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Fun with MF images - ARCHIVED - FOR VIEWING ONLY

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Shashin

Well-known member
...the moon always appears smaller in the photo than it does in real life...
It is called the Moon Illusion. You can Google it. There is no explanation beyond that your mind is fooling you, although the most common reason given that has not been proven is that it has to do with the comparison of objects at the horizon. Except for distortions, the moon is always the same size no matter how close it is to the horizon--there is no magnification at the horizon. Your camera is showing how it looks in real life.
 

Thierry

New member
Absolutely right, and it is an optical illusion: when the moon is at horizon and "close" to other elements to be compared with (trees, mountains, hills, etc ...) it appears bigger than it is in the full empty sky where one has nothing to compare.

Thierry

It is called the Moon Illusion. You can Google it. There is no explanation beyond that your mind is fooling you, although the most common reason given that has not been proven is that it has to do with the comparison of objects at the horizon. Except for distortions, the moon is always the same size no matter how close it is to the horizon--there is no magnification at the horizon. Your camera is showing how it looks in real life.
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
One of the most jaw-droppingly impressive sights of my life was watching the moon set behind a distant wooded ridge through a telescope. Imagine the small dark silhouettes of trees. Behind them, filling the field of view, is an enormous moving wall of craters and mountains.

As for the moon illusion being due to comparison with objects near it in the visual field, I don't think it needs proof. Just hold up your hand next to the moon and it will suddenly look very tiny.

Matt
 

Shashin

Well-known member
Absolutely right, and it is an optical illusion: when the moon is at horizon and "close" to other elements to be compared with (trees, mountains, hills, etc ...) it appears bigger than it is in the full empty sky where one has nothing to compare.

Thierry
Thierry, that is the common explanation, but the folks that have studied this have not come up with a definite conclusion of why we perceive the moon this way--if we view the moon high in the sky through tree branches or next to tall buildings, we don't have this perception. And trees on the horizon are not very big and trees themselves are not very big, why would that influence our perception of the Moon that we expect to be huge in comparison--we should have the opposite response. It is simply one hypothesis among many. One thing is for sure, it is an illusion and not an optical/physical effect caused by the atmosphere or the distance to the Moon.
 
It is called the Moon Illusion. You can Google it. There is no explanation beyond that your mind is fooling you, although the most common reason given that has not been proven is that it has to do with the comparison of objects at the horizon. Except for distortions, the moon is always the same size no matter how close it is to the horizon--there is no magnification at the horizon. Your camera is showing how it looks in real life.
Thank you for your reply. I read up on it as suggested and perhaps the problem with some of my photos is that the moon is not low enough on the horizon to get the appearance of larger size.
 

Landscapelover

Senior Subscriber Member
Then I'm puzzled as to why the moon looks so large when you were using a 28 mm lens? Or did you crop a lot? (Doesn't look like it from the perspective.) Or is it simply the halo?

I've often shot the moon and in my pix it doesn't look that big even with a standard 80 mm lens. Please enlighten me!

Bill
Hi Bill,

I checked the lens profile again to make sure and it was really 28mm with f/4.5, ISO 100 and exposure of 1 minute.
It was very dark. That's the best I could do. I've learned over the past few months that the exposure of 1 minute is the sweet spot for long exposure of the IQ 180. I've also learned that DOF is quite acceptable for Mamiya 28mm at f/4.5 in low light.
It is probably ~ 10% crop or less. Although the moon was very big, I think other reasons beyond the illusion may also be the effect of "long exposure" and wide-opened F stop.
Thank you everyone for giving very useful comments on this issue.

Best regards,

Pramote
 
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Shashin

Well-known member
Thank you for your reply. I read up on it as suggested and perhaps the problem with some of my photos is that the moon is not low enough on the horizon to get the appearance of larger size.
That won't do it--the Moon will not change its size and the Moon Illusion only works "live"--you can't see the illusion in a photograph (which is another interesting point about the illusion as many spacial illusions will continue to work when photographed). If you want a large moon, you are going to have to add it.
 

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
The rule of thumb for the size of the moon (or sun) in a photo is to divide the focal length of the lens by 100. (Actually, 109 if you want to be very precise.)

This means a 28 mm lens gives an image of 0.28 mm - or roughly 1/200th of the horizontal size of the IQ180 frame. Pramote's moon is way larger than that - I'd say about 1/20th of the frame.

I can only assume that there is considerable blooming of the image - like 10 times - caused by either haze in the sky or a heavily saturated sensor - or both. In my experience I have to use a lens of about 300 mms to get an image of the moon as big as it appears in Pramote's pic.

Still a nice shot though, even if I don't understand the physics!

Bill
 

etrump

Well-known member
Ben,

The Kotel Rain image on your fine art site is excellent. Thought provoking to say the least.

Ed
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Went for a short walk this afternoon... RZ Pro IID - Aptus II 6 - 110/2.8





Cheers!
Shelby
 
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