Well, a remake of this one, as I promised I tried to do it better, on a clear night, and with more time. Hope it's not pushing the subject.
Same technique as before, this time swapping lenses from my 70-300mm :) with the 18-105mm. So I got one photo with the long end of 300mm and the wide end with 18mm!!
Then it was just placing the moon with trial and error. I got lucky with the reflection, it was naturally occurring in the river.
Kudos to levyj413 for the excellent tutorial, and my hat of to EntertainMe for this , and having the idea before I did.
Post challenge: Ok, so just to give a little more as to the exact steps to make this swapping:
First, use the 18mm lens, and compose the shot. Focus everything, and use as most of the physical part of the body to re-compose the shot afterwards (I used the flash shoe and tip of the lens hood). Don't touch the focus ring, as you remove the lens.
Next, put on the 300mm lens, aim it at the moon, remember in your head the position of the first picture, so you can place the moon on the right place (this required 4 or 5 shots just to get the placing right).
Adjust the focus to the moon, and then use the black piece of cardboard as explained on the great tutorial above. Get a few shots just to check the exposure.
Now, everything is focused, put your cardboard in front of the lens, click the remote shutter on bulb and the photo has started. Swipe the cardboard to expose the moon. At this point, the other side of the cardboard should be in front.
Very carefully, put the lens cap on. Point the camera to a dark part of the background, pull a dark cloth over the camera (I used my black jacket), and remove the 300mm lens. Put it away safely, and get your 18mm lens.
Attach it to the camera, still with the black cloth on top (this is a bit dangerous, as if you're not careful you could scratch the back of the lens). When attached, re-compose the shot, using your physical guides as before.
Then, carefully, remove the lens cap, and let the exposure for a few seconds more (I think it was about 20s for mine) and you're done.
Seems a bit far-fetched, but I had to try it :P
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Fascinating!! It took a couple of readings to understand how you did it, but now that I have it figure out, I may have to try it myself!! Congrats on an outstanding result and thanks so much for the explanation!!
Joao, what a stunning shot of the big bad wolf moon! Not surprised it was validated, with the moon that big, crisp and detailed.
The setup and lens swap during shooting, all without blurring the image - just great timing and an amazing technique, that clearly works great when done properly. The long exposure also adds a magnificent silky/icy texture to the water, and the soft blur around the bridge's lights adds to the scene instead of detracting.
Just highlights how small and insignificant we really are. Thank you for giving me the chance to critique a shot that should have placed much higher than it did. Great work!
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