Is it difficult to capture a full moon and a background scen

[Contriver]

(EDIT - I'm not sure if the moonwas technically a 'full moon' last night...the moon was bright and 'full' in any case.)

Hey guys, just trying to get some advice on this shot I tried yesterday where I attempted to capture the moon positioned above some trees.

Here is the setup: I used my Canon A520. I set the camera up on a tripod. It was around 4:45 in the afternoon yesterday so the sun was alreadybelow the horizon. The moon was bright and the trees and such where much darker in comparison. Also, the moon was opposite to the sunset...in other words the sunset was behind me.

I tried to compensate using the shutter speed, but not matter what I did, I couldn't get both the moon and the background to show. In fact,in the last pictureyou can see thatthe background is very dark, yet the moon is still bright.PerhapsI needed tocompensate even more for the brightness of the moon? But thenthe backgroundwould be completely black Iassume. Woulda dSLR with the right lense be able to take this shot or is the contrast between bright and dark elements too great?

[JohnG]

The dynamic range (difference between light and dark) is way too much for a single shot to capture it.

Onesolution is to take 2 shots - one shot exposed for the moon, the other for the rest. You then blend the two shots in post processing.

The key is, you must keep everything exactly the same - don't change zoom, don't move the tripod, don't wait 10 minutes. Take one right after the other so the moon doesn't move.

Blending the two exposures requires software with layers capability. What software package do you use?

I think the difference in exposures is too drastic to use a ND filter or to use the same RAW file to produce both images (2 other approaches),.

[amazingthailand]

Yes, the moon is actually quite bright. The moon is in direct sunlight, while the rest of the scene is illuminated (primarily) by reflected moonlight.

Use the two exposure method outlined above.

[msantos]

Believe it or not, full moon is very brigth for the camera, so I betyou won't be able to get both, the moon and trees properly exposed.

As JohnG said, the option is to take 2 exposures, one with the moon correctly exposed, and the other with the trees correctly exposed. Then, use Photoshop, Paint Shop or similar to make the "sandwich"

[Contriver]

OK, thats what I figured, its not the camera's fault, its just the 'nature' of the shot (too much of a difference between the bright elements and dark elements).

As for combining two differently exposed shots, are you referring to what I have heard called 'HDR'?

[msantos]

Sorry, I haven't heard about HDR. My mother language is Spanish, probably that is the reason.