First try at moon pictures

[CW Jones]

I have taken a few... but just kind of random ones. These ones I tried to get set up a little bit more. Camera is a Canon Powershot SX110IS

first taken with spot metering, second was center weighted average.
C&C always welcome!

#1

#2

 

[robbie_vlad]

Haha, its that time of the month again =P.
They are both very yellow and have a haze ring around them. Also, in the second one, you lose all detail through the clouds.

 

[CW Jones]

ya I know the moon outside was VERY orange, I was trying to leave it as close as I could to its actual color. I know they aren't too good, just trying to get a feel for what can be changed for the future. I mean next time we have a nice full moon (fingers crossed) I should have my DSLR

 

[CW Jones]

any idea's on that haze? I thought the first one wasnt TOO bad as far as that haze... I also thought spot metering it would get rid of that haze

 

[beansprouts3]

Too funny, we were just driving home and I saw the moon and thought about going out there to give it another shot.

 

[CW Jones]

go for it! I would too but a huge cloud came and covered it up lol

 

[kundalini]

Your first shot is uninteresting because there is hardly any detail and the soft focus.

The haze in the second shot makes for a more interesting capture, but unfortunately your exposure was too long and blew out detail.

The moon is very bright in the dark sky and should be regarded much like the sun as far as exposure is concerned. A tripod is a must for these shots as well as a fast shutter speed. I don't know the capabilities of you camera, but a few tips I can offer are:

Use a tripod
Use a remote release
Manual focus
Lens stopped down around f/5.6 to f/11 (dependant on illumination)
Shutter Speed from 1/125 to f/250s (dependant on illumination)
Base ISO

For this shot, firstly I was very drunk... halftime of the Carolina vs Villinova game last weekend, shot at f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO 200 with a 300mm f/4 lens and 1.7 TC attached (effective 510mm focal length).

 

[CW Jones]

wow thats a great shot! ya I dont shoot a DSLR... so it defiantly makes it harder.

it was on a tripod, with a 2 second timer delay so I could get my hand off the camera to try and eliminate shake. it was kinda windy.. and the tripod is kinda cheap lol I think I was right about 4.3 for the f/stop at 1/160

ISO was 80. what do you mean by "base" ISO? highest without grain? or lowest?

it was on auto focus tho..... I couldn't seem to hone it in on manual

 

[hankejp]

hahaha, I saw the moon when I was on my walk and thought to myself.......Moon Porn Time... I'm wondering when the moon is going to be huge in the eastern horizon. That's the shot I'm waiting for. Maybe tomorrow night

 

[kundalini]

wow thats a great shot! ya I dont shoot a DSLR... so it defiantly makes it harder.

it was on a tripod, with a 2 second timer delay so I could get my hand off the camera to try and eliminate shake. it was kinda windy.. and the tripod is kinda cheap lol I think I was right about 4.3 for the f/stop at 1/160

ISO was 80. what do you mean by "base" ISO? highest without grain? or lowest?

it was on auto focus tho..... I couldn't seem to hone it in on manual

You might want to try a few shots with you aperture stopped down. f/4.3 may not give you the sharpest image. Most lenses (for dSLR's) are sharpest at around f/8 (+/-). 1/160s shutter speed is good to start with, but again, try a few exposures up and down the scale.

You can tie/hang your camera bag or a gallon of water to your tripod to help stabilize when it's windy.

Yup, by Base I meant the lowest ISO, as long as your exposure is good. Because of the sensor size, P&S cameras aren't known for high ISO settings.

For focus, you can have it set to AF, focus on the moon, then turn AF off. Fine tune if necessary and then take the shot.

You just have to take a lot of photos until you nail the shot. BTW, tequila doesn't help the situation, but it makes it more of a laugh.

Good luck.

 

[CW Jones]

ya this thing is good up to maybe a ISO of 400? lol if that. I still love it, just doesn't have the greatest ISO settings that's all. smallest F/stop opening is 8 i think lol