Night time Moon Pictures

MDH · Jun 6, 2012

Hi,
I am new to photography and have read and learned alot over the last year. One problem I am having is taking a picture of the Moon. I had a perfect picture the other night of a full moon over a darkened wooded area. I tried every thing but every picture that came out the moon was just this white blob. I used differnet lenses, f-stops, aperatures, ISo and the moon was always just a bright light. Is there any way to get this photo so my pictures come out like my eye sees it. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank You.

g13a · Jun 6, 2012

Can you post what is the setup you are using to capture the photograph of moon ?
You will require a zoom lens atleast 200mm or more to capture it clearly.
Here's my image using 1000D and 55-250mm lens

half moon by Mohit Khurana, on Flickr

jwbryson1 · Jun 6, 2012

MDH said:
the moon was always just a bright light.

It sounds like you need to shoot with a faster shutter speed or a smaller aperture.

Are you using a tripod? A tripod is a necessity when shooting photos of the moon.

480sparky · Jun 6, 2012

If you're trusting your meter for a setting, that's your problem. The meter is seeing the black sky, and compensating for it, causing the moon to get washed out as a result.

Simple rule for photographing the moon: It's called the Sunny 16 Rule.

After all, the moon IS sunlit, isn't it?

MDH · Jun 7, 2012

Thanks for the help. I found the solution. Even though I was trying different f-stops, apertures, etc. I didn't take into account the surrounding area and was metering off of that. I found several articles on the subject and I am ready for the next full moon. Thanks Again

480sparky · Jun 7, 2012

MDH said:
Thanks for the help. I found the solution. Even though I was trying different f-stops, apertures, etc. I didn't take into account the surrounding area and was metering off of that. I found several articles on the subject and I am ready for the next full moon. Thanks Again

Actually, a full moon will appear flat & dull. Try shooting anything but a full moon so there's plenty of shadows to give the surface some definition.