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

[pgriz]

It was such a busy day -- lots of household chores, and of course it was Derby Day, Cinco de Mayo, and Super-moon day simultaneously!

This meant I was obliged to drink at least 1 mint julep, 1 margarita, and take at least 1 photo of the moon. It turns out I only did 2 out of those three things.

I actually was thinking that I'd take the moon photo. It was forecast to be mostly cloudy, but the skies were starting to clear. I thought I was going to get lucky. But as the sun started to set, the clouds rolled back in and all I'd have ended up with is a very nice photo of the bottom of some cloud.

Tim, I think you have your priorities straight. The Moon was there before we existed, and will still be there long after we are gone. Living, on the other hand, needs to be experienced in the moment. Cheers.

 

[pgriz]

Judi, nice shots. To continue the conversation about photographing the full moon, you can also catch it setting, AFTER the full moon, and therefore in daylight. Unfortunately, this means that you have to be out there at or shortly after dawn, and have a good view of the western horizon. I'm not much of an early morning person, so dragging myself out of a warm and comfortable bed to get that shot usually doesn't appeal to me. Usually. But I have been known to endure some discomfort for the art. Just not very often.

 

[SoCalTiger]

My first attempt ever. I probably should have captured these RAW but I didn't.

Canon T2i, M mode, 1/640sec, F/14, ISO400

Why are people using lens apertures like f/25, f/11, f/14, f/16?

I had seen someone in this forum say to use the Sunny 16 rule? I think it is in either this thread or the one about "NIGHT NOISE".

My first attempt ever. I probably should have captured these RAW but I didn't.

Canon T2i, M mode, 1/640sec, F/14, ISO400

You have the "My Photos Are NOT OK to Edit" sign, so I cannot upload my version of your moon. But, please increase sharpness and contrast, and result will be more pleasant, even starting from JPEG.

I just updated my setting so my photos are all okay to edit now.

Here is my attempt at increasing sharpness and contrast. To be honest, I never figured out how best to increase sharpness on pictures without making it look unrealistic. Could you show me your version too and tell me what you did?

 

[Demers18]

No, that was the railway bridge between Lasalle and Kagnawaga, with the Mercier bridge behind it. I was in Parc Réné Levesque, which is at the west end of Lachine Canal. I was thinking that Jacques Cartier would be more interesting, but couldn't find a good vantage point given where the moon was going to rise.

Okay I wasn't sure which one it was. Haven't been back home in a while. For the Jaques Cartier bridge do you think you could get a good vantage point from l'île St.Helene?

 

[jwbryson1]

My best shot. Taken with my 18-200mm lens. Not enough reach for craters. We also had serious cloud cover and rain all day, then at the last minute, the skies opened and I RAN for my tripod. No time for setup with foreground objects like a tree. Owell. There you go.

[/URL] Super Moon May 5 2012-1 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[rexbobcat]

Hi to all... I sure was excited shooting the Super Moon... with my D90. Sure enough, never done it before. So I hit the web, forums, wiki... and most recomendations in between.
So even after almost 30 shots with different settings, I can not get passed the fuzzy white ball. No features... and defffinitly overexposed look. Here is range os settings I have tried:
Manual
Focus to infinity
F/16 or 11 or 8 (some 5.6)
ISO 1 or 200, 400
Shutter 1/125, 250-400
Pause 10 sec.
Menu/Custome Setting Menu/ (d)(Shooting/display)/ (d10) Exposure delay mode/on
Meetring 10

Please help.

Here is a link to all MOSTLY failed shots: Flickr: sanelbabic's Photostream

Your image (DSC_0174) Has an iso speed of 400, an aperture of f/5.6 and an exposure time of 1/30, and appears over-exposed by one stop. In contrast, the previous image (DSC_0173) has similar settings except for an iso of 3200. That is three stops of exposure more than you ended up needing in the image DSC_0174.

When I shoot the moon, I ignore the meter and autofocus. If you have live-view, focus on the moon with the magnified live-view (which means VR should be off, and AF should be off), and set the exposure manually. I prefer to use the lowest ISO (100 in my case, 200 in yours), an f/stop which is the sharpest for your lens (usually 2 stops from wide open), and a shutter speed in the 1/30 to 1/125 sec. Then you examine the image – if too dim, reduce your shutter speed and try again.

The histogram is usually useless because the moon makes up such a small part of the overall image (unless you are using a lens in the 1000mm range). But the basic rule is that if the details of the moon are washed out, reduce your exposure, and keep reducing it until you have the level of detail you want.

Of course, other things also help ensure a sharp image – a solid tripod, mirror-lockup if you have it, a remote shutter, and a shutter-delay will all help to eliminate the camera shake vibrations that can blur the detail.

When you shoot the moon in context (ie, low on the horizon and you want to see the foreground), then timing is critical. The full moon occurs just when the sun sets, and the illumination level falls rapidly. At the same time, the moon tends to be dim when just on the horizon, due to the amount of atmosphere that the moon light has to go through. So the brightness difference (dynamic range) between the moon and the surroundings is low at the beginning. As the moon climbs upward, it becomes brighter (less atmosphere), and at the same time the landscape becomes darker (as the twilight progresses to night). So within minutes the brightness difference between the moon and the detail on earth become sufficiently strong as to exceed the dynamic range of the camera.

What this means is that if you want to shoot a "full" moon with foreground detail, it is best to do this one or two days BEFORE the actual full moon, as the moon will already be in the sky before the sun sets, and the dynamic range difference between the moon's brightness and the earth will be low. This is what TCampbell noted in another post.

I wouldn't go as slow as 1/30. If you have a long enough lens you can actually see the moon slowly moving across the sky. I think that 1/30 would cause very little smearing lowering resolution.

 

[rexbobcat]

My first attempt ever. I probably should have captured these RAW but I didn't.

Canon T2i, M mode, 1/640sec, F/14, ISO400

Why are people using lens apertures like f/25, f/11, f/14, f/16?

I had seen someone in this forum say to use the Sunny 16 rule? I think it is in either this thread or the one about "NIGHT NOISE".

My first attempt ever. I probably should have captured these RAW but I didn't.

Canon T2i, M mode, 1/640sec, F/14, ISO400

You have the "My Photos Are NOT OK to Edit" sign, so I cannot upload my version of your moon. But, please increase sharpness and contrast, and result will be more pleasant, even starting from JPEG.

I just updated my setting so my photos are all okay to edit now.

Here is my attempt at increasing sharpness and contrast. To be honest, I never figured out how best to increase sharpness on pictures without making it look unrealistic. Could you show me your version too and tell me what you did?

Some of those apertures are caused by teleconverters. With a 2x teleconverter your lens is 2 stops slower. That means that if you're lens goes to f/5.6 then with a 2x teleconverter it will be at f/11. That means that to get the best resolution from your lens you'll have to stop down to f/16.

 

[JonathanNYC]

I have a couple of shots. first one is unedited. second one is edited. what do you think?

View attachment 7880

 

[yo13dawg]

I was in the wrong spot when the moon was rising so had to settle for a quick snap over some trees and cars:

 

[BigDaddy1970]

Mirror lock-up helps because when the mirror moves up, it can cause the camera to shake. If that happens, the camera will still be moving when the shutter opens. Result..... camera blur. Having a mirror-up option allows you to manually raise the mirror, then wait until any camera vibration is stopped, then you can open the shutter.

Having a good, heavy tripod will really help (notice 'cheap' is not included in that list!), as well as a remote (touching the shutter button on the camera can also cause it to move!).

To further reduce camera shake, try adding some weight to the tripod if possible. I just use my pack.

If you have a laptop computer or a smart phone, you may want to look into shooting 'tethered', so you only need to touch the camera to compose & focus.... the entire exposing process is 100% hands-off.

I really like that idea... What tripod is that?

 

[groan]

I'll throw one into the pile.
I kept the wide blackness to give the impression of wide blackness ;-)

 

[edouble]

It was ridiculously cloudy here in north east PA.