4 ms·

This is a great explanation... could also be titled, "Why taking a picture of the moon with your smartphone never looks as amazing as in real life."

thaumasiotes 10y ago
You can't blame the moon illusion for that. Here's wikipedia's page image for "Moon illusion": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harvest_moon.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harvest_moon.jpg
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  Was that taken with a smartphone, or a camera with a nice zoom lens?
  - thaumasiotes 10y ago
    What would that have to do with the moon illusion? I doubt the moon has been zoomed any further than the rest of the picture, if that's what you're thinking.
    - svachalek 10y ago
      If you're standing 100m from that fence and zoom in on it ("telephoto" in proper terms) you'll end up with a very different picture than if you're 2m away and using a normal or wide-angle lens. Kind of like holding your fingers in front of your eye and "crushing" people's heads.
    - rangibaby 10y ago
      The further a lens is away from the film plane or sensor (this is what 50mm or 135mm refers to), the larger the background appears for the equivalent foreground. It's called lens compression. http://www.bokehworkshop.com/public/charts/lens-compression-chart-12mm-600mm-4k.jpg http://www.bokehworkshop.com/public/charts/lens-compression-...
      - mortenjorck 10y ago
        Yep. It may seem counterintuitive that the moon could somehow be "zoomed further," yet because of its vastly greater distance, that is effectively what happens. In the example above, the woman is standing the same distance from the Starbucks, while the photographer moves further and further back with a longer lens. As the woman recedes into the distance, the longer lenses are picking a smaller and smaller angle out of the field of view, which makes the Starbucks appear ever bigger behind her. The same thing happens, at a much larger scale, with the moon.
        drcongo 10y ago
        In movies this technique is known as a contrazoom or dolly zoom, most famously used in Jaws [1], but most effectively used in Goodfellas [2] where it's done incredibly slowly to give a terrible feeling of claustrophobia. One of my favourite shots of all time. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udgF6hNoCRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udgF6hNoCRE

thaumasiotes 10y ago

You can't blame the moon illusion for that. Here's wikipedia's page image for "Moon illusion": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harvest_moon.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harvest_moon.jpg

pavel_lishin 10y ago
Was that taken with a smartphone, or a camera with a nice zoom lens?
- thaumasiotes 10y ago
  What would that have to do with the moon illusion? I doubt the moon has been zoomed any further than the rest of the picture, if that's what you're thinking.
  - svachalek 10y ago
    If you're standing 100m from that fence and zoom in on it ("telephoto" in proper terms) you'll end up with a very different picture than if you're 2m away and using a normal or wide-angle lens. Kind of like holding your fingers in front of your eye and "crushing" people's heads.
  - rangibaby 10y ago
    The further a lens is away from the film plane or sensor (this is what 50mm or 135mm refers to), the larger the background appears for the equivalent foreground. It's called lens compression. http://www.bokehworkshop.com/public/charts/lens-compression-chart-12mm-600mm-4k.jpg http://www.bokehworkshop.com/public/charts/lens-compression-...
    - mortenjorck 10y ago
      Yep. It may seem counterintuitive that the moon could somehow be "zoomed further," yet because of its vastly greater distance, that is effectively what happens. In the example above, the woman is standing the same distance from the Starbucks, while the photographer moves further and further back with a longer lens. As the woman recedes into the distance, the longer lenses are picking a smaller and smaller angle out of the field of view, which makes the Starbucks appear ever bigger behind her. The same thing happens, at a much larger scale, with the moon.
      - drcongo 10y ago
        In movies this technique is known as a contrazoom or dolly zoom, most famously used in Jaws [1], but most effectively used in Goodfellas [2] where it's done incredibly slowly to give a terrible feeling of claustrophobia. One of my favourite shots of all time. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWcQnaMMlM [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udgF6hNoCRE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udgF6hNoCRE