This is a composite of two images made this morning, July 16, 2012 as the International Space Station flew over Jacksonville, Florida. The
images were captured about 6 minutes apart and combined to create this photograph. In reality, the ISS did not fly past the moon as closely
as shown here.
The images were created with a Canon 7D body and Canon 500mm f4L IS lens, and stacked 2x and 1.4x Canon teleconverters, mounted
on Gitzo tripod with a Wimberley gimbal head. The ISS image was manually focused, and the moon image was autofocused in live view mode.
Frequently what I do when the moon is visible, is focus on the moon and get a good sharp focus, then press the focus memory switch on the
500mm lens, so that it remembers the focus position. Then when holding the lens I switch back to the pre-set focus automatically and follow
the InternationalSpace Station as it tracks across the sky. I then try my best to tweak the focus on the fly if the image appears to be blurred in
the viewfinder as I track it. It's best to shoot bursts of 5 or 6 images at a time to get the best chance to capture a sharp image of the space station.