Trying to photograph the moon.

[JerseyJules]

I dont know if this is the right forum, but Im looking for advice on how to photograph the moon at night. Im using a Nikon DSLR camera and a 55-300m lens. I can get good detail on the moon itself where you can actually see the craters, but the sky looks all pixleated and weird. What setting should I be using to get good results?

 

[480sparky]

Shoot in manual, using the Sunny 16 rule. After all, it is sunlit.

 

[SCraig]

I usually start at 1/125 second @ f/8, ISO 200 and adjust from there as needed.

 

[JerseyJules]

Look how bad it came out..Ill try your setting, I think my ISO was too high as well as shutter speed.

 

[SCraig]

You can't treat a moon shot as a night-time shot. As 480Sparky stated you are effectively shooting daylight. The moon is illuminated by the sun, just as we are here, and you're seeing the reflected light from the sun. You can't use auto-metering, it won't meter properly.

 

[JerseyJules]

You can't treat a moon shot as a night-time shot. As 480Sparky stated you are effectively shooting daylight. The moon is illuminated by the sun, just as we are here, and you're seeing the reflected light from the sun. You can't use auto-metering, it won't meter properly.

I had it in manual mode. ISO was too high I think..Had it set on HI. SS was too fast 1/800 and f5.6...Went out to shoot it over and the moon is now below the tree line..Ill try again another time.

 

[KmH]

The Moon only reflects about 11% of the sunlight that hits it (albedo), but it's still pretty bright.

If you can get sufficient scale in the view finder for the metering sensor (more reach than 300 mm, and Spot metering) you can meter the Moon. The problem is the Moon's Mare are a lot darker than the Moon's newer craters and rays, like the crater Tycho.

Scott gave some good starting exposure triad values.

There are about a bazillion links online about photographing the moon - http://www.bing.com/search?setmkt=en-US&q=photographing+the+moon

 

[JerseyJules]

The dusk shot came out ok.

 

[SCraig]

I had it in manual mode. ISO was too high I think..Had it set on HI. SS was too fast 1/800 and f5.6...Went out to shoot it over and the moon is now below the tree line..Ill try again another time.

A fast shutter speed is good, you'd be surprised how fast the moon actually moves, but not at the expense of that high ISO. ISO - HI would be about ISO 12,800 on a D5100, and as good as the noise rejection is on that sensor it isn't that good! To even come close to useful with that ISO you'd just about have to put it right on the edge of overexposed and then compensate in post processing or the noise would be overwhelming.

... If you can get sufficient scale in the view finder for the metering sensor (more reach than 300 mm, and Spot metering) you can meter the Moon. The problem is the Moon's Mare are a lot darker than the Moon's newer craters and rays, like the crater Tycho....

I won't argue with him, since he's normally right, but I've never been able to meter the moon. Even with a huge full moon and my 500mm lens (i.e. virtually full-frame moon) I still never got it to work well. I normally just shoot manual, starting with whatever I used the last time that worked decently

 

[JerseyJules]

I tried a little processing, doe it look better?

 

[SCraig]

I tried a little processing, doe it look better?

Much!!

 

[zombiemann]

Just for reference, I shot this pic at f11 1/125 ss and ISO 100. It's a little darker than I would like but for a cheap lens I think it came out pretty good.

 

[JerseyJules]

Just for reference, I shot this pic at f11 1/125 ss and ISO 100. It's a little darker than I would like but for a cheap lens I think it came out pretty good.

View attachment 17998

How would you get it to expose brighter? Longer SS?

 

[LizardKing]

The processed version is better than the original. Best advice I can give you is to take a look to the hundreds of post where this has been discussed. There are a few things to consider when photographing the moon, but once you understand the reason behind them, it's pretty easy.

Some basic pointers:

- Set camera on tripod and use cable release or timer.
- Do not use shutterspeeds below 1/100th because even if you don't see it, it's constantly moving.
- Keep the ISO to the lowest possible.
- I normally use the aperture that gives better quality on the lens. Usually called the "sweet spot"... but others defend you can use wide apertures w/o worrying too much.
- Use LiveView and zoom all the way so you can focus manually.
- Try to avoid shooting fullmoons.
- Wait until the moon is really up in the sky, get out of the city if possible and pick nights when the sky is really really clear.
- Shoot RAW and work a little in postprocessing... this is pretty much about taste, but most of the times I have to add some contrast to make it look better.

 

[LizardKing]

How would you get it to expose brighter? Longer SS?

Increase the exposure. You can accomplish that by using a longer SS, a wider aperture or a higher ISO. Take a look at your settings and see where you still have room to play.