C&C

tresguey · May 2, 2009

I tried taking a pic of the moon. Took about 30 shots and this seems to be the best. But to me still needs work. My settings were F/11, 1/250 and 0.7EV under 200. Any thoughts?

Sherman Banks · May 2, 2009

Noisy, underexposed and OOF. I've never tried to shoot the moon, but I'm guessing this is a crop of a much larger shot right? That in itself will present some of these issues (or at least highlight them).

Photoadder · May 2, 2009

Blurred, but I think that it is difficult to make exact image the moon.

tresguey · May 2, 2009

Being noisy and underexposed what would my adjustments be? As I am a true noob. I am using a D90 and my lens was the 70-300 af/vr. Now what I understand is its noisy, should I go to the 1.0EV under 200? Thats as far back as the iso goes on this camera. And the underexposed part do I speed up the shutter speed a bit? I ususally shoot mostly in auto. But I am trying to understand manual more. Thanks all.

bigtwinky · May 2, 2009

Are you using a tripod for the shot?

I'd suggest getting a tripod, setting the camera to Aperture Priority using an aperture around F11 on an ISO of 100 (someone said once that 200 is better for Nikons, not sure about this) and let it determine the shutter speed needed for proper exposure.

If you are feeling daring, set the camera to Manual, zoom in on the moon so mostly the white fills the frame. Meter off the bright part (the part you want to be the main subject), play with an aperture between f11 and f16 and whatever shutter is needed to get the metering in the middle.

tresguey · May 2, 2009

I was using a tripod and the timer when taking the shot. I will try using aperture priority tonight. As far as metering iI have not figured that out yet. Well at least not compfortable saying that yes I know how to do it. I have read my manual twice maybe third times the charm.

bigtwinky · May 2, 2009

For the metering in manual mode, fill the frame with what you want to be properly exposed.
Press the shutter half way down and then look at the little meter and see where the arrow is pointing.

If its to the left, you need more light - done by a wider aperture, longer shutter or higher ISO ... or a mix of the three.
If its to to the right, you need less light - done by the reverse of above.

With the above, if you meter for the bright side of the moon and your arrow is to the left, then you need more light.

What the Aperture and Shutter priority do is that you set 1 of the two values and the camera will set the other one to get that arrow in the middle. While this is great for many occasions, the numbers may not give you the effect you want, hence the need for manual mode. Both of these functions however allow you to under or over expose your picture...