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I took this photo yesterday and although I love it, I wish It didn't have as much glare from the moon or the city lights. I know I could go into lightroom and photoshop and crop a new moon in, but I don't want to do that.

I'm looking to learn the technique that when I go on the field and shoot a similar photo again will help me avoid such glares.

night photo

damned truths
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dassouki
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    Except for a twenty-stop exposure difference, the moon and the sun are the same thing, photographically speaking. Anything you'd do to eliminate flare from the sun, you'd also do for the moon. –  Aug 31 '12 at 00:58
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    Funny thing is, I like the flare. What I don't like is the silhouette at the bottom! That's just me, though. – Joanne C Aug 31 '12 at 02:37
  • JoanneC: are you referring to my silhouette? I was trying to make the picture as a portrait of myself – dassouki Aug 31 '12 at 03:10
  • @StanRogers Thanks! I didn't realize that comparison – dassouki Aug 31 '12 at 03:10
  • Whoops! Well, I figured it was a cityscape shot. :) – Joanne C Aug 31 '12 at 10:35
  • JoanneC: Do you think I should retake the shot without my silhouette? – dassouki Aug 31 '12 at 12:07
  • That's entirely up to you. I liked it as a cityscape, but don't let my take on it distract from what you want to achieve. You may want to give it a try though, just to see what you think. That's the fun thing about the digital era, the cost really only time. – Joanne C Aug 31 '12 at 14:25
  • I don't personally find the glare objectionable, but I would try a polarizing filter to reduce glare. I also like the dark silhouette in the foreground, balancing the bright background city lights. My eye wanders from the silhouette to the city lights to the moon then back. – Therealstubot Aug 31 '12 at 20:47

2 Answers2

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A strong graduated ND filter can help reduce the intensity of the flare but wont eliminate it. The moon is by far the brightest object around at night so is inevitably going to be massively overexposed and cause flare.

The only way to really achieve a normal looking moon would be to shoot two exposures, one for the cityscape and one for the moon and blend them in post.

Matt Grum
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Are you still wanting to include the moon in the shot? If so, then think about how you control flare during the daytime and shooting into strong light sources.

  • Use a hood to protect from off-axis flares that are outside of the field of view.
  • Remove any non-multicoated filters from the light path as these are sources of flare.
  • Stop down to improve the coma distortion from your lens.

If you don't need to include the moon as a light source, then you'll want to use a hood as you move the camera off center.

smigol
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