Photographing the moon

[dadof3girls]

Equipment: I just purchased a d3300, 55-200 VR, and 35 f/1.8. I do have a tripod

I would like to take some pictures of the "Strawberry" moon tonight. I understand that I do not have the best equipment for the job, but it's what I have for now. I'm just learning to shot and would like some tips on how I might get decent shots tonight. No idea on shutter speed, focus modes, ISO, or whatever to try. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[nicodimus22]

Equipment: I just purchased a d3300, 55-200 VR, and 35 f/1.8. I do have a tripod

I would like to take some pictures of the "Strawberry" moon tonight. I understand that I do not have the best equipment for the job, but it's what I have for now. I'm just learning to shot and would like some tips on how I might get decent shots tonight. No idea on shutter speed, focus modes, ISO, or whatever to try. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You can see in the exif data which settings worked for me in this full moon shot:



That will at least give you a starting point that should be in the ballpark.



Spot metering is very important when shooting the moon, too. It was used here. Tripod and either remote shutter release or self-timer, also. Good luck!

--
http://www.naturecratephoto.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicodimus22/

 

[dadof3girls]

Thanks and I'll post my results tomorrow!

 

[Tavaszka]

Hy, I used a tripod and manual settings. Manual focus didn't work, the Moon was so tiny, I couldn't see the details.




D5300 - 300mm f/8.0 1/125 ISO 100

 

[Gary Skirvin]

Pre-dawn today


3 sisters, Oregon

compressed at 400mm


South Sister




South Sister

 

[Mahoonse]

For exposure: don't meter With the bright moon and dark sky the meter will go wacko. Take advantage of the fact that the sun is always in bright sunlight and set your exposure manually using the "sunny 16" rule. In bright sunlight use f/16 at one over the ISO. Bracket exposures one stop over and under for insurance.

 

[twg]

7200+200-500+17e = 1275 mm













--
tony

Galleries by Tony Wong

www.pbase.com

 

[ThrillaMozilla]

Too late, I know.

Ordinarily the moon is about as bright as an 18% gray card at noon, because that's essentially what it is. In the case of an eclipse, it's a gray card in a very deep shadow, lit only by a little light that is refracted around the perimeter of the earth by the atmosphere. So, you need more exposure. In the penumbra, you need give it as much exposure as you can without saturating the highlights. In the umbra, you can probably give it more exposure--a lot more exposure.

But you don't want an exposure time so long that you get motion blurring. The earth's rotation will seem extraordinarily fast when photographing the moon. For best results, I wouldn't expose longer than 1/2 second at the most. That will give you 0.09 mm of movement on the image, or roughly 2 pixels, with a 250 mm lens. In terms of the moon's diameter, that's about 0.4% of the diameter in 1/2 second.

 

[dadof3girls]

Thanks for all the tips! I've copied and saved them for future use.

Unfortunately last night was a bust for me...clouds and rain. Will try another night.

 

[Mach Schnell]

[No message]

 

[draacor]

Equipment: I just purchased a d3300, 55-200 VR, and 35 f/1.8. I do have a tripod

I would like to take some pictures of the "Strawberry" moon tonight. I understand that I do not have the best equipment for the job, but it's what I have for now. I'm just learning to shot and would like some tips on how I might get decent shots tonight. No idea on shutter speed, focus modes, ISO, or whatever to try. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I shot the strawberry moon last night and honestly the best moon shots in my opinion are when something else is in the photo to give it some scale. Unfortunately the only option i had at the time was a mountain range in the distance so the scale wasnt really well perceived in the photo but it does still help.

 

[Old Greenlander]

Equipment: I just purchased a d3300, 55-200 VR, and 35 f/1.8. I do have a tripod

I would like to take some pictures of the "Strawberry" moon tonight. I understand that I do not have the best equipment for the job, but it's what I have for now. I'm just learning to shot and would like some tips on how I might get decent shots tonight. No idea on shutter speed, focus modes, ISO, or whatever to try. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You need a tripod and patience

have a couple from me at 2000 mm optical, settings in exif











--
Old Greenlander
"I show the world the way I see it"
35 years of photography and still learning

 

[dadof3girls]

Equipment: I just purchased a d3300, 55-200 VR, and 35 f/1.8. I do have a tripod

I would like to take some pictures of the "Strawberry" moon tonight. I understand that I do not have the best equipment for the job, but it's what I have for now. I'm just learning to shot and would like some tips on how I might get decent shots tonight. No idea on shutter speed, focus modes, ISO, or whatever to try. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I shot the strawberry moon last night and honestly the best moon shots in my opinion are when something else is in the photo to give it some scale. Unfortunately the only option i had at the time was a mountain range in the distance so the scale wasnt really well perceived in the photo but it does still help.

I live in central Indiana. Not much for scale....does a corn field count?

 

[nicodimus22]

Equipment: I just purchased a d3300, 55-200 VR, and 35 f/1.8. I do have a tripod

I would like to take some pictures of the "Strawberry" moon tonight. I understand that I do not have the best equipment for the job, but it's what I have for now. I'm just learning to shot and would like some tips on how I might get decent shots tonight. No idea on shutter speed, focus modes, ISO, or whatever to try. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I shot the strawberry moon last night and honestly the best moon shots in my opinion are when something else is in the photo to give it some scale. Unfortunately the only option i had at the time was a mountain range in the distance so the scale wasnt really well perceived in the photo but it does still help.

I took an impromptu moon shot last night as I had packed up my gear in the car and was about to head home from shooting a sunset. The moon came up behind me, surrounded by little clouds, and looked like something out of a haunted house backdrop:



Lame foreground, and I didn't have a lens long enough to get much detail with me at the time, but it wasn't a total disaster, largely because of the creepy clouds.

--
http://www.naturecratephoto.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicodimus22/

 

[Nung]

Thanks for all the tips! I've copied and saved them for future use.

Unfortunately last night was a bust for me...clouds and rain. Will try another night.

Cloud isn't always a bad thing. Rain however is!

This was taken with a V1 + 300mm f4. I found it easier to shoot the moon with the V1 then my D7000. One of the main reason is the crop factor, the moon is bigger on the V1 and it makes it easier to focus.

 

[62strat]

Oh boy, here's everyone's chance to post their moon pics! Woot!

But seriously, I am no authority in moon pictures. But the thing that was the big "ah hah!" moment for me was to switch out of matrix metering to spot. I use matrix for everything, but it plays havok with something as bright as the moon.

I also think that what I used (200mm) was too short. I wish I had something more powerful, but alas it is all I have.

I cropped this so I don't know if the EXIF data comes through. Too bad as I don't remember what I used, othter than the aperture was f/8

 

[Gary Skirvin]

I use manual settings, including focus, once set, it's good for the rest of the shots, unless I move. This was taken hand-held, since I'm able to keep shutter speed up due to brightness of the nearly full moon. Converted to b&w.