Filming the moon...

[trevorbr]

The first s8 short I plan to shoot will be a b&w horror spoof. I want to open with a shot of the moon in the night sky but I'm not sure where to begin in terms of exposure and I'd like to waste as little film as possible. Is it possible to get a decent exposure with tri-x under these surcumstances? Or should I consider shooting around dusk? Any suggestions on achieving the best exposure?

thanks for your time!

-trevor

[Alex]

The Moon is very bright...With Tri-X film, your f-stop could be between F4 - F11

Depending on your frames per second.

The key is, are you trying to show craters on the moon, or the clouds surrounding the moon...

If clouds are important, than you go wide open, if the clarity of the moon is an issue, you stop-down.

-Alex

[jocko]

Depending on your camera..undercranking works...shoot at 9fps..as long as there is no movement..and use a tripod.you'll be able to get a shot of a full moon..and use alex's tips also
Neil
JOCKO FILMS

[PCino]

For sure Neil..also at 9fps make sure there
are plenty of clouds moving over and under the moon, boost the telephoto to 60mm or more and you have a great start for your horror short! I'd also throw your titles there too.
-Paul-
MoonBlind/90 Productions
^^That's not a pun^^


[This message has been edited by PCino (edited May 19, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by PCino (edited May 19, 2001).]

[Roy Brown]

I have a Nizo 800 that has a cool feature of being able to leave the shutter open for a longer single frame exposure. This is advertised as a way to get very low light static shots. IF one used this feature shooting the Moon using K40 what would be the best way to figure exposure time. Would everything be blurry because the earth and moon are moving and even at 1 or 2 secs would the image suffer and not be sharp.

[tom hardwick]

Don't forget that the moon - just like our earth - is illuminated by the sun, which burns brightly 93 million miles away. As such exposures on the surface of the moon will be broadly similar to exposures on earth, though without an atmosphere to dilute and scatter the light, shadows are somewhat harsher.

So if you shoot at f11 on a bright day say, then a shot of the moon's surface will also need f11, it's receiving the same amount of light, and reflecting the same amount too.

tom.

[trevorbr]

Thanks for all the help everyone! Are there any thoughts on filtration? Perhaps to improve contrast? I know that looking at a bright moon through a telescope almost requires filtration but I don't know what an adaquate black and white filter would be for this type of shot.

Thanks again!

-trevor