Aldrin on Moon, Aldrin in Studio ?

[Simon Wyss]

Would anybody within the lighting community like to share her or his view of that photograph ? I should wish to collect professionals' opinions on why for example the ground is darker towards the horizon or whether there is/are fill-in light/s to the man. His body shadow is jet black. His front is not. Where would the fill-in come from. Did they have flashlight with them ?

 

Buzz Aldrin Photo

[Patrick Neary]

Hi-

 

The fill light is that big shiny, foil-covered lander you see reflected in his visor.

 

The photo looks vignetted, like it may have been underexposed and dodged back up in the center, or if it was Kodachrome maybe just vignetting from the lens.

[Serge Teulon]

Would anybody within the lighting community like to share her or his view of that photograph ? I should wish to collect professionals' opinions on why for example the ground is darker towards the horizon or whether there is/are fill-in light/s to the man. His body shadow is jet black. His front is not. Where would the fill-in come from. Did they have flashlight with them ?

 

Buzz Aldrin Photo

 

 

Maybe the sun has been spotted by the gaffer! ;)

 

Sorry in advance to whoever thinks that is an appalling joke. :ph34r: Got a parking ticket today and it has affected many parts of myself, humour included!

 

I think the falloff in the horizon is down to the small circumference of the moon couple with its rotation around the sun.

It appears as a flat horizon (albeit on the piss) but I can only think that it is that....

[Mark Dunn]

The version you post is a rather contrasty, cropped dupe. Going back to the original,

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/AS11-40-5903.jpg

shows little if any vignetting. (The extra sky was added in retouching very early on, as was the cropping and straightening.)

The film was SO-168, aka High Speed Ektachrome (160ISO) in 70mm. AS11-40-5903 was taken with a Zeiss 60mm, a moderate wide-angle for the 120 format, so not prone to vignetting.

The lunar horizon is very close, only about a mile and a half for a man standing, as against about 4 miles on Earth.

Of course the lunar surface itself, although quite dark, acts as a broad-source fill. But I agree that the LM did most of the work as it was covered in gold foil. It even casts a weak shadow of Aldrin's chest pack on his upper right arm.