Settings for moon shots

Bigvin

Bigvin

Messages
616
Edit My Images
No
I went out earlier to take some pics of the full moon rising.

In the past I've used f8, 1/200s and ISO 200.

Tonight I used f8, ISO 200 and ended up with a 1/5s shutter speed and rubbish pictures.

Can anyone help me understand why?

Is it due to the moon being a different colour?

Dunno if this should be in the Talk Basics section, but any help appreciated.

Cheers
 
towershot said:
Link over in basics,not used it myself so you will have to check it out.:thumbs:
http://www.adidap.com/2006/12/06/moon-exposure-calculator/
Click to expand...

Thanks for that.

According to that calculator I should have been shooting at 1/160s.

I took the first photo at 1/100s and that turned out a black screen. I then stepped down the shutter speeds til I got something resembling what I was seeing. This left me with a shutter speed of 1/5s.

I thought of upping the ISO, but everywhere I've read says to keep the ISO as low as possible. :thinking:
 
To the OP, here's a shot I took recently of the moon.
exif data is below

6460749179_666c37b0e3_z_d.jpg

Exposure (1/500)
Aperture f/11.0
Length 500 mm
ISO Speed 400

This should hopefully help you a little
 
Bigvin said:
That's a cracking pic Stu. Much better than my miserable efforts :(

OK I'll put them up to see if it helps.

First one (which was OK in my book til I saw Stu's)
6843090055_6001af87e2_b.jpg
[/url] Moon (1 of 1)-2 by NUFC_Ozzy, on Flickr[/IMG]
F8
1/200s
ISO 200


Tonights
6843090211_f5e6f213f4_b.jpg
[/url] Moon (1 of 1) by NUFC_Ozzy, on Flickr[/IMG]
F8
1/5s
ISO 200
Click to expand...

To be honest I think your 1st shot isn't to shabby and eeks plenty potential.
The key to moon shots is generally the shutter speed vs aperture as said above.
Its deceiving because the sky is so dark but when you meter for the moon it is like a bright torch thus the higher shutter speeds.
Slow shutter speeds will just show as a white blob in the sky.

I usually shoot the moon in manual and fire off a few test shots at different speeds.

towershot said:
Stuart,
Is that music I hear coming from the dark side of the moon.:naughty:

Nice capture.
Click to expand...

Cheers Rick! :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks Stu

Yeah I was shooting in manual. As I said, stepped down from 1/100s to 1/5s before I could get an image resembling what I was seeing. I think the shutter speed just went too low and I lost all sharpness.

Cheers
 
Lookiing at the colour that was just after moonrise so shooting through a larger chunk of atmosphere hence the shift to red and the reduction in the light level, try again around 11pm
 
It's amazing how quickly it moves slightly - apart from vibration/movement of camera.
I tried a few a different exposures yesterday evening with the idea of perhaps blending but only realised when I looked on laptop it had moved several degrees so didn't work too good.
When it's just above the horizon it's a good deal less bright than higher in the sky too - basically because the light is passing through the atmosphere at a more oblique angle.
 
artyman said:
Lookiing at the colour that was just after moonrise so shooting through a larger chunk of atmosphere hence the shift to red and the reduction in the light level, try again around 11pm
Click to expand...

Thanks Ken.

Yeah it was straight after moonrise. That's what I was trying to capture, the red moon.

Does that mean I won't be able to get any usable shots?
 
I choose a smaller aperture because the moon is brighter than you think when metering for it.
I found f11 to be ideal for my shot when coupled with the 1/500 shutter.
My shot was hand held too, no tripod was used.
 
Nice shot Stupar .... real hard copy one!

gnirtS said:
I just spot meter. Seems to work.
Click to expand...

Good idea, good place to start.

Also BigVin. Using the highlights and histogram tools on your preview screen ...bring the exposure down slowly till non of the moon flashes any highlights, this ensures your strongest exposure level with nothing blown out. :thumbs:
 
Last edited:
Last night was tricky - the last time I tried, I was shooting at around 1/200 but last night I had to get the tripod out

I got this image but did merge two exposures because when I exposed for the reflection I over exposed the moon when i exposed for the moon I under-exposed the water. I feel like a bit if a fraud :( but I do like it :)


February moon by Iris_255, on Flickr
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top