One weekend I didn't have any plans, so i headed up to Larch Mountain for some sunrise photos. I expected the gate to be closed and a 2 mile hike, but instead i was able to drive all the way to the parking lot near the summit, so i got there nice and early. I played with some long exposures of stars, city lights, and the horizon. Some time after the eastern sky started ligting up, i noticed that the dark side of the moon was clearly visible. The sky had a noticeable blue to it to the naked eye, and the illuminated crescent was surprisingly bright.

I used the camera's spot meter and took advantage of the CCD's limited exposure latitude. I metered off the dark side of the moon, but also checked the meter on the crescent and the sky to make sure they would be over and underexposed accordingly. If i had exposed longer, i would have gotten a better view of the dark side, but the sky might have gotten a blue gradient, and the aura around the crescent would have gotten larger. As is, the sky is actually a deep grey, but it's outside the gamut of most monitors and printers, so it's essentially not there.

I did have a few other options - i could have metered the dark side, and then afterwards played with the lowlights to turn the background black. I could have also taken two exposure - one of the dark side and one of the crescent - and digitally combined them to get detail in both. Neither are really my style - I enjoy photography more than time in front of a computer, and creating complete images in-camera is usually higher quality and always more rewarding for me.