Moon Help

[photographyguy1218]

Hello everyone, a couple nights ago the moon looked amazing where I live in Nashville, there were many clouds around it so the light was reflecting all around it. I quickly set up my D7000 on my tripod and started messing with the settings to try to program it to get the best shot possible but I couldn't seem to get anything worth keeping. I was shooting with my 70-300 4.5-5.6 VR lens which is probably one of my problems since it's not a real fast lens. Just wondering if anyone had any tips so I can hopefully get some nice shots next time! Thanks!

 

[Trever1t]

The moon being so bright that you actually don't want a fast lens. If you post an example of what you ended up with I may be able to give pointers.

With that lens I'd shoot at f8 and a fairly quick shutter speed, you'll have to see what speed works best. Oh, use a tripod.

 

[Big Mike]

Firstly, you don't need a 'fast' lens when shooting on a tripod. The reason is that when on a tripod, you can easily shoot at just about any shutter speed and get sharp shots (of things that aren't moving). But keep in mind that when on a tripod, you should turn your VR off.

Next, you have to realize that the moon is quite bright. The part of it that we can see, is lit by full sunlight. So essentially, it's as bright (or brighter) than something grey on earth, that is lit by direct sunlight. The rest of the sky is likely much darker...so much darker than there is no way that you could properly capture both in a single photograph.
So with that in mind, you have to think about exposure settings and what the camera is metering off of and whether you are using the auto modes or not. In other words, if the camera is seeing a little bright spot in a sea of darkness, it's likely to expose for the dark sky or at least somewhere in between. That will leave the bright moon as a blown out spot, which probably isn't what you want.

So unless you can zoom right in a fill the frame with the moon, you will probably want to avoid the auto modes and put the camera into manual mode. Then dial in an exposure that you might use during the day (Google for common settings when photographing the moon). If you expose for the moon, you probably won't get good detail in any other parts of your image...but that's just a consequence of the physics of photography and there isn't much you can do about it. You just have to make your choice and live with it.

It's not uncommon to photograph the moon separately from the sky (or scene) and then put the two photos together later (in Photoshop etc.)

 

[jtee]

This might help you .

Moon Photography - A How To Guide

I took this the other night .

 

[grandpawrichard]

This might help you .

Moon Photography - A How To Guide

I took this the other night .

jtee,
That is an Amazing photo of the moon! Simply Amazing!

Dick

 

[jtee]

jtee,
That is an Amazing photo of the moon! Simply Amazing!

Dick

Thank you much ,it was about 25 or 35 minutes up hence the color of it still had a tad of sunlight off it .Manual everything ,mirror lock up ,cable release .

 

[Forkie]

I took this one through my telescope (I don't have it anymore ) a couple of years ago with the Fuji bridge camera that I had at the time. I needed a fast-ish shutter speed because the moon moves pretty quick when it's in a telescope, so I put a neutral density filter on the lens and shot at f/3.4 and shutter speed 1/12.


Moon by Forkie, on Flickr

 

[photographyguy1218]

Firstly, you don't need a 'fast' lens when shooting on a tripod. The reason is that when on a tripod, you can easily shoot at just about any shutter speed and get sharp shots (of things that aren't moving). But keep in mind that when on a tripod, you should turn your VR off.

Next, you have to realize that the moon is quite bright. The part of it that we can see, is lit by full sunlight. So essentially, it's as bright (or brighter) than something grey on earth, that is lit by direct sunlight. The rest of the sky is likely much darker...so much darker than there is no way that you could properly capture both in a single photograph.
So with that in mind, you have to think about exposure settings and what the camera is metering off of and whether you are using the auto modes or not. In other words, if the camera is seeing a little bright spot in a sea of darkness, it's likely to expose for the dark sky or at least somewhere in between. That will leave the bright moon as a blown out spot, which probably isn't what you want.

So unless you can zoom right in a fill the frame with the moon, you will probably want to avoid the auto modes and put the camera into manual mode. Then dial in an exposure that you might use during the day (Google for common settings when photographing the moon). If you expose for the moon, you probably won't get good detail in any other parts of your image...but that's just a consequence of the physics of photography and there isn't much you can do about it. You just have to make your choice and live with it.

It's not uncommon to photograph the moon separately from the sky (or scene) and then put the two photos together later (in Photoshop etc.)

I was in manual mode while shooting, the only thing that I was not too happy with was that no matter what the moon was slightly blurry, but I had the VR on so I think that's what was affecting it so I will try it with the VR off next time. Thanks for your help and thank you everyone else for your help, all of it was helpful!

 

[jtee]

I have also found that shooting the moon on colder nights is better Winter and Fall seem to be best for me the colder the air the less dust particles that are in the air making for much cleaner shots.