Sunday, January 31, 2010

Want To Shoot The Moon?

When you try shoot the moon do your photos turn out like this?


The classic, I tried to shoot the moon, and it just didn't work shot. Two problems here, the UV filter on my lens creates a second shadowed image of the moon and I've overexposed, blowing out the moon's detail achieving a pretty bad photo.

So how do you shoot the moon with better success?

1. Grab your lens with the longest focal length.
2. Take off your UV filter, if you have one on.
3. Set your ISO to 100.
4. Set your aperture to f/8.0 (this is not the only option).
5. Set your shutter speed to 1/125 (this is not the only option).
6. Zoom out to your longest focal length
7. Focus on the moon, ignoring your light meter (it's going to freak out, indicating you are overexposed)
8. Recompose if you'd like.
9. Shoot!

Because of the amount of light from the full moon, you will have a fast shutter speed so hand holding is very possible. If you want a sharper image, place your camera on a tripod.

200mm | ISO 100 | f/8.0 | ss 1/125

There we have it! Detail. And because I took it with a low ISO and shot in RAW I can crop it closely and get this.


Want to see some amazing moon shots? Check this flickr cluster. So much inspiration!

11 comments:

Esther Andrews said...

Thanks Katrina!!
You prompted me to blog about my experience. You may be interested... snippets by esther

brittanylane said...

hmm.. how did you know that last night I couldn't take a picture of the moon? I'm trying this tonight! Thanks K!

Anonymous said...

Awesome pics!

Unknown said...

Awesome!

amson said...

Thanks so much! I have never known what to do. Now just waiting for a clear night.

Debi Boler said...

Well, geez... where were ya when I was actually trying to shoot that stupid moon? ;) Now to get a clear night to try again!

Anonymous said...

Nice! Thanks for the link K.
I'm totally going to try again next month :)

Janedee said...

Great timing! I was taking terrible photos of the moon last night! Thanks! I'll try again tonight.

Tesia said...

Thank you so much! I got pictures much like your first "bad" shot last night and was so frustrated! Excited to try again tonight!

oldvwblues said...

Thanks so much for this! Our last night on vacation there was a beautiful full moon over the ocean..couldn't get a decent photo...will save this for the next time! You are so cool!

Anonymous said...

Kevin is going to try this tonight. Thanks Katrina.
Barb

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