Help!!

[mrstravis]

As noted above, the moon is lit by the same light source as we are during the day - so use noon-time exposure values. Next, being far away, you don't need a high f/stop for depth of field, as the moon is effectively at infinity anyways. However, most lenses are not at their sharpest at either extreme of aperture, so pick an aperture that is maybe two stops away from wide-open. If you have live view, use it to focus (ie, no autofocus). Also, set your exposure manually, as the camera will be seeing a bright spot surrounded by darkness, and will try to get everything 18% grey. Even the histogram doesn't help here (much). So the drill is: camera on tripod to minimize movement and camera shake, ISO at native (100 for Canon, 200 for Nikon), focus manually using live-view if you have it, use the sunny 16 rule as a point of departure. So at ISO 100, that would be about 1/800sec at f/5.6. If the moon is too dark, reduce your shutter speed.

A bright spot, that's exactly what I saw! It was a bit frustrating. Thank you for your help!

 

[ph0enix]

What do you mean partial phase?

Less than full moon.

 

[ph0enix]

Most likely you're over exposing. Change the metering mode to spot and adjust the exposure triangle manually. 300mm of focal length is not a lot for what you're trying to do. If you've seen great photos of the moon, they were probably taken using telescopes.

I purchase the lens from amazon.com bc a guy had a photo of the moon that looked really good and he said that he took it with that lens on a d3100 so I thought that I would be able to accomplish the same thing.

Do you have the link?

 

[KmH]

As noted above, the moon is lit by the same light source as we are during the day -.

But, the Moon only has an albedo of 0.136 and only reflects that average (13.6%) of the sunlight that hits it. So it's not nearly as bright as the Sun is.

 

[pgriz]

As noted above, the moon is lit by the same light source as we are during the day -.

But, the Moon only has an albedo of 0.136 and only reflects that average (13.6%) of the sunlight that hits it. So it's not nearly as bright as the Sun is.

Hmmm... meant to say that we (on Earth) and the moon are at the same distance from the sun, so the amount of light we on Earth get and the moon gets is about the same. Of course, there's also atmospheric extinction, etc., but if one uses the sunny-16 rule, it serves as a convenient point of departure.

 

[480sparky]

As noted above, the moon is lit by the same light source as we are during the day -.

But, the Moon only has an albedo of 0.136 and only reflects that average (13.6%) of the sunlight that hits it. So it's not nearly as bright as the Sun is.

The fact that is has an albedo at all means it's not as bright as the sun.

It's just like your kids playing in the park, cars driving down the highway, the Grand Canyon or a jet taking off........ it's merely a sunlit object.

 

[mrstravis]

Less than full moon.

Ok, that's what I thought you meant but wanted to be sure. Thanks for your help.

 

[mrstravis]

Do you have the link?

http://www.amazon.com/Tamron-70-300...4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1327749766&sr=1-4

 

[Edsport]

Focus on the moon then switch to manual focus so it don't move on you. Use a tripod and a cable, remote or timer to take the shot. Use manual mode and take a shot, see if you're over or underexposed and adjust the shutter speed accordingly until you get a good exposure and yes half moon or quater moon will show craters...

 

[enzodm]

To focus, use Liveview. Autofocus should be fine, but you may adjust it manually in case of failure.
Then, you have to avoid motion. Are you using a tripod or similar? If not, get one. It is better also to have a remote, or use shutter delay to shoot after the camera stopped to move after click. Then again, you have to lock mirror. If you are using Liveview mirror is already up, so ok. Ah, if your lens has stabilization, switch it off on tripod.
The partial moon advice means to shoot when the moon is not full - you will see much more detail.

This is made with Canon 55-250is at 250mm:


This one is done with an old manual focus lens, 400/6.3, with an old teleconverter - all cheap, but before buying another lens, try to obtain the maximum from yours.


This is with the same lens, but almost full, see how details are less pronounced:

 

[enzodm]

As noted above, the moon is lit by the same light source as we are during the day -.

But, the Moon only has an albedo of 0.136 and only reflects that average (13.6%) of the sunlight that hits it. So it's not nearly as bright as the Sun is.

The fact that is has an albedo at all means it's not as bright as the sun.

It's just like your kids playing in the park, cars driving down the highway, the Grand Canyon or a jet taking off........ it's merely a sunlit object.

...but in practice Sunny16 will give underxposure . It will be a departure point, but not the real triad.

 

[pgriz]

We tend to make the moon much brighter than it is. As Keith noted, the average albedo of the moon is about 0.12-0.14 (depending on the source), and taking into account the direction of the sun, the apparent albedo is even lower, around 0.08. By way of comparision, fresh asphalt has an albedo of about 0.04, worn asphalt has an albedo of about 0.12, bare soil is 0.17, grass is about 0.25. So the "true" tonality of the moon would be somewhere between new and old asphalt. The sunny-16 rule will give you the "right" exposure, but it will look wrong to us because we are used to seeing the moon as bright. So the convention is to make it much brighter than it actually is...

 

[unpopular]

Spot meter at +2, minimum - RAW and avoid clipping, f/8 or f/11 to maximize optical resolution. From my experience 200mm is too short on APS-C. Once properly focused and ready to go, use live view to lock up the mirror.

Add contrast in post.