for a [b][u]SINGLE[/u][/b] exposure involving the rising full moon and your foreground of interest.
I have many examples involving such "conjunctions" on my website at http://www.perseus.gr/Astro-Landscape.htm . It is a real adrenaline rush planning such projects as well as seeing them materialize through the camera's viewfinder.
I should mention that the desired shooting distances can easily range between 2000 and 6000 meters and which means we have absolutely [u][b]NO[/b][/u] room for error. If we are in error by, for example, 15 arc-minutes (half the width of the full moon), the amount of distance to be covered laterally in order to correct for this deviation is so great (from 2000-6000 meter distances) that one does [b][u]NOT[/u][/b] have sufficient time to run with the equipment, reset, recenter the field of view, refocus and start shooting since the moon will have been rising while you (or I) have been running a few hundred meters to correct the error in our shooting position.
Anyway, you now have some insights as to what is required into the execution of such photos and which I pursue every month with the rising full moon .... weather permitting as always!
Anthony.