What am I doing? or rather what have I missed?

[RobbieW]

Hi,

I am practicing taking a few pictures of the moon in preparation for the full moon which should be on show this coming weekend.

Tonight’s pictures have gone completely wrong, can someone tell me what I did wrong?

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/Moon3.jpg

I used ISO 100 F11 and left the shutter speed on auto, I tried ISO200 and F5.6 and the result was the same.

I tried taking some photos at the weekend using the same settings, although thi was at 5:00pm, and converting to black and white made it look like it was the evening.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/Moon_1.jpg

Thanks for any help and advice you can offer

Rob

[WetSparks]

What camera, lens and any filters fitted ?

[RobbieW]

Forgot that.... I was using a 350D with a sigma 70-300mm APO Lens.

No filters were used

Thanks for any help you are able to offer :)

[WetSparks]

The bright image seems to represent the moon. The one in the background is a ghost, the moon is upside down with the shadow on the wrong side!

At a guess I'd say the bright bit might be lens flair and the ghost an internal reflection from within the lens. But if that is the case, how to avoid it I have no idea as you would need to alter your viewing angle to the moon :thinking:

Edit:

Thought, maybe your lens wasn't square onto the moon ?

[RobbieW]

Thanks wetsparks, will have another try tonight

[Grendel]

I had EXACTLY this problem when I photographed the moon a little while ago! It's cause by using the wrong metering mode - set your metering to centre weighted and you'll get great shots. If you're metering using evaluative the camera will try and set exposure based on the black sky and give you a hugly over exposed moon. Good luck!

[RobbieW]

Grendel,

Thanks for your response, as I am new to this what do you mean by set the metering mode to centre weighted?

Thanks

[Grendel]

Not exactly sure on the 350D, I have the 400D but I would imagine it's pretty much the same.... on the 4 way button on the back, a press to the left takes you into metering mode, the middle of the 3 options is center weighted. Well that's how to do it on the 400D anyway! Basically, evalutive metering (the left option) sets the camera to evaluate the whole scene to set the exposure, fine for "general phtotos". Center weighted tells the camera just to evaluate the center of the scene, better for situation where you have a very bright / dark background and you want to prioritise the exposure on the foreground subject.

[RobbieW]

Many thanks for your help Grendel.

If I get a good pic the girlfriend will be happy, in which case I owe you a pint

[Grendel]

:thumbs: Glad to help!

[shiato storm]

The bright image seems to represent the moon. The one in the background is a ghost,
NEWSFLASH! Photo forum member discovers second moon around earth!!

...er, no. looks like flare or some sort of reflected light within the difraction angle of the lens, probably that big white blob!! set the camera to centre point metering mode (spot meter), point it at the moon and see what the reading is. flip to manual and enter those settings, then I'd bracket those settings (increase/decrease shutter speed) by up to a stop maybe and see what happens...