Thought I'd test my new 70-300 Lens, and I saw the moon was out to play so did my first ever moon shot. The others were too bright too recover, except this one.
Wow, excellent shot. Could you tell me what settings you used? I'd like to get some ideas on night-time photography.
To be honest, I went into Aperture Priority Mode, Aperture of 9. On my Tripod with ISO 100. And normal exposure. I did a bit of PP on the image to make the details stand out more.
It's a good first moon picture but needs better exposure control. The lunar surface should be whitish gray against a black sky. The Clavius crater looks like a dark ring with a light gray center, radiating out six minor lines to the right and a large trench to the left.
For moon exposures, you can always follow a variant of the "Sunny 16" rule. Although more of a rule of thumb from back in the film era, the "Sunny 16" rule states that on a sunny day, you can set your camera's aperture to f/16, and the shutter speed to 1/ISO. In your case, ISO 100 would yield a shutter speed of 1/125. It might not produce dead accurate exposure for every shot, but it does serve as a close guide if your light meter goes out. Naturally, you would open up a stop or more based on the amount of cloud cover. The moon is reflecting sunlight, so rather than measuring the incident light of a clear day, you can treat it as a slightly overcast day. As such, the rule is modified a bit, and becomes the "Moony 11" rule. Again, it's a rule of thumb, but using an aperture of f/11 with a shutter speed of 1/ISO should get you in the ballpark. You can always check the histogram and adjust as necessary. Edit: Also, some of the best moon photos are taken not with a full moon, rather with a half-moon or less. The reason is because a full moon is lit almost dead on, so most of the wonderful surface features are washed out. The moon can appear flat and dull. A moon that is no more than half-full is lit predominantly from the side. The side lighting accentuates all of the craters and hills, creating some interesting shadows. -monkey
This is my attempt from the other night (done with a 300mm lens... from the late 70's, so full manual) Biggest improvement I found was to lock the shutter up after the image is taken (Delayed Shutter mode I believe it's called on my Nikon)
I like the second attempt - you're already getting the hang of it. Locking the mirror up before you "take" the photo is actually great idea, and I'm ashamed the thought hadn't originally occurred to me. After spending a number of years doing night photography during my time in college, I always used a similar technique. Although I was using a 4x5 view camera, the principle was the same: hold a card in front of the lens, open the shutter, wait a second or two for the vibrations to go away, take the card away. At the end of the exposure, I would hold the card in front of the lens, then close the shutter. I addition to the more accurate exposure and better overall sharpness, I also prefer the second photo due to the amount of detail in the pock-marked surface you've picked up with the side-lighting. Keep up the good work. -monkey
You mean mirror. If you were to lock the shutter open, then the exposure would continue. It's called delayed shutter, due to the fact that the mirror goes up then waits for the vibrations to die down, then opens the shutter. What Monkey is describing is something different.
Bah, that'll teach me to post when tired. I can't believe I glossed over that. You are right - locking the mirror up is technically different, although the principle is the same: Locking the moving mechanism while the vibrations dissipate. -monkey
Sorry to hear about your Sony H2, I've had mine for a while and it's been ace although My 400D does put it to shame in some aspects However speaking of the moon I strapped my H2 to my 4.5in motorised reflector telescope and got THIS a few years ago.
Here is a picture of the moon I took in March of this year. To get the clear outline it must be cloudless and free of moisture in the air. The earths thermals can brake up the edges. For more information check the POTM competition archives for March 09.
