Last night's Moon Crater detail.... Updated info!

[24megapixseal]

Had a break in the clouds last night, moon was at its highest point in the sky (least amount of atmosphere between me and the moon), so I grabbed the camera and clicked off a few...

The moon is such an easy night target...it ALWAYS just fascinates me with the crater shadows....just shoot ANY PHASE BUT FULL!....and you'll get amazing crater detail and shadows

Nikon D5600 w/ Nikon AF-S FX 500PF VR

F/5.6 500.0mm 1/400s ISO-200 Manual Mode
As the moon gets closer to full, I'll drop the ISO to 100 and up the shutter to 1/500 or more.

Handheld, VR On, single point AF, Auto WB, snapped 5 photos, all looked the same...Done!

Last night's Moon data: Waxing, 69% illuminated, 9.1 days old, 250,626 miles away.

Tonight I'll be trying for the "Golden Handle" photo...

 

[terri]

Gorgeous. Nice and crisp.

Good luck with tonight's planned shoot!

 

[otherprof]

Had a break in the clouds last night, moon was at its highest point in the sky (least amount of atmosphere between me and the moon), so I grabbed the camera and clicked off a few...

The moon is such an easy night target...it ALWAYS just fascinates me with the crater shadows....just shoot ANY PHASE BUT FULL!....and you'll get amazing crater detail and shadows

Nikon D5600 w/ Nikon AF-S FX 500PF VR

F/5.6 500.0mm 1/400s ISO-200 Manual Mode
As the moon gets closer to full, I'll drop the ISO to 100 and up the shutter to 1/500 or more.

Handheld, VR On, single point AF, Auto WB, snapped 5 photos, all looked the same...Done!

Last night's Moon data: Waxing, 69% illuminated, 9.1 days old, 250,626 miles away.

Tonight I'll be trying for the "Golden Handle" photo...

View attachment 287522

Had a break in the clouds last night, moon was at its highest point in the sky (least amount of atmosphere between me and the moon), so I grabbed the camera and clicked off a few...

The moon is such an easy night target...it ALWAYS just fascinates me with the crater shadows....just shoot ANY PHASE BUT FULL!....and you'll get amazing crater detail and shadows

Nikon D5600 w/ Nikon AF-S FX 500PF VR

F/5.6 500.0mm 1/400s ISO-200 Manual Mode
As the moon gets closer to full, I'll drop the ISO to 100 and up the shutter to 1/500 or more.

Handheld, VR On, single point AF, Auto WB, snapped 5 photos, all looked the same...Done!

Last night's Moon data: Waxing, 69% illuminated, 9.1 days old, 250,626 miles away.

Tonight I'll be trying for the "Golden Handle" photo...

View attachment 287522

Hand held! Bravo! That is a brilliant image!

 

[Jeff15]

A very good and detailed Moon shot ...

 

[24megapixseal]

Gorgeous. Nice and crisp.

Good luck with tonight's planned shoot!

Didn't happen.........its at 74%....I think the 74% to will need to be 80-82%....I seem to recall the 81% number being the sweet number for the Golden Handle

Here's a pic from this evening, it not there yet!

 

[Jeff15]

Wow, very good ...

 

[Digger...]

Didn't happen.........its at 74%....I think the 74% to will need to be 80-82%....I seem to recall the 81% number being the sweet number for the Golden Handle

Here's a pic from this evening, it not there yet!View attachment 287536

Why didn't my moon shot the other week come out like this dam it? Was it because it was a bright full moon hiding all the detail of those craters?

Is this pic cropped? I cant get the moon that big on my screen without cropping it???

Slightly hijacking your thread,

moon was at its highest point in the sky (least amount of atmosphere between me and the moon),

I never new this was a thing, does it make much of a difference?

 

[24megapixseal]

Why didn't my moon shot the other week come out like this dam it? Was it because it was a bright full moon hiding all the detail of those craters?

Is this pic cropped? I cant get the moon that big on my screen without cropping it???

Slightly hijacking your thread,
View attachment 287538View attachment 287537



I never new this was a thing, does it make much of a difference?

Your shot is a great photo of a full moon, but like I said, there's just no shadows...it's totally illuminated by the sun, FULL ON!....Try ANY night BUT a full moon...it's quite a different look.

And yes, it's cropped....I have zero problem cropping any photo I take...

Attached is my original, uncropped, untouched file....this was what I started with...
Nikon D5600 w Nikon AF-S FX 500mm PF VR
6000 x 4000 (24mp), F/5.6 1/400s ISO-200

As far as the atmosphere thing, that's just MY theory, from taking moon and sun photos for a couple years now, it just seems that I get sharper pictures when I take them at their highest point in the sky....my moon photos along the horizon NEVER seem this sharp...it's the reason the moon's/sun's are orange when rising or setting, with the light going thru all the dust in the atmosphere. So when I want detail, I take em directly overhead. (Disclaimer: I'm not a scientist, hell I never went to college either....just a hick! )

 

[24megapixseal]

You wanna have even more fun with your camera, buy a 16.6-stop ND filter (ND100000...(5 zeros)) and take photos of the ever-changing sunspots on the sun!!.....it has "texture" too....just gotta use a bit of post processing to really bring it out....

I found out I could do this when shooting a sunset in South Dakota when the sky was thick with heavy smoke...dramatic sunset, but upon closer looking, I had captured sunspots on the sun... that's when I found out about the 16.6 stop ND filters...bought one as soon as I got back to Kansas...now I check NASAs SOHO website for dramatic sunspots and I slap the filter on, go out at "high noon" and snap a couple, at the setting below the pictures (I deviant a little in those because I can't always remember, but I'll adjust shutter speed based on how dark or light the back of the screen looks...pretty scientific, huh!)

All my moon and sun shots, are handheld (since the shutter speeds are "up there" , VR on, shot with bursts of 4 or 5....I usually have 10 or so to chose from....I pick up the sharpest of the group and go to Lightroom Mobile...remember, I do EVERYTHING on my phone, zero computer....I don't spend any time on a computer...I used a USBC Anker-brand SD card reader that I plug into my phones charging port...super easy, super fast, super convenient, super mobile (we travel in the RV a lot!)

 

[24megapixseal]

And just so ya know, this is the Sunspot photo file straight outta the camera .....yeah, the sun is white....that's why they call it " white light"....I add the yellow color by adjusting the color balance .....Why?....because I like yellow suns!......

And I shoulda upped the shutter to 1/1250th....but hey, I was in a hurry!...but it was sharp! That's important!

 

[24megapixseal]

Oh, and all moon and sun photos are shot in full Manual mode and NO auto ISO!...control EVERYTHING!....I usually always try for ISO 100, my cameras lowest... occasionally with the moon, depending on the phase, I'll bump ISO to 200, so I can keep the shutter speeds up...
If it's a sliver of a moon, then I'll break out the tripod and take the ISO down to 100....but there usually isn't much "Wow-factor" crater shadows/detail, so I rarely do slivers...

 

[Digger...]

Try ANY night BUT a full moon...it's quite a different look.

Sounds good, spot metering is the right mode yeah?

 

[24megapixseal]

No metering!!!!....Manual mode on the dial "M", and YOU are in control of the exposure, not the metering of the camera.....shutter speed, f-stop, ISO

Try 1/400 sec, f5.6, ISO 100, if too dark, bump the ISO to 200...

 

[24megapixseal]

And I can see the moon already tonight, the terminator went past the peaks of Montes Jura...

They are highlighted, but not extended into the darkness of the terminator shadow...

 

[24megapixseal]

This evening's (Blue hour) moon....missed it...try again next month.