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What could've made this picture better?

K9Kirk

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I took this pic just tonight and to an amateur like myself it doesn't look bad but I want to know what you people with a lot of knowledge think I could've done better. Here are the settings involved with the picture. Taken on tripod, Canon T6, Vivitar 500mm fixed, I think the aper was set at F22, ISO 100 and 1/200 sec SS. Edit: and no editing. Any tips are greatly appreciated, thanks!

IMG_1736.webp
 
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It's a bit underexposed. You don't need such a fast shutter for the moon, and you probably could open your aperture a bit as well.

In addition, it appears to be out of focus. Either that or it's a soft lens. How does that lens work on other subjects?
 
I agree with Designer. Beyond the camera settings I would crop this photo as well. Nice photo!
 
This is what BH photo says about the lens:
"*500mm ultra-telephoto lens for wildlife, sports and general photography
*Upgraded optical design and multi-coated lens elements provide sharp, high contrast images with minimal flaring. "
I would think it would or should give me a sharper image. I'll clean the lens and check my settings, do some bracketing tonight to see if it changes or not. Thanks!
Edit: I just found out my diopter was off if that makes a difference.
 
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Looks out of focus to me and no need for f/22 as f/11 would be better area. A moon don't need to really be tack sharp but should be in focus but maybe its the lens so if anything make sure you don't have a lens problem if you have time of return.
 
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A few notes:
  • As others have mentioned, you don’t need f/22. With the moon so far away, depth of field becomes a non-issue, just step down the aperture as needed to improve sharpness. I usually find it to be around f/5.6 or f/8, but it depends on the lens.
  • If handholding, I would use the reciprocal rule for shutter speed and aim for around 1/500s or faster and raise your ISO as needed. If you have a tripod, just use the “500 rule”, where 500/(focal length) gives you the max shutter speed to avoid motion blur, and would allow for a much slower shutter speed in this case.
  • Crop! Unless you are shooting through a much longer lens or telescope, there’s no reason to leave the subject so small in the frame.
  • Bring out more details in post processing. You’d be surprised how much additional detail you can expose with some basic edits.
  • For more of a challenge, add some context. Getting a clear shot of the moon by itself can be a fun technical challenge, but there’s nothing unique about it. Try adding some foreground interest and experiment with matching exposures.
 
Thanks but I'm already aware of cropping and context, I just wanted to know how to make the picture/focus sharper before post processes. I just checked my diopter and found it was off and corrected it. Ill take some more pics tonight and step down on the F stops as you and others have mentioned. I've actually read about the Looney 11 rule some time ago but I'd forgotten about it. I'll start there and work my way down to 5.6 and compare the pics. Thank you very much for your time and input!
 
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Yes, if you were focusing by looking through the viewfinder, and your diopter was off, then that might affect the focus. My advice is to set your lens to "infinity" and with a moderate aperture, everything will be in focus.

Since you're using a tripod (good) your shutter speed can be practically anything faster than 1/60 of a second. Try 1/160 and use a cable release or set the self timer for 2 or 3 seconds so you're not jiggling the tripod with the shutter release.

Use the histogram to judge exposure, not the LCD.
 
You can get a good exposure of the moon at f/11 with the shutter speed set to the inverse of the ISO. At ISO 100 ... that's 1/100th sec. At ISO 200 ... that's 1/200th sec, etc.

To "fill the frame" with the moon using a camera that has any APS-C size sensor (like your Canon T6), a focal length of around 1500mm would be a tight fit. Around 1100-1200mm you get a "comfortable" fit.

To make it better... you've got a couple of options.

First, when you think about photographic lighting, the saying is "you can't have good light without good shadows". Moving the light off to the side allows the subject to cast shadows and that creates visual cues as to the 3-dimensional texture of the surface.

When the moon is "full" in means the Sun is basically "behind you" (it's like using on-camera flash). If you shoot the moon when it isn't full (say 1st quarter phase) then the sun is lighting the moon from the side and you get loads of surface details created by all the shadows on lunar mountains and craters. When I shoot the moon by itself, this is usually what I go for.

Another technique that will be helpful (especially at a 500mm focal length) is not to shoot at night.

So imagine your same photo... but imagine adding in a landscape in the foreground with the moon that large. It could be mountains, a city scene in the evening, etc.

On the day "of" the full moon, the moon is rising AS the sun is setting. By the time the moon is high enough to shoot, the sky will be completely black. But the moon rising roughly an hour later each day (it's probably closer to 55 minutes later, but in rough round numbers you can go with the hour estimate).

Knowing this ... if you want a more interesting moon that isn't all by itself, shoot the full moon the day "before" it is full. On that day the moon rises about an hour before the sun sets. By the time the moon is high enough to get a good shot, the sun will probably have set BUT... the sky will remain dusky blue for a while.

That means you can find some attractive landscape and shoot the moon in that landscape scene. This could be moonrise over a city, over a prairie, over mountains, etc. but it gives you a chance to get some rich detail into a photo that still features the moon.

The tricky bit is figuring out "where to stand" (much of photography is about "knowing where to stand" to get the shot) so that the moon is exactly where you want it relative to the rest of the scene. To do that, there are loads of apps.

You can use:
etc.

All of these apps tie in astronomy data regarding the path of things like the Sun, Moon, etc. combined with map data to help you work out exactly where you would need to be to get a celestial body exactly where you want it.

Since, often times, you only get a limited window of time to get these types of shots (where the sun or moon must be in *exactly* the right spot) and go out a day or two ahead of the day you *really* plan to shoot and practice to make sure you're getting the app to work correctly and it's giving you good predictions, etc. If you miss the shot ... you might have to wait a month to try again (and hope that it isn't cloudy.)

Good luck!
 
Thanks Tim, makes perfect sense about getting better surface texture to appear on the moon when the light is hitting it from an angle and creating more shadows. I heard someone say in the past that they like taking pics of the moon when it's half moon vs full. They didn't say why but I would bet it's for the reasons you mentioned. I unexpectedly caught the moon low two days ago when I was out in the yard with the camera using a 75-300mm lens for capturing birds. I came around the side of the house and there it was in the east looking at me with a very nice color to it from the sunset. I didn't have my tripod at the moment so I tried to hold it steady at full zoom with some foreground (very out of focus on the foreground but nice) but I couldn't steady it enough for the moon to be sharp. Very disappointing, it would've made for a good pic I think. I posted the crappy pic so you could share in my disappointment, ha! With some planning and a tripod I could've had it. Alas, I can't wait to try some 3/4 and half moon pics and thanks for the tips, they're greatly appreciated!
 

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Ok, tonight's moon in RAW with some post tweaking. Much better I think, I can see some crates (edit: Ha, crates. Crates of beer around the moon, woot! I meant to say craters.) around the top edge now! F11, ISO 100, 1/100.
IMG_1759 (2).webp
 
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Much better, Any editing or SooC?
 
Much better, Any editing or SooC?
Yes, I did some editing, I went caveman and called it "post tweaking". Oh, the phone's ringing ….. it's National Geographic! Gotta go! :lol:
I want to thank everyone for all the advice and responses, thank you all very much! Happy snapping!
 
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Im waiting for a shot that shows the Chinese open cast excavating machines.
 

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