How can I photograph a large moon over a foreground subject with a crop-sensor DSLR?
Asked 6/24/2013
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I want to make a photo where the moon looks very large behind or above a foreground subject, using a crop-sensor DSLR and either a kit lens or a 70-300mm lens. Can this be done in-camera, and what shooting setup is needed? If it is not practical to do optically, is there a traditional double-exposure/composite approach?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
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The trick is to use a long lens (the longer, the better), then get meaningfully far away from your foreground subject matter.
The long lens will make both the moon and the foreground appear much larger than they otherwise would. The narrower field of view does that for you. Moving further away from your foreground subject will make it appear smaller in the frame. That much should be obvious and intuitive. Double your distance, and the object becomes half of its previous size using the same focal length lens. The difference between 100m and 500m is huge. The thing is, though, that you can't make much of a difference in the distance between you and the moon no matter how many steps backward you take. The difference between 380,000km and 380,000.4km might as well not be there at all. So while the moon stays the same size, your foreground objects become much, much smaller.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
To make the moon look big relative to a foreground subject, use the longest focal length you have and shoot from far away from the foreground subject. The key is perspective: increasing your distance makes the foreground appear smaller, while the moon’s apparent size barely changes because it is so far away. A long lens then frames both larger within a narrow field of view.
So the practical recipe is:
- use your 70-300mm at the long end
- choose a foreground subject you can photograph from a substantial distance
- align your position so the moon rises or sets where you want it
A kit lens is usually too short for the classic oversized-moon look. A 300mm lens on a crop body can help, but very dramatic examples often use even longer lenses and lots of distance.
If the geometry is not possible, a composite is another option. A traditional method is to photograph the scene at one focal length/exposure, then photograph the moon properly exposed at a longer focal length and combine them. This works especially easily against a dark sky.
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