filming by real moonlight

[Jon Kukla]

Just was about to go to bed and realized that my entire backyard was bathed in bright moonlight, so I went and sat in it for about 10 minutes. So fun...

 

I would've missed it if not for the fact that all of the house lights in the back were turned off. In fact, I found that when as little as a computer monitor were turned on in the room (with my back to it), the ambient light "stopped down" my eyes enough to make the moonlight barely perceptible. But when I first saw out from the dark room, it was so light out there that I actually thought for about half a second that it might have been snowing! :P I suppose it helped to have a nearly-full moon at its zenith on a cloudless night and no nearby light spill - even from neighbors' windows. This is definitely something I'm gonna miss when I go to LA. :(

[Tom Lowe]

I was out at Joshua Tree national park last year about this time, under a completely full moon. It was the brightest night ambient light I had ever seen. I don't know if it was the reflection off the tan sand and rocks, or just a super-close, bright moon or what. The moon was so bright I didn't need a lantern or anything at my camp. I was out hiking among the rock formations for hours that night. It felt like a big, brightly lit playground out there. I was sleeping out in the open, without a tent, and it was so bright I had trouble getting to sleep, so I had to pull a blanket over my head!

[Ram Shani]

hi

 

very good post i try to do day for night music video shoot in the forest took photo with my digicam

 

do some cc in light room what you think

 

now i see the pic on line it look to bright like i need to close the black more

Edited October 1, 2007 by Ram Shani

[Michael Nash]

hi

 

very good post i try to do day for night music video shoot in the forest took photo with my digicam

 

do some cc in light room what you think

 

now i see the pic on line it look to bright like i need to close the black more

 

I agree you could pull down the gamma more to make the mids even darker. But it also looks too monochrome to me, like a tinted black and white image. I think you should see some color even under moonlight. Maybe try starting with a color image and white balance heavily toward blue (with a little bit of green), and then desaturate to taste. I also think the blue is too "steel" blue, and needs more green. It doesn't feel like "pale" moonlight.

 

But I also think it's hard to sell day-for-night under soft ambient light, since there really isn't any ambient skylight under a black night sky (unless it's from urban light pollution reflected off clouds). I think you need direct sunlight doubling as direct moonlight to pull it off.

 

Just my take on it anyway.

[John Sprung]

I was out at Joshua Tree national park last year about this time, under a completely full moon. It was the brightest night ambient light I had ever seen.

I was at a resort about ten years ago, and they had a power failure on a moonlit night. For me, it was actually much easier to walk around outside by the moonlight than by the floods they had. Dynamic range, at least for me, is more important than the actual level of illumination. But there are other folks who have night blindness, and can't manage just by moonlight.

 

Try Joshua Tree without the moon. A long time ago, a friend of mine went camping with his kids in the desert somewhere. His 9 year old daughter woke up in the middle of a moonless night, and was terrified by what she saw in the sky -- there were way too many stars.

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.