Help with night shooting and C&C please

[jwhphoto]

Hey all,

im new to this and tried my first shots outside at night tonight. Trying to catch the moon in the clouds through the trees. Please tell me what i may be doing wrong. I was using a shutter speed of about 1.5s to 6 sec, because of the fast moving clouds. i didnt want to go faster. i bumped my iso up to about 500-800 for my shots and they came out pixalated (of course). I could not get enough light with less but i like the look of the trees even so. Also, the picture in Lightroom looks way different than when i exportt it to a jpeg, any idea why?

Ok thanks, please ask if you need more information about what i did.

Thanks!

 

[Jaszek]

Photographing the moon is very hard if you want something else in the foreground. I don't know if you noticed the moon moved just a little bit in the 1.3 second exposure. To get the moon you need a fast shutter speed. find astrou's guide on here. I'm sure he will peek in here

 

[LarryD]

Even though it is night outside, the moon is still a very bright subject... The rule of "sunny 16" applies..

However, in your case it also appears that you are using a fairly short lens and enlarging it by cropping........ You always lose image quality with this method. Also, moving clouds are going to cause the bright moon to "halo" or blossum on the sensor.

Remember too, even though the Moon is very far away, it is moving very fast so you need a shutter speed of about 1/100 to stop it.... you also seldom need high ISO.

Basic "Sunny 16" shot, although exposed at f-5.6 because of a 1.4 TC and only a sliver in view, ISO 100, 1/125; 280mm @100%crop.

This same exposure could be used at Dawn or Dusk with trees or bushes in front for the effect you want:

 

[astrostu]

find astrou's guide on here. I'm sure he will peek in here

(That's the closest to a peeking smily I could find here.) Anyway, as I just posted on another thread, you can't expose both branches and a crescent (nor half) moon in the same shot. You would have to merge two separate shots later on and in this case, it likely won't look natural.

To properly photograph the moon, see my lunar photography guide.

For example, this photo is a merge between a 2.5-second exposure and a 1/100-second exposure and blended to just get a tinge of detail in the moon:

Even though it is night outside, the moon is still a very bright subject... The rule of "sunny 16" applies.

Remember too, even though the Moon is very far away, it is moving very fast so you need a shutter speed of about 1/100 to stop it.... you also seldom need high ISO.

Basic "Sunny 16" shot, although exposed at f-5.6 because of a 1.4 TC and only a sliver in view, ISO 100, 1/125; 280mm @100%crop.

No. Sunny 16 rule applies to an object or scene with an EV of 16, which a sun-lit scene has. The moon is a MAXIMUM of about EV15, and a half or crescent moon is closer to EV11-12. So shooting via the sunny 16 rule will under-expose the moon, and using the basic sunny 16 aperture setting (f/16) is woefully inappropriate for lunar photography. (Note to original poster, I briefly talk about this in the guide I linked to above, if you're not familiar with EV.)

 

[jwhphoto]

Thanks guys, I will look at this guide. the reason im starting to get into photography is because i want to learn night photography.

 

[Samanax]

The Nocturnes

Photography At Night - Tips & Techniques

How to Photograph at Night

Learn Night Photography

Night Photography: Bright Lights and Bold Colors