Moon shot (c&c)

[Inst!nct]

This is a shot i took tonight, i've wanted to take a picture of the moon for a while, did this at 300 mm, 1/125, f / 7.1, ISO 100.

It didn't come out how i wanted, i cropped this at 1:1 ratio, but i feel like its not as sharp as i wanted, i did this with a remote, so i didn't shake the camera, or didn't try to at least. I know it's bland and un-original, but ill worry about the creative aspect of this once i get the moon correct.

Any tips?

redone picture after N0YZE's advice

 

[PhotoXopher]

Good starting point is usually a shutter speed equal to your focal length and around f/8 - f/11, at least in my experience.

Give that a shot and try again...

 

[Inst!nct]

oo tyvm N0YZE, that looks a whole bunch better

 

[ssnxp]

oo tyvm N0YZE, that looks a whole bunch better

I see a little more sharpness on the left side, but not much. Do my eyes just suck or am I missing something?

 

[astrostu]

Focal length has nothing to do with exposure settings in this case except if you are limited by the moon's motion through the sky. I'm not sure if that was the implication or inference, but in case it was, I wanted to make this very very clear. How many pictures did you try to take initially? To me it looks like an accidental camera shake from wind or a blurry atmosphere, for I can take a photo at 1600mm and not see any motion blur in a 1/10 sec exposure, let alone 1/125.

It's also not over-saturated (as some may claim) but I would adjust the curves to bring out some of the contrast. Mind you, not too much, but enough so that you can more easily make out features. Below is an example of a quick edit I did showing this.

 

[Inst!nct]

O alright astrostu, i did take multiple pictures, and they were all a tad fuzzy, it could have been the wind though, for it was windy last night, tyvm for the edited photo, looks a lot nicer.

And was i the only one to notice the big difference between picture 1 and 2? ssnxp says it wasn't but i see sharpness differences

 

[PhotoXopher]

I said it was a good starting point (works for me the majority of the time) - whether or not focal length has anything to do with it is irrelevant - it's easy to remember and it works (for me).

I typically find myself shooting the moon at 1/250 - 1/500 at 300mm, just depends on the night and the moons brightness - but usually in the f/8 to f/11 range @ ISO 200.