Do not swear by the moon, for she changes constantly. (Moon Pictures)

ReginaUsh

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I still don't really know how to set my camera to shoot these kind of shots. Mostly it has been guess work. Anyone who wants to offer some suggestion in regard to ISO, fstop and shutter speed for a rebel t3 when shooting the moon or even the stars. I can't get a good star shot to save my life... I would greatly appreciate it.
 
One day I'll get the tech people to build some kind of electro shock addon so that anyone caught using LMGTFY as a reply gets a shock through their keyboard ;)


As for the moon a few general ideas:

1) There are no "perfect" settings for a moon shot. Nope none at all!

2) The moon itself is a very bright reflective light source (light reflected from the sun) however it sits in a sea of darkness which oft fools the camera meter into overexposing the shot for the blacks, which in turn blows out the details on the moon.
So you have to take account of the fact that the meter might and will lie to you (unless you use spot metering).

After that the choice of settings is yours. Personally I'd say go for
a) Aperture - something sharp - f8 or so would be ideal. Though of course you can use any setting, play around and see how the variations change the shot.

b) Shutter speed - remember the moon (and stars) are moving fast - the earth rotates and the moon also moves on its own. So you don't want a super slow shutter speed - unless you want the moon to streak (people do that for stars sometimes giving startrails - find the polar star and you can aim direct at it and all the others will spin "around" it if you blur them).

c) ISO - let it land where it will based on your other two settings; but ideally not to high. So long as you expose well (read up on the "expose to the right" theory and also learn to use the cameras histogram for review of your photos on the LCD - check the manual for info on how to enable that if you've not done so already).
 
Tripod, mirror up, shutter remote............ you need all the sharpness you can get, as the interest in close ups of the moon is the surface detail. I find that a slight underexposure helps pull out the detail. As Overread said, the moon is very bright and easy to overexpose. Shoot in a dry crisp atmosphere too. I get a sharper photo (but at lower resolution) with 400-600mm. Resist the urge to use a 2x teleconverter. The light you lose and lower shutter speed will hurt you in the sharpness dept.

600mm cropped, ISO 500, f7.1, 1/640th sec

moon tamron.JPG
 
One day I'll get the tech people to build some kind of electro shock addon so that anyone caught using LMGTFY as a reply gets a shock through their keyboard ;)


As for the moon a few general ideas:

1) There are no "perfect" settings for a moon shot. Nope none at all!

2) The moon itself is a very bright reflective light source (light reflected from the sun) however it sits in a sea of darkness which oft fools the camera meter into overexposing the shot for the blacks, which in turn blows out the details on the moon.
So you have to take account of the fact that the meter might and will lie to you (unless you use spot metering).

After that the choice of settings is yours. Personally I'd say go for
a) Aperture - something sharp - f8 or so would be ideal. Though of course you can use any setting, play around and see how the variations change the shot.

b) Shutter speed - remember the moon (and stars) are moving fast - the earth rotates and the moon also moves on its own. So you don't want a super slow shutter speed - unless you want the moon to streak (people do that for stars sometimes giving startrails - find the polar star and you can aim direct at it and all the others will spin "around" it if you blur them).

c) ISO - let it land where it will based on your other two settings; but ideally not to high. So long as you expose well (read up on the "expose to the right" theory and also learn to use the cameras histogram for review of your photos on the LCD - check the manual for info on how to enable that if you've not done so already).

Excellent thanks for the tips. Just explaining why certain settings works the way they do helps. For example some told me to shoot the moon at a lower shutter speed because it is dark outside. However having the subject so bright it makes sense to fore go that suggestion. I evidently need to understand the fstop better then I do. Seems factory settings has had default at f8 already that can't work for all shots? So much to be understood, hence why I am asking. I printed up the dialog here so I can refer back. Any suggestions on a reliable reading source would be greatly appreciated as well.
 
Tripod, mirror up, shutter remote............ you need all the sharpness you can get, as the interest in close ups of the moon is the surface detail. I find that a slight underexposure helps pull out the detail. As Overread said, the moon is very bright and easy to overexpose. Shoot in a dry crisp atmosphere too. I get a sharper photo (but at lower resolution) with 400-600mm. Resist the urge to use a 2x teleconverter. The light you lose and lower shutter speed will hurt you in the sharpness dept.

600mm cropped, ISO 500, f7.1, 1/640th sec

View attachment 91091
Wow nice photo... Thanks so much for your input. I have the tripod and the shutter remote but I don't understand mirror up? Also not familiar with teleconverter. lol lastly I do not currently have a lens that goes over 200 (I think) I believe my second lens goes from 55-200. However I have my fingers crossed that Santa has considered getting me an upgrade lens.
 
According to the exif data, your 1st shot was @255mm and the last @300mm. Assuming the Exif data is correct your lens(es) goes up to 300mm.
 
According to the exif data, your 1st shot was @255mm and the last @300mm. Assuming the Exif data is correct your lens(es) goes up to 300mm.
Thanks, I wasn't certain. I asked my husband (who bought the camera with me) and he thought the second lens just went up to 200. I know, I know... I must sound like a ditz and with cameras I pretty much am. I like taking pictures but never really took the time to learn how to actually take a picture, or perhaps better stated- the time to apply more then the simplest of basics (find a shot, focus, and press the button). It has only been in the past year or so that I started messing with settings and even then I didn't know what I was doing or asked anyone for advice.
 
1) There are no "perfect" settings for a moon shot. Nope none at all!
If you're only shooting the moon against a black sky, I would disagree with this.
If there's nothing else in the image then white balance should be set to sunshine - The only visible parts of the moon will be in direct sunlight with no alteration from scattered sunlight.

In addition theres a guideline that helps considerably getting the exposure right. Look up the 'Looney 8' rule - at f8 your shutter speed should be the reciprical of your ISO, modify by the same number of stops you go away from f8 if required. It's pretty similar to the old 'Sunny 16' rule, but doesn't have the added complications for cloudyness.

The rest of your points are all quite valid, but don't advise on the balance between 'not too slow shutter', 'lowish ISO' & 'sharp apperture'.
Acceptable shutter speeds will depend very much on the focal length being used. There is another old rule for shutter speeds in photographing stars (IIRC it's something like a maximum of 500/EFL seconds to stop movement - star trails need a minimum of ~10 times this and work better with considerably longer) but the moon is moving against the stars so you need to use a faster speed than this gives.

Of course if your just including the moon in a landscape shot, the white balance & settings for the landscape might totally over ride considerations for the moon itself.

One other tip that will help with stars & possibly the moon is to investigate software to combine multiple exposure to reduce noise. Deep sky stacker is the one that immediately springs to mind.
 
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1) There are no "perfect" settings for a moon shot. Nope none at all!
If you're only shooting the moon against a black sky, I would disagree with this.
If there's nothing else in the image then white balance should be set to sunshine - The only visible parts of the moon will be in direct sunlight with no alteration from scattered sunlight.

In addition theres a guideline that helps considerably getting the exposure right. Look up the 'Looney 8' rule - at f8 your shutter speed should be the reciprical of your ISO, modify by the same number of stops you go away from f8 if required. It's pretty similar to the old 'Sunny 16' rule, but doesn't have the added complications for cloudyness.

The rest of your points are all quite valid, but don't advise on the balance between 'not too slow shutter', 'lowish ISO' & 'sharp apperture'.
Acceptable shutter speeds will depend very much on the focal length being used. There is another old rule for shutter speeds in photographing stars (IIRC it's something like a maximum of 500/EFL seconds to stop movement - star trails need a minimum of ~10 times this and work better with considerably longer) but the moon is moving against the stars so you need to use a faster speed than this gives.

Of course if your just including the moon in a landscape shot, the white balance & settings for the landscape might totally over ride considerations for the moon itself.

One other tip that will help with stars & possibly the moon is to investigate software to combine multiple exposure to reduce noise. Deep sky stacker is the one that immediately springs to mind.

I am looking up the rules you mention here, and I am going to put these suggestions to use this weekend, at least on shots of the moon (weather allowing). If the sky is fairly clear enough the moon should be around half full waxing. Thanks so much for the suggestions and input.
 

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