Quote:
Originally Posted by dmg1969
That is fantastic jinx! Do you use the same setting each time or experiment based on the amount of light due to moon phase?
|
The moon's reflectivity is constant. IIRC it reflects about 9% of the light falling on it. Your settings shouldn't change unless you are compensating for haze.
The "Rule of f:16" from the days of film states that proper exposure for a subject in full sun (between the hours of 10am and 4pm, May-Sept) is f:16 with a shutter speed of 1/ISO.
So, on a typical sunny summer day (excluding the beach) with ISO 400 film proper exposure would be 1/400 @ f:16
The average reflectance of earth is 18%. So the extrapolate a proper lunar exposure (since the days are always sunny on the moon) would be one stop more exposure since the moon reflects one stop less light than earth.
So, proper lunar exposure should be 1/ISO @ f:11 regardless of the moon's phase.
Typically, people assume that because it is night they need to give the moon lots of exposure. They don't, the moon is very bright.