Autumn Moon

[FrankMi]

I was amazed how much clearer the skies are up in the mountains and when I saw how beautiful the moon was, I thought I'd take a shot. Only problem was, I didn't have my tripod or cable release handy and I'm standing on a street corner in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

So, I thought, what the heck! I'll get to see just how good the Image Stabilization in the Canon SX40 is, or isn’t.

This is an 840mm FFE hand held night shot.



ISO 320, 1/200sec, F5.8

[Sergio M.]

Amazing shot hand held, Frank. Both Frank stabilization and image stabilization work very well.

Serge

[rpcrowe]

Frank... All I can say is WOW!

BTW: is there any way to use a hotshoe flash with the SX40 or is a person limited to the built-in flash?

[jeeperman]

Very well done Frank.

[jamn4ex]

welcome to my side of the hill Frank, I am about 30 miles east of Gatlinburg . Hope your stay is a good one!

[Jan de Vries]

I like this moon shot. On the right side it's overexposed but the beauty of the band in the middle makes that it is no problem. The craters are so awesome to see.
At my full moon photo I miss that.

Jan

[FrankMi]

Frank... All I can say is WOW!

BTW: is there any way to use a hotshoe flash with the SX40 or is a person limited to the built-in flash?

Yes Richard, the hot shoe is hidden and a little tricky to remove the cap if you didn't watch the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5d9A5jZTw, but they provide a storage pouch for the hot shoe cap.

[FrankMi]

Thanks Serge, Richard, Paul, James, amd Jan.

We had a great time James and the weather was as close to perfect for autumn as we could hope for.

About the only way to really see the craters well Jan, is at the edge of the shadow line which, unfortunately, doesn't occur at full moon.

[Panama Hat & Camera]

Frank,
The best handheld telephoto shot of the moon I've ever seen (and one of the best, including those taken with a tripod). (Overexposure on the side facing the sun is normal). Chromatic aberration was well controlled. You used PP? Please tell me what you did.
Congratulations to you and the Canon SX40.
Antonio.

[FrankMi]

Frank,
The best handheld telephoto shot of the moon I've ever seen (and one of the best, including those taken with a tripod). (Overexposure on the side facing the sun is normal). Chromatic aberration was well controlled. You used PP? Please tell me what you did.
Congratulations to you and the Canon SX40.
Antonio.

Thank you Antonio! For the post processing workflow I usually follow with just about every image, take a look here Project 52 by Frank Miller. I don't do all these steps every time but I tend to check these things most every time and adjust only if needed. The little bit of CA I did get was significantly reduced by a quick swipe of the soft brush clone tool.

Hope this helps!

[just me]

Hi Frank, just found your moon photo, and I say W O W, you must have a very steady hand, to get this photo just handheld !!!!!!!

End of this month we will have here a full moon, and just for trying out, if the sky is clear, I will take a handheld photo too of the moon, ( suit me, as I am often to lazy to put up a tripod ) will have the Olympus E-M5, and the Panasonic 100-300 lens for this......

Griddi.......

[Bobobird]

Frank, that is one excellent shot. I presume you will now want to go to the SX50 and get us 1000mm???

As for hand held vs tripod shots - the EXIF says it all. The reason a tripod seems useful is because it can be difficult to keep stable when pointing the camera straight up. Just being to lean against something is usually enough.

Here is one of mine taken in daylight, handheld, no support. Not exactly no suport, I tend to use my forehead to get some support for high angle shots. 300mm, f8, 1/125, iso 100.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T...11104_9814.jpg.

Full moon shots can be very nice particularly if complemented with a nice landscape. All by itself, it is too bright to bring out the crater shadows etc. Of course if someone with a super lens or a telescope may get some really great shots.

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank, just found your moon photo, and I say W O W, you must have a very steady hand, to get this photo just handheld !!!!!!!

End of this month we will have here a full moon, and just for trying out, if the sky is clear, I will take a handheld photo too of the moon, ( suit me, as I am often to lazy to put up a tripod ) will have the Olympus E-M5, and the Panasonic 100-300 lens for this......

Griddi.......

Hi Griddi, the thing most folks don't realize is that on a clear night shooting mostly straight up, the moon is reflecting about the same amount of light as the surface of the earth on a sunny day. The problem isn't so much with the amount of light; this was shot at 1/200 sec, but rather with holding the lens steady for that length of zoom.

In this case I leaned against a lamp pole to keep the end of the lens from waving around too much. One other thing that helps is that the image stabilization relies on contrast to determine which way and how far to shift the lens to keep the image stable. There likely isn't a more contrasty scene than the bright moon against a pitch black night sky!

[FrankMi]

Frank, that is one excellent shot. I presume you will now want to go to the SX50 and get us 1000mm???

As for hand held vs tripod shots - the EXIF says it all. The reason a tripod seems useful is because it can be difficult to keep stable when pointing the camera straight up. Just being to lean against something is usually enough.

Here is one of mine taken in daylight, handheld, no support. Not exactly no suport, I tend to use my forehead to get some support for high angle shots. 300mm, f8, 1/125, iso 100.
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T...11104_9814.jpg.

Full moon shots can be very nice particularly if complemented with a nice landscape. All by itself, it is too bright to bring out the crater shadows etc. Of course if someone with a super lens or a telescope may get some really great shots.

Thank you Bobo! I agree completely. Nice capture!

I do find that daylight shots of the moon to be much more difficult to get a real winner. To include landscape in the image, the shooting angle needs to be lowered and the lower the shooting angle, the more atmosphere the moon's image has to pass through. Once you add the additional atmospheric haze and reduced reflected light, it becomes a real challenge to get an outstanding image of the moon. Usually the moon then becomes secondary and the composition is carried by the landscape.

[Bobobird]

Thanks Frank, you are spot on as usual.

i am now waiting for good atmospheric conditions and a near full moon to test out the camera's multiple exposure feature.

[Teton Chuck]

Very nice shot Frank. I think I will try a shot from 9,000 feet or so next time the moon is in the right phase.

[Donald]

I'll get to see just how good the Image Stabilization in the Canon SX40 is, or isn’t.

It is!

I've added a tag to it so anyone doing a search using the tags will see it along with the other moon shots that are there. As has been suggested above, this one stands right up there with them.