By Nic
Previously, we introduced how local photographer Kenneth Wong used the “compression effect” of a telephoto lens to make the sun and moon appear incredibly large, resulting in stunning visual effects.
British photographer and filmmaker Luke Miller recently created a 3-minute short film titled “Sun Moon London,” using a 2520mm “long lens” to capture oversized images of the sun and moon reflecting over iconic London landmarks such as the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben.
Miller has a passion for photographing London and has often used telephoto lenses to create “compression effect” photos in the past. He was always curious about how far this effect could be pushed. Once, he discovered the Magic Lantern feature, which allows for a 3x crop of the image without any loss in quality—effectively turning a 600mm lens into one with an 1800mm focal length, making the visual results more intriguing.
For this latest project, Miller spent two days shooting, including the Harvest Moon on October 5, 2017, and the Supermoon on January 1, 2018. The equipment used involved running the Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Magic Lantern’s 3x crop function, combined with a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens plus a 2x extender, and a Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C lens with a 1.4x extender, achieving a total focal length of 2520mm.
Regarding this shoot, Miller said the biggest challenge was the local weather—any slight cloud cover would ruin the shot, and even a gentle breeze could cause vibrations that couldn’t be corrected even with post-production stabilization.
Eventually, he found that keeping the tripod at its lowest height and securing it in front of the lens helped reduce camera shake.
During one shoot of the London Eye under the moonlight, he unexpectedly captured a satellite passing through the frame. Here is the related footage:
To see more of Miller’s work, you can visit his Instagram and Vimeo.
Source: PetaPixel