A couple firsts for me... Please c & c

[TamiAz]

It was a full moon tonight so I thought I would play around with my camera...I used a tripod and I had the camera set at manual, which is a first. This picture isn't that interesting, but I'm just taking any opportunity I have to practice... How can I make the moon look sharper?

I used 55-300mm lens, iso at 100, f/5.6, exposure time 1.3S

 

[tirediron]

Get your exposure right; it should be more like 1/60 or even 1/125 for SS.

 

[kundalini]

... How can I make the moon look sharper?

I used 55-300mm lens, iso at 100, f/5.6, exposure time 1.3S

Try an aperture at f/8 to f/11 and a shutter speed at ~1/60 to 1/200s. You have shown us an overexposed white blob.... not that particularly interesting.

 

[TamiAz]

Thank you for your input....Yes, I agree it looks like a white blob.. I went back out and changed my ss to 1/125 and this is what I got...What an improvement. I just bought Understanding Exposure and will be reading it.

 

[889Media]

When taking pictures like the one in your first post, as you using a tripod, you can take more than one shot. Take on shot kind of the way you did, but trying to get the foreground as sharp as possible and have the focus set on the foreground. Then take another shot, but this time focus on the moon - and underexpose the whole frame. As the moon is very bright this will have you get a lot more details out of it (like in your second try). Then post process the whole thing, and put the two images together in e.g. Photoshop. You will then have a nice foreground to make the picture be more than just another shot of the moon, but at the same time have details showing on the moon as well.

What camera are you using? If you have one that supports Live View, this is very effective when focusing on the moon. Use Live View, zoom in on the screen and use manual focus to set it dead sharp on the moon. This will get you a very precise focus.

Here is my first try to shoot the moon after reading up on it a little bit. This was shot at 200mm, so you should be able to get even closer with your 300 This shot was adjusted little bit in Photoshop, but not much.

(hope you can see the image, as this is the first time I try to link to this host)

 

[EchoingWhisper]

Thank you for your input....Yes, I agree it looks like a white blob.. I went back out and changed my ss to 1/125 and this is what I got...What an improvement. I just bought Understanding Exposure and will be reading it.

Still overexposed.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

When taking pictures like the one in your first post, as you using a tripod, you can take more than one shot. Take on shot kind of the way you did, but trying to get the foreground as sharp as possible and have the focus set on the foreground. Then take another shot, but this time focus on the moon - and underexpose the whole frame. As the moon is very bright this will have you get a lot more details out of it (like in your second try). Then post process the whole thing, and put the two images together in e.g. Photoshop. You will then have a nice foreground to make the picture be more than just another shot of the moon, but at the same time have details showing on the moon as well.

What camera are you using? If you have one that supports Live View, this is very effective when focusing on the moon. Use Live View, zoom in on the screen and use manual focus to set it dead sharp on the moon. This will get you a very precise focus.

Here is my first try to shoot the moon after reading up on it a little bit. This was shot at 200mm, so you should be able to get even closer with your 300 This shot was adjusted little bit in Photoshop, but not much.

(hope you can see the image, as this is the first time I try to link to this host)

Did you crop it?

 

[889Media]

I cropped the image to make it smaller and remove some of the uninteresting black stuff But the moon should be as shot - and would be the same size in the original file!

EDIT: For this one, I think I just made a 800x533 px selection in photoshop, and copied this part into a new file. But I do not have access to the original file at the moment, so I could be wrong.

 

[EchoingWhisper]

I cropped the image to make it smaller and remove some of the uninteresting black stuff But the moon should be as shot - and would be the same size in the original file!

EDIT: For this one, I think I just made a 800x533 px selection in photoshop, and copied this part into a new file. But I do not have access to the original file at the moment, so I could be wrong.

So this is a 100% picture? Cool!

 

[clanthar]

Exposure is a function of light source to subject distance.

The sun is a constant light source at a constant distance. As such photographers have long known that correct exposure in direct sunlight for ISO 100 is EV 15. (f/11 at 1/250 or f/8 at 1/500, etc.).

Camera to subject distance is not a factor in determining exposure.

The moon when full is in direct sunlight at the same distance from the sun as we are. Therefore correct exposure for ISO 100 is EV 15.

Joe