Shooting the Moon

Richard500

Senior Member
I am keen to get some photographs of the moon but thus far have only achieved some poor rather grainy attempts that are not worth even keeping. Any ideas? I also wanted to be able to include any cloud that my be present rather than resorting to Photoshop.

Thank you
 

ohkphoto

Snow White
Richard, my friends and I love shooting the moon also. Here's a link to my blog for some pointers from our first attempt
Like the saying goes, experience is the best teacher.
 
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Joseph Bautsch

New member
Hmmm.... How would I shoot the moon. Having no experience in moon shooting I would have to rely on my experience with low light exposures. So, Helene, you have more experience shooting the moon so correct me if I'm wrong. I've seen full moons of all types and the first thing that comes to mind is the glare. Full moons are bright I would think shooting them would be no different than a sunrise or sunset, not nearly as bright of course but the shooting technique would be the same. I would use a one stop neutral density filter or even a two stop depending on the brightness to take down most of the glare. Then I would turn off the auto focus and set it on manual (the AF won't work). I would also set the metering on spot. I would put the mode wheel on manual and use the manual metering system in the view finder to make the exposure adjustments. Bring a chair or something comfortable to sit on, set up the camera on a tripod so you can see through the view finder in comfort. I would also try and get all this done before the moon rises. Set the exposure spot, on the center of the moon and manually being it in focus. Use the main wheel and the sub-wheel to make the exposure adjustments. I would start with an f/2.8 or f/5.6 and adjust the speed until the exposure meter indicates a normal exposure. The D60 manual shutter speed can go up to 30s before going to Bulb. For the ISO I would start with 200 to keep the grain down as much as possible. A shutter release cable is mandatory. Also to remember is that the moon moves through the sky. From what I understand a Bulb exposure of more than 90s would only result in a blur. One more thing if the exposure is more than a couple of seconds then use the view finder cover to keep out extraneous light from coming in the viewfinder. Most of all experiment, with the f/stop, ISO, and shutter speed to see what combination gives the best result. Hope this helps or even makes sense.
 
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John!

Senior Member
From what I understand a Bulb exposure of more than 90s would only result in a blur..

You don't need nearly that much time to get blur. Especially with a longer lens.
I will reply with my example and how I did it when I get home to my computer.
Later
 

imnunky

New member
This is the best I have done.
D90, 1/800s,400mm, f7.1, ISo 800, Infinity, manual with cable release, Tripod, I cannot get horizon shots as my horizon is the tops of local hills, so moon is well risen, before it can even be viewed


DSC_1307 (Small) (2) (Small).JPG
 
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Ranie

Senior Member
My moon shot ( September 24, 2010) with a little clouds.
5019547397_be5fc638b5_z.jpg
EXIF
Camera Nikon D90 Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200) Aperture f/8.0 Focal Length 200 mm ISO Speed 200 Exposure Bias 0 EV
 

Richard500

Senior Member
I like these and will try some of the hints I have had here at the next full moon. I have to also go to the local planetarium for the latest on the Winter Sky here in Sussex. Thank you Ranie... I see yours is a moon from the Southern Hemisphere!
 

Ranie

Senior Member
I like these and will try some of the hints I have had here at the next full moon. I have to also go to the local planetarium for the latest on the Winter Sky here in Sussex. Thank you Ranie... I see yours is a moon from the Southern Hemisphere!

Your welcome Richard. Yes it was taken here down under.
 

Ranie

Senior Member
Richard, here is another shot of the moon I took just now.
Shot @ 200mm
_DSC9862.jpg
EXIF
F11
1/400
ISO 320
200mm

I bumped up the sharpness of my cam just to emphasize the moons texture
This was cropped more than 100%

Remember, 200mm on a cropped sensor body equals to 300mm actual focal lenght
 

John!

Senior Member
the moon is illuminated by what? The sun, just like everything else on earth during the day. therefor to get a proper exposure of the moon you need to use normal daylight exposure, the sunny F16 rule or an exposure similar to that. that will get you images of the moon in a black sky. The problem is just that, everything else is black. It is impossible to get a properly exposed moon and night landscape in one exposure. BUT, you can use a double exposure.
Here is a few of my moon landscape shots
1.
4418687889_03a6bf208a.jpg

2.
_nd31965.jpg


What I did was set my camera to multi exposure. I believe most Nikon DSLRs can do this. Expose the landscape using a long exposure appropriate to the scene WITHOUT the moon in the frame, then recompose the frame with the moon included in the appropriate location in the frame using a much shorter exposure I believe in this case it was using the f16 rule plus 1/3 stop. All this on a tripod of course.

Hope this helps
John
 

cal41

New member
A properly exposed moon is pretty close to the standard shot of 1/60 f16 ISO100. There is a reason why they use dark moon filters on telescopes... it's bright!

This was shot through my bedroom window handheld with my D5000 and a 70-300mm lens. 1/60 f16 ISO 200.

DSC_6280 copy.JPG
 

Ranie

Senior Member
the moon is illuminated by what? The sun, just like everything else on earth during the day. therefor to get a proper exposure of the moon you need to use normal daylight exposure, the sunny F16 rule or an exposure similar to that. that will get you images of the moon in a black sky. The problem is just that, everything else is black. It is impossible to get a properly exposed moon and night landscape in one exposure. BUT, you can use a double exposure.
Here is a few of my moon landscape shots
1.
4418687889_03a6bf208a.jpg

2.
_nd31965.jpg


What I did was set my camera to multi exposure. I believe most Nikon DSLRs can do this. Expose the landscape using a long exposure appropriate to the scene WITHOUT the moon in the frame, then recompose the frame with the moon included in the appropriate location in the frame using a much shorter exposure I believe in this case it was using the f16 rule plus 1/3 stop. All this on a tripod of course.

Hope this helps
John


Awesome shot there John
 

Richard500

Senior Member
How about this!?
_Rh86LhGv2iqB-emkZ5ulBlTn6Wr6gRxo-Oh769AC10

Carnival%202010_0004FullMoon.jpg


The Market Cross, Chichester, West Sussex, UK. With a great deal of help from Photoshop!

The Cross was photographed in daylight and the moon added later after converting the image to "night time".

Carnival%202010_0004.jpg
 
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