Hi & photographing the moon

Ataylor0 · Dec 5, 2011

Hi all,

I've been interested in photography for about 4 years now.
And recently I got a relatively decent lens.

I was trying to take a picture of the moon tonight, when i zoomed right in i could see the moon in good quality, but i couldn't take a picture of it.
When i took the picture it was either just a big white blur or you could see the shape perfectly but it was still just white, not white with the shades of grey and craters you see through the lens.
Anyone know why this is and how i can actually get a pic?

I've tried with various different exposures, apertures etc..
Help please.

Thanks

Big Mike · Dec 5, 2011

Welcome to the forum.

You have to remember that the moon is being lit by direct sunlight....so you would need to use approximately the same exposure settings as you would if you were taking a photo of a rock in sunlight, in the middle of the day.

ann · Dec 5, 2011

try this. put your ISO on 200, your shutter speed on 250 and the fstop on f8, you can also bracket, f5.6, f11.

Your just over exposing.

KmH · Dec 5, 2011

Your camera has a built-in light meter doesn't it?

iresq · Dec 5, 2011

With a tripod, descent zoom, and spot metering capability, you should be able to meter directly off the moon. Doing moon shots really showed how cheap my tripod was. Had a hard time keeping moon framed, camera would shift. Also, either cable release or self timer.

Aloicious · Dec 5, 2011

ann said:
try this. put your ISO on 200, your shutter speed on 250 and the fstop on f8, you can also bracket, f5.6, f11.

Your just over exposing.

yes, try this....you can alter the settings some depending on what you're looking for, but these are good settings to start with. auto metering is difficult with the moon because many cameras like to try to compensate for the total blackness around the moon, and they typically overexpose the moon itself, or atleast blow out some of the details...you should be in full manual mode too

also use a tripod if you're not already doing so. if you want BIG pictures of the moon, a telescope is usually needed...also something that can help, even with a moderately fast 1/250 shutter speed, is to use a remote shutter release or timed release...it just helps retain sharpness...remember that you have to shoot through the entire atmosphere of the earth, and that can make getting a sharp moon or other astrophotography more difficult than normal.

here is one I did through my telescope of the moon, this is 1200mm (plus crop sensor for about a total 1800mm) at f6, 1/1000, ISO200....at this focal length, the moon filled about 2/3 of the height of the frame, the straight out of the camera was a bit underexposed, 1/750 or something would have been better in this case, but I altered it a little in post processing to help, and telescope shots are a little different when it comes to shutter speed and such, but it takes some practice...post up some of your shots when you get a chance.

Aloicious · Dec 5, 2011

forgot to mention this, but if you have live view on your camera, watch that with it zoomed in all the way to help get the best focus you can, autofocus isn't ideal when you're trying to bring out the craters and such