Planing shots using the Photographer's Ephemeris

2 26 2013 Tomorrowland Moon shot (4 exposure Tone map) by Disney Photography Phanatic, on Flickr


Here is a shot I had envisioned when I checked out the position and phase of the moon in advance of my late February "Family" Disney trip. This was a family trip so I wouldn't have the luxury of running around the parks willy nilly with my camera at all hours of the day. However, when I saw that there was going to be a full moon and that it would be rising just when I needed it, I couldn't resist. Family be damned! I was bringing the tripod!

To start, the Photographer's Ephemeris site is dedicated to helping you to understand the position, angles and tracking of the sun and the moon. If you go to this link: http://photoephemeris.com/ ; you can download a FREE! desk top application that will allow you to enter the date and time and see where the Sun/Moon will be and the path it will travel overlaid on a google map. It will also help you to track the angle you need to be at if you want to line up the sun/ moon with a particular object in the landscape. It will also do laundry for you while you are on vacation but that function is in Beta and is still kind of buggy. ;

Anyway, you can download the desk top version for free and they also have smart phone apps that you can purchase.

So I realized that the moon would be full and if I stood on the Tomorrowland bridge at such and such an hour I could line up the moon with the Astro orbiter. I thought that would look cool! The only problem was on the Sunday and Monday that I had planned to get the shot the skies were solidly overcast so my dream shot for this trip was not going to happen! Mother Nature's a bitch!

Finally on Tuesday, the day that an Orlando weather apocalypse was forecast, with violent thunder storms and winds blowing so hard that there was a toy dog advisory, THAT was the day that the skies cleared and the moon was out!

Off I went with the tripod.... At one point my family found me on the bridge to Tomorrowland taking this shot and I was concentrating so hard I totally ignored them and refused to talk at all. I can remember my husband trying to explain that I was busy and that I would catch up with them later. The rest is a blur. My family thinks that taking pictures like this is as easy as pushing the button on a point and shoot. I don't even bother to explain.....

So let me set this up for you. First you have the usual problems of people standing still in the middle of your bracket set. Delete, delete, delete. Then you have the kid dancing in the middle of your exposure with the light up toy. Delete, delete, delete. Did I mention the cell phone people with the light up screens walking through the shot? Delete, delete, delete. Oh. And then there is the moon, STREAKING across the sky at amazing speeds, well amazing if you are trying to bracket a set of exposures. Add to that you need to get the angles JUST right with the moon, the Astro Orbiter, which needs to be still by the way, (Bonus!) and the Tomorrowland sign lined up and you have a hyperfocal headache on your hands! Then your family comes along and wants to talk to you as they stand in front of your camera. YUM! There was also the added blessing of the Photopass Photographer nailed to a spot on my left.

So the next problem I had to deal with (yes, there were more problems!) was the over exposed moon. The moon is so bright when compared to the other objects in this composition so there was no way I was going to be able to properly expose the moon for detail and still expose the other elements in this composition. Yeah I know, I could have exposed for the moon separately and copy/pasted it in in Photoshop but this wasn't going to be that kind of picture, was it? Since the moon was such a tiny part of the composition I sacrificed it's exposure and went for the other stuff. This is a four exposure set processed in Photomatix.

Exposure 1) f 8, 1/40, exp comp -1.33, ISO 100
Exposure 2) f 8, .4, ; exp comp -1, ISO 100
Exposure 3) f 8, 1/8, exposure comp -0.67, ISO 100
Exposure 4) f 8, 13.0, exposure comp -0.33, ISO 100

(I kept the aperture at f 8 to make the shutter speed faster because that moon is a streaking devil!)

I then opened this baby up in camera raw for some more buffing and polishing. I like how I got some stars in the darker parts of the sky and that wispy cloud area by the moon really helps to accentuate the fact that it's the moon you are looking at and not just another light in Tomorrowland.

I feel pretty lucky, even the dark artifact seen on the moon from processing 4 different shots add a little bit of character. This was a shot I had envisioned before I left on this trip. I was really disappointed when the weather crapped out on me but I got lucky after all. I had originally planned to run around Tomorrowland and get the moon in different shots, like over Space Mountain and with different Tomorrowland icons in the shots with the moon. Because the moon rises something like an hour later each day I was at the end of my time frame (just about) by the time Tuesday came along and the weather cleared, still I got the shot I had envisioned before the trip!

Be sure to think about where the sun/moon will be before your next Disney trip. You can grab some very creative shots using those two things if you have the right time, the right place and the right plan.

~Joanie

 

Thanks Justin. Your words mean a lot! I've always admired your work and the dedication and artistry that you exhibit with your photographs.

~Joanie

 

It's a great tool for sure and you planned out and successfully implemented an amazing photo! ;

 

Not sure which I liked better, the image or the write-up Both!

Erich

 

I agree with Erich! ; Love the write up, it tells a GREAT story. ; And the shot is killer! ; I have used the app to help me with sunrise for my trip during Christmas week but did not think about the moon and where is would be. ; Thanks for that idea!

 

Great shot & supporting story / explanation of the work put into it. Well done.