Hi there.
I am a complete novice at all of this and only have a fairly average camera, but I was wondering if it is possible to somehow capture the essence of a full moon for a music clip I am trying to create. (Just for fun and creativity sakes!)
What I would really like is to capture a shot of a woman in a white dress, in a clearing, standing with arms upraised to the moon with the moons light reflecting on her face.
Is this even vaguely possible to do?
I've tried filming in my backyard but even though the moonlight LOOKS so bright, everything ends up dark and murky.
Trying to capture the moon itelf seems impossible also as it bulges in and out.
Any ideas?

My reading of your plan is that it sounds like a movie shot, what I mean is that it will have to be staged. I don't understand what you mean when you say it bulges in and out? I've taken video of a new moon rising when it's all orange and eerie looking and it looks alright, so could you explain that. Depending on what software you have you might be able to get a really good close up of the moon (depending on the zoom size on your camera) and then combine it will your female talent standing with her arms out. Will she have her back to the camera for the entire shot or will you be cutting/dissolving to a shot of her face with the moonlight on it?

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Hi. Thanks for your response
Actually it's for a music video I am "attempting" to put together.
The song is called "Drawing down the moon", hence the woman with arms upraised towards a full moon.
I'm probably trying to do the impossible because my camera, compared with what I'm sure a lot of people on this forum have, would be laughable :(
I did some reading here throughout the forum and thought perhaps the "bulging" in and out thing might be because I had the camera on automatic focus (I told you I'm a complete novice, lol!)
I tried tonight on manual focus and it didn't bulge anymore but I'm seeing rays of light coming from the moon. Not what I want !
I think it might be a case of that I just don't have a good enough video camera for what I'm trying to do.
I might have to think of a creative way of filming this inside.
I've had some success using a blue light.......kinda gives that eerie "blue moonlight" effect?
I just really wanted the moon!

>>>Will she have her back to the camera for the entire shot or will you be cutting/dissolving to a shot of her face with the moonlight on it?

And yes....that was the idea.

It is possible to do it in a sort of Meatloaf video type of way, female in white dress, moonlight, motorbikes, fog etc etc, but you need to tell us what kind of editing software you have and if it has the facility for compositing. How big do you want the moon to appear in this scene? Normal size or much larger? The much larger size would be more dramatic and it has been used in numerous videos, music and otherwise and no one ever notices how artificially big it is.

I would zoom in on the moon the next night it is out with the camera on a tripod and keep that. Next I would get that blue light you mention and light the clearing where the female talent stands, with the camera behind her, she will have to act out the part of reaching up to the moon and in post production you will have to combine the earlier large shot of the moon let's say in the top left corner. Yes, I know it sounds complicated, maybe someone else can come up with something simpler. But to get a dramatic shot of the moon in the scene along with your female talent, you will need to fake it a little bit.

And as you say, keep the camera on manual control. You could also change the white balance setting from auto to the indoor setting (even though you are outdoors) to introduce a blue tint to the video. This all depends on what controls you can change on your camcorder.

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Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

Thanks, yes your ideas are in line with what I was thinking I might have to do...
I have some good clear footage of the moon as it was rising just before sunset so the sky is still blue but I'm thinking perhaps in the editing process (I have Sony Vegas - but agghhh...I am still feeling my way around it and consulting the help files OFTEN, lol!) I might be able to do something with that as well.
Also maybe some photographs of the moon... fading in and out?
I'm aiming for ethereal and mystical in this video so I imagine there will be a fair few spots in it where I can use that lovely cross over fade effect.
Anyway, when I get to that stage I will probably need to go to the other section as I stumble my way through the editing process
I'm not sure about the "white balance" thing you mentioned.
I will fiddle around some more.

I don't use Sony Vegas myself so you might get more help on using it if you start posting in the Sony Vegas section of the forum. Changing the white balance setting from auto to indoors will add a blue nighttime/moonlight feel to your video but that depends on whether you can change the setting on your camcorder. If you can, then shoot some test scenes and see how it looks when you play it back on tv.

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Better than a poke in the eye with a pointy stick any day...

Thanks, yes I really need to experiement more with this camera and see how how much or little it can do.
I suppose I'm jumping in at the deep end with all this so I may need to wait until the next full moon to get the right shots.
I'll head on over to the Vegas forum as I already have questions to mind boggling things that are probably simply answered!

Thanks again for your help and suggestions.