Moon photography tips

Trotter

Hi all,

Its a beautiful night out here on the south coast. The moon is very clear and there are low clouds moving across it. Photo moment!

No matter what I try though, the intense light of the moon is causing the clouds not to appear in the photo.

I can see something like this..

http://www.jamesmaherphotography.com



But..

Its coming out on camera like this..

blog.doneganlandscaping.com



Is it something to do with metering, shutter speed, fstop...?
Thanks!!

magicbastarder

yep; the moon is overexposing. do you have a manual mode on your camera?

Trotter

magicbastarder wrote: »

yep; the moon is overexposing. do you have a manual mode on your camera?

Yeah I have a Nikon D60. What should I try?
Im just at the stage where Im learning to set my own Shutter and FStop.

meenaghans

you will probably need a tripod to take this shot.
the first thing i would do is turn you iso down to 100 or the lowest it can go as it looks to be up high.

if you have a tripod set the lens to manual and focus on the moon.
set the f number to about f11 and the shutter speed to something like 4 seconds you may have to leave it open longer depending on how bright the photo turns out with these settings

Looking forward to seeing the results

brownej

If you are doing long exposures (>10s) remember that everything in the night sky moves ridiculously fast....

Trotter

meenaghans wrote: »

you will probably need a tripod to take this shot.
the first thing i would do is turn you iso down to 100 or the lowest it can go as it looks to be up high.

if you have a tripod set the lens to manual and focus on the moon.
set the f number to about f11 and the shutter speed to something like 4 seconds you may have to leave it open longer depending on how bright the photo turns out with these settings

Looking forward to seeing the results

Unfortunately the cloud has completed closed in now so I cant see the moon at all. Opportunity postponed for tonight!

If the moon is that bright usually, leaving the shutter open for 4 seconds would have it extremely bright in the photo right?

meenaghans

it depends as well on what lens you are using so if you are zoomed in a bit you wont need the shutter open as long.

You can start at half a second or less and then increase length the shutter is open depending on how bright the picture turns out

Most of these shots are trial and error until you get the brightness for the moon and clouds correct.

Trotter

meenaghans wrote: »

it depends as well on what lens you are using so if you are zoomed in a bit you wont need the shutter open as long.

You can start at half a second or less and then increase length the shutter is open depending on how bright the picture turns out

Most of these shots are trial and error until you get the brightness for the moon and clouds correct.

Cool.. I'll go out tomorrow night again and see what I see.
Thanks for the tips!

meenaghans

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55738210@N05/6518025399/

this is a photo one of my friends took.

it depends on what lens you use as well. if you have a telescope that you can connect your dslr up to you will get a lot more detail

Kenny Logins

meenaghans wrote: »

you will probably need a tripod to take this shot.
the first thing i would do is turn you iso down to 100 or the lowest it can go as it looks to be up high.

if you have a tripod set the lens to manual and focus on the moon.
set the f number to about f11 and the shutter speed to something like 4 seconds you may have to leave it open longer depending on how bright the photo turns out with these settings

Looking forward to seeing the results

Four seconds is a very long time, a fraction of a second should do it.. no?

Borderfox

1/60th f8 ISO 400, change the shutter speed accordingly if its overexposed go to 1/80th 1/100th and so on, if its underexposed got the other way 1/50th etc. Stick it on a tripod and used the biggest lens you have.

DesertMoon

I have a D40, I got clear enough pics using low ISO and messed around woth shutter speed, fstops. Also I used a tripod.

And remove UV lens cover if you have one on, as this gives a sort of moon reflection in the photo which you don't want.

I only have kit lens - but not a bad result

pixbyjohn

Moon 29/02/2012 by pixbyjohn, on Flickr

Taken with a 900mm telescope and camera adapter with D700 using a green moon filter
Not cropped sooc.

Carraig Fhearghais

The moon is basically a sunlit landscape (on a clear night), the dark area around it (space!) fools the cameras meter into thinking it needs more light.
Any of my best moon shots have been taken around the 1/125 to 1/250 sec @ f8 mark with 200 ISO (film or digi sensitivity)

Start around these settings and bracket a couple of stops either side and you won't be far away from correct exposure to show the moon terrain details.

HTH

Trotter

We're getting there!

ScumLord

Isn't this a practical application of HDR? Use camera raw and use software to merge the photos into what you want.

inkedpt

The super-moon is gone but there will be another full-moons so it's never to late.
I shoot this with 1/125 sec shutter speed, f/5.6 aperture, 100 iso and 300mm focal length

mayo.mick

I took this shot last december, (cropped). On tripod, timer, mirror lock up, nikor lens @300mm, VR off, f/8, 1/400sec, iso100. It took a good few shots @ different settings to get it right, (assuming it's right c&c welcome:pac:)

Gregor Samsa

mayo.mick wrote: »

I took this shot last december, (cropped). On tripod, timer, mirror lock up, nikor lens @300mm, VR off, f/8, 1/400sec, iso100. It took a good few shots @ different settings to get it right, (assuming it's right c&c welcome:pac:)

That looks sharp. You could probably have opened up the aperture a bit, and got it slightly brighter, but I'm sure you'd be still able to brighten it up if you wanted. Trying different settings is the best way to learn which works best.

The only problem with the full Moon in general is that because the Sun is shining at it face on, it flattens all the features. So while a full Moon looks amazing in the sky, crescent and half Moons tend to make more interesting photos. Of course, when there's a "super moon", and a break in the clouds, we all have to rush out and try shooing it regardless

And rushed out I did, but it was late, so I only took a few before I rushed back in. Here's the full Moon from Friday night , Sony A77 with a Sony 70-400G and a crapy Vivitar 1.4 teleconverter. Similar setting to you, actually: (Crop. Tripod, 560mm, f/8, 1/320, ISO 100)



You can see that inkedpt's above is brighter than ours - his being f/5.6 and 1/125 sec.

And here's a half moon one from last October, which I think makes a more interesting subject. Sony A77 with a Sony 70-400G (Crop. Tripod, 400mm, f/5.6, 1/60, ISO 200)



I'm looking forward to shooting a good thin crescent sometime soon - it's not something I've tried yet.

inkedpt

Phutyle thank you for the tips about the photogenic side of the moon, your half-moon photo is amazing!

It seems the next half-moon (1st quarter) it will be on May 28th