Supermoon this Sat. Beginners who like to shoot full moon, get ready.

[Dao]

'Supermoon' Science: Why Saturday's Full Moon is Biggest of 2012 | Space.com

If you have questions about taking photos of the full moon, ask now.

 

[jwbryson1]

Thanks for the post. I posted the same thing earlier this week but I'd like to hear your thoughts on getting a really good shot.

My post: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...ing-supermoon-shots-how-do-you-get-these.html

My approach was going to be as follows: Try to get out at least an hour early to set up. Get my tripod set up, mirror locked up and be ready to go. Then when the moon starts to rise, take a bunch of shots and hope to get a gold nugget.

What are your suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[Bolthead]

Thanks for the post. I posted the same thing earlier this week but I'd like to hear your thoughts on getting a really good shot.

My post: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...ing-supermoon-shots-how-do-you-get-these.html

My approach was going to be as follows: Try to get out at least an hour early to set up. Get my tripod set up, mirror locked up and be ready to go. Then when the moon starts to rise, take a bunch of shots and hope to get a gold nugget.

What are your suggestions?

Thanks.

Is it necessary to lock up the mirror?

 

[o hey tyler]

Thanks for the post. I posted the same thing earlier this week but I'd like to hear your thoughts on getting a really good shot.

My post: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...ing-supermoon-shots-how-do-you-get-these.html

My approach was going to be as follows: Try to get out at least an hour early to set up. Get my tripod set up, mirror locked up and be ready to go. Then when the moon starts to rise, take a bunch of shots and hope to get a gold nugget.

What are your suggestions?

Thanks.

Is it necessary to lock up the mirror?

If you want optimally sharp photos.

Also, S-S-S-SUPERMOON!!!

 

[jwbryson1]

Is it necessary to lock up the mirror?

If you want optimally sharp photos.

This was my understanding as well. I have also heard to use the self-timer (2 seconds, etc.) to take the image to prevent even the slightest camera shake from pressing the shutter release button.

 

[Dao]

Check the moon rise time from here
Sun or Moon Rise/Set Table for One Year: U.S. Cities and Towns — Naval Oceanography Portal


Here is what I will do for moon only shots

- Camera with telelphoto lens on Tripod
- Mirror lockup or Liveview
- Aperture set to sweet spot (It depends on the lens. Usually maybe f/8 to f/11. Check Lens reviews site that has MTF chart to find out. i.e. photozone.de)
- Spot meter the moon and see a rough setting. (for f/8, it could be around 1/200 to 1/400). EDIT:[I usually shoot with manual and just starts with f/8 and 1/200 with iso100 and go from there.]
- With Liveview, I will digital zoom in all the way and find the craters. Because it is a full moon, you can only see the craters with shadow at the top, bottom or sides. I will manual focus based on them.
- Remote shutter or 8 secs delay. I found that 8 sec delay is better. If you zoom in and using digital zoom on the liveview screen, after you adjust the focus manually and click the shutter button, you will see the moon is still shifting up and down on the screen. 8 secs is enough for the shifting stop.
- Review the photo and adjust shutter speed if needed for the next shot.


For Moon rise shot that has foreground objects. I have not done that before, but I think I will bracket the shots and merge them in post. In that case, I can expose the foreground as well as the moon.

 

[MReid]

Fine line between sweet spot and the moon movement blurring details and ISO.
Definitely use a tripod.

I believe high mm combined with foreground objects (makes the moon look even bigger) taken just before rise or set would be a good combination.
Not an expert at moon photography, just relaying my plan. Supposed to be cloudy here so may not happen anyway.

 

[jwbryson1]

Spot meter the moon and see a rough setting. (for f/8, it could be around 1/200 to 1/400)

On the image below that I took a few weeks ago on the Eastern shore (Ocean City, MD), I was spot metering and had my D90 on a tripod. I kept having problems, however, with the camera auto-focusing which I did not understand since I was zoomed in to nearly 180mm and the moon appeared large in my viewfinder. It auto-focused maybe 1/2 the time. But you can see in the image that the focus in not perfect. I did not lock up the mirror and I did not use time-delay. This time I will.


Question -- if I want to manually focus on the moon, is it appropriate to have the focus set to infinity?

[/URL] Moon Close Up 2 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]



Thanks.

 

[Dao]

Since I will use liveview and digital zoom in on the screen and adjust the focus that way, so I do not set focus to infinity. I remember I saw it somewhere (maybe from forum member Astrostu) that focus to infinity may not be the best.

 

[KmH]

[

Question -- if I want to manually focus on the moon, is it appropriate to have the focus set to infinity?

Thanks.

Since the moon is about 250,000 miles away, yes infinity is a good focus setting to use. However, most lenses don't have a clear indicator of where infinity focus is on the focus distance scale. Just turning the focus ring to it's extreme of focus range is often a bit past or in front of infinity focus.

For the same reason, 250,000 miles away that is, DoF also matters little. Use the lens aperture that delivers the sharpest focus your lens can produce.

Turbulence in the atmosphere will soften focus somewhat depending on how much it is moving about.

To minimize the amount of atmosphere you are shooting through, shoot when the moon is as close to straight overhead as possible.

 

[Ballistics]

moon

Here's a pretty good write up.

 

[pgriz]

The moon is much more interesting when it is just at the horizon, and you can arrange to have an interesting foreground object (foreground as in "on earth" as opposed to "within 10 feet") within the field of view. A useful tool that I have mentioned in the past is The Photographer's Ephemeris | Plan your shoot. By moving the cursor, and scrolling in/out, you can see where you need to locate yourself to get the rising moon to be close to a landmark or interesting object. Happy Shooting!

 

[LINYBIMMER]

Question -- if I want to manually focus on the moon, is it appropriate to have the focus set to infinity?

Or Beyond?

[/URL] Moon Close Up 2 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]



Thanks.[/QUOTE]

 

[jwbryson1]

[

Question -- if I want to manually focus on the moon, is it appropriate to have the focus set to infinity?

Thanks.

To minimize the amount of atmosphere you are shooting through, shoot when the moon is as close to straight overhead as possible.

Thanks. I agree with PGRIZ that I find moon shots at the horizon to be more interesting and more colorful for that matter.

 

[pgriz]

The simplest way, if your camera has "live-view" capabilities, is to focus on the moon that way in magnified live-view mode. Much more precise than doing it from the distance scale. Many lenses have their "infinity" stop beyond the infinity point, to allow for expansion and contraction of the lens due to temperature.