Help getting more crater detail in the moon...

InfiniteZero · Mar 18, 2011

What are the best settings for getting great shots of the moon. This is what I have so far using Program Mode w/ AWB, Spot metering, and spot focus. It is only 3mp as my camera lets me Zoom to 32x w/ this setting instead of the normal 18x.

Any help appreciated,
gus

reznap · Mar 18, 2011

Wait until the moon's not full. The indirect lighting will show the craters better. You might have a hard time getting high image quality with a point and shoot though.

A tripod helps. I use a tripod, stabilization off, mirror-lockup on, manual focus, manual exposure & spot meter on the moon.

Oops, forgot to add, the self-timer helps. I used a 10-second timer for this shot.

quiddity · Mar 18, 2011

^ winner

480sparky · Mar 18, 2011

Stack as many images as you can. The more images you can stack into one, the more detail you get. Atmospheric conditions will affect image quality, especially with longer lenses.... they not only magnify the moon, the magnify the turbulence in the air.

Best time to shoot the moon is when it's highest in the sky..... that's when you're viewing it through the thinnest portion of the atmosphere.

No need to meter the moon. It's ISO 100, 1/100 @ f/8 all night long.

pgriz · Mar 18, 2011

@ reznap - nice shot!
@ infinitezero - the best detail will always be at or near the terminator (the line between dark and shadow), where the shadows reveal the topography. Flat lighting, as during a full moon, essentially erases the shadow detail. A number of years ago, National Geographic compiled a lunar map by stitching together a bunch of photos with the terminator progressing from one edge to the other. Obviously, that showed much more detail in the craters than the full moon would.

Edsport · Mar 19, 2011

As mentioned before, full moon is not a good time for capturing craters...

vapicguy · Mar 19, 2011

Ha ha I was going to ask the same thing. Rez nice shot. Oh and when do you want stabilization off? I guess I mean to ask does it make the definition that much better? My pic of the full moon a couple nights ago was pretty sharp and VR (nikon) was on. Thanks again. :gun:

There was no beer emoticon... so I chose the gun.

Snakeguy101 · Mar 19, 2011

I think that the loss in detail is worth it when you shoot it low to the ground. A picture of the moon by itself is boring and over done. You need to add something to it to make it a more interesting shot. You can see that in Reznap's photo there is the detailed silhouette of a tree to add interest. In my photo, I included the horizon instead of simply filling the frame with the moon. I think you will get better results by trying to find something to compliment the moon.

ulrichsd · Mar 19, 2011

InfiniteZero said:
What are the best settings for getting great shots of the moon. This is what I have so far using Program Mode w/ AWB, Spot metering, and spot focus. It is only 3mp as my camera lets me Zoom to 32x w/ this setting instead of the normal 18x.
Any help appreciated,
gus

Instead of using 3mp, would you be better off shooting regular high resolution and then just cropping and zooming pp?

kundalini · Mar 19, 2011

Agree with the rest that a full moon is tougher to get great detail and usually turns into a rather vanilla photo unless you have a very long telephoto lens.

Oh and when do you want stabilization off? I guess I mean to ask does it make the definition that much better?

As a rule, turn lens stabilization (VR, IS) off when using a tripod. The stabilization motor will create small vibrations trying to do its job.

I also agree with Snakeguy that including context can make for a more interesting image.

Astrostu did a very good write up on lunar photography.
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/beyond-basics/147712-lunar-moon-photography-guide-astrostu.html