I captured this shot last night as the moon was setting over the Pacific. It was a dark night, but I was able to pull some detail out of the blackness of the ocean. I'd love to hear everyone's feedback on this shot. As I've looked at it more, it has really grown on me.
60mm
30 sec @ f / 2.8
ISO 200
Great detail in the moon!
Thanks for the feedback!
I haven't managed so far but you could consider two shots, one focused on the moon the second mid distance on the sea then stitch the two together. This would mimic how we look at the image by mentally storing a focused moon and then focusing on the sea. I had a frustrating night trying to get both in focus, and the technique I mentioned was given as the solution.
I’d be interested to know what part of the image appears out of focus to you. I’ve focused stacked quite a few images in the past, but not when everything in the image was effectively out at infinity.
In this image, the moon is actually in focus, but because it’s a 30 second exposure I’m getting motion blur as it moves through the sky. At 60 mm, it would have been great to get this under 5 or 10 seconds so the movement of the moon was not noticeable. I actually tried to do that, but by the time I was done messing about with my settings the moon has sunk too low on the horizon and the moonlight was no longer reflecting off of the water.
Motion blur could be the reason, it feels like it is edging toward a late turner painting. I know what you mean about getting the two shots and sticking them, I have not succeeded yet.
I've been looking at some of the other images from this same night. I think I like this one even more. (This is the problem with rushing home and editing late-night photos before bed, sometimes you miss the best ones.)