Confused - subject too dark when shooting the moon?

went outside earlier and the stars were out and the moon was a sliver automatically thought about grabbing camera setting it on a tripod and taking a picture I had it on all sorts of settings and I couldn't get past subject too dark I had iso at the highest etc. and still said subject too dark so I had to give up in the end. was it a lost course or did I forget to do something?.

scoobychief said:

went outside earlier and the stars were out and the moon was a sliver automatically thought about grabbing camera setting it on a tripod and taking a picture I had it on all sorts of settings and I couldn't get past subject too dark I had iso at the highest etc. and still said subject too dark so I had to give up in the end. was it a lost course or did I forget to do something?.

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Well it's hard to say without knowing the details. Do you have any pictures with EXIF data you could post? Barring that can you tell us the specifics of how you were shooting: Were you in Manual or using P, S or A modes? Do you know what aperture or shutter speed you were using?

Proper exposure is based on Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, so it sounds like something was off, somewhere, in your equation and without the details of how you were shooting we can't really troubleshoot the problem.

...

If "auto" and other "regular" modes failed, you should have tried some "special" or "creative" modes too (I think the D3100 has a "night" and "night+portraiture'' modes). Then, it is a question of WHERE exactly you pointed a camera (you should have chosen the brightest areas, such was this "silver moon" etc., and tried with "spot metering" - if you "aimed" at the darkest part of the sky, no wonder it failed).

Another thing: if you couldn't actuate the shutter (so no photo has been made at all), it's because the shutter release is "tied" to the auto focus (consult the corresponding chapter in the user manual). Are you sure you tried with manual focusing too (you said you tried "all sorts of settings")?

Pun intended: http://goo.gl/XcbPaM

know exact problem...usr manual mode with any iso lower is better and around a 1/250 ss.I do astrophotography with my d3100 feel free to ck my gallery. And use spot metering.those are rough numbers I have written tutorial s on this if u look them up...wishing u clear skys

Also ck low light and night forum under learning photography

scoobychief said:

subject too dark I had iso at the highest etc. and still said subject too dark so I had to give up in the end. was it a lost course or did I forget to do something?.

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For moon shots, you want to stay LOW ISO. ISO 100 -200, 1/320, F8 will normally get you there. Turn OFF auto ISO. Shoot in M mode.

if you are in any of the auto modes, then the camera would not be able to gauge the difference in available light, unless you have a perfect focus on the moon.
it would meter for the darker sky & say not enough light.

with the same settings, if you move to manual the camera wil take a picture
but wat gets exposed is dependent on how well you focused & metered.

P.s. Welcome to the dark side (evil laugh) muhahahaha

Photographing the moon is easy. Set your camera on manual and adjust it according to the Sunny 16 Rule.

After all, the moon is sunlit.



Using any auto mode, unless you happen to have a 1500mm lens, the camera is fooled by the black sky in the background. All the camera sees is a lot of black, and it tries to make it a middle gray because it's been programmed to do just that.

when I first started doin moon shots I found this website,lots of useful info there,it got me started in the right direction...

How to Photograph the Moon

thanks guys will take all this advice on board and rethink and plough through more reading.

Also make sure you manually focus to infinity... The auto focus will fail as the subject is too dark, and the AF-assist lamp doesn't reach light-years!

Set your lens to manual, focus on a distant rooftop or tree, then recompose on the sky.

Also read upon metering. Understanding Metering and Metering Modes
When I first started shooting DSLR's not that many moons ago,:saturn: (sorry couldn't resist) I had no idea about metering and how it affected my shots. I read this small basic tutorial and my eyes opened up. It is a simple thing to understand but oh how so important.

scoobychief said:

went outside earlier and the stars were out and the moon was a sliver automatically thought about grabbing camera setting it on a tripod and taking a picture I had it on all sorts of settings and I couldn't get past subject too dark I had iso at the highest etc. and still said subject too dark so I had to give up in the end. was it a lost course or did I forget to do something?.

Click to expand...

The moon is illuminated by our same sun, and so the normal exposure is about same as daylight (some say Sunny 11 instead of Sunny 16).
However, the moon is frontally lighted at full moon, side lighted at quarter moon, and back lighted at new moon.
The moons surface is dark, 12%, darker than an 18% gray card.
A light meter sees all the black surrounding it, so try manual exposure.

So it is not totally obvious, but there are many articles on the internet on the subject.
See photographing the moon - Google Search

But most of these ignore the exposure issue, esp at new moon.
So start at Moon Photography - A How To Guide (see the chart - it is more from an astronomy viewpoint than from photographers)