Crescent Moon Rising, Chris Conrad Photography

Crescent Moon Rising 8 hour exposure; Crescent Moon rising over Lac Kipiwa Quebec, Canada
Though I generally photograph in the American Southwest, I went to Quebec for a short trip with family and friends. Spending the night camped on this tiny island, I took advantage of the lapping water on the granite. I rarely see expanses of water like this, so I was happy to have the opportunity to photograph such a scene with the crescent moon rising from ~2am to 5am on the eastern horizon.

	Setting-up the camera for Crescent Moon Rising involved a bit of planning. Because a crescent moon does not provide enough light to illuminate a whole scene (with 100 ASA film), I pre-exposed the film at dusk. To do this, I use heavy filtration over the upper 1/2 or 1/3 of the frame, literally using cardboard and dodging the sky through the lens. By using the dim light of evening and a small aperture, I was able to get the correct shutter speed to be 10 seconds. This gave me time to dodge the sky and maintain motion of the cardboard without leaving an obvious line on the film. The film is then re-exposed to allow the Crescent Moon (and stars if it's clear enough) to write over the film.