First try at the moon

[hopeg]

Last night, the moonrise was amazing here in New Mexico. Unfortunately, I was not able to catch the actual rise, but it was awesome. It was a huge moon rising up over the mountain. This image is something I've always wanted to capture. Hopefully, sometime I will be able to. By the time I got home, it was already up in the sky, but I decided to try to get a picture. I've read online that you should use at least a 300 mm focal length, I only have 200 mm. Remember, I am a complete beginner, so I was excited to get this shot, it's surely a lot better than what I ever tried to get with my point and shoot or camera phone. Any input appreciated on this shot and maybe future shots of the moon

Here are the photo details. Not sure what settings should maybe be set different for this kind of photo. Any input appreciated.

Focal length: 200 mm
White balance: auto
Aperture: 16.0
Exposure: 1/1250
ISO: 2500

[Shadowman]

You've done well with your first attempt. You can find many discussions on this forum regarding astrophotography. One link provided.

Full moon photography

[Wavelength]

Nicely done

[Digital]

Not bad for your 1st attempt. Keep up the good work.



Bruce

[Andrew76]

'Moonrise over New Mexico'?? That sounds oddly familiar!!

[FrankMi]

Hi Hope! I see that you have a fairly well exposed image and although it is relatively small in the frame owing to the focal length of your lens, you might want to crop it close to see how far you can go in enlarging the image without loosing detail.

I'm sure you noticed the settings you used to get the exposure as close as this so it might raise a question or two on how you could improve your next moon shot. If the moon is almost directly overhead on a clear night, you have the least amount of atmospheric haze between you and your subject which translates into the both a sharper and brighter image.

We really don't care about how black the night sky is so our exposure settings need only take in the moon's surface, which is a tiny part of the frame at this focal length. Sunlight reflected off a full moon's surface is going to be similar to a sunlit day on Earth reflecting off a mostly gray surface. This is why you have a small aperture, high shutter speed and high ISO.

We don't really need a high ISO as the subject is well lit so we can lower the ISO and in doing so, limit the noise in the image to a minimum. That leaves Aperture and Shutter Speed.

The entire subject is at infinity so without any Depth of Field issues to address, Aperture could be set to whatever produces the sharpest image for this camera/lens combination. Typically that would be two stops down from wide open but it varies with your specific equipment.

And shutter speed? Particularly if you are on a tripod, camera movement should not be an issue. The Moon is relatively stationary in relationship to the earth and with virtually no background, almost any Shutter Speed will work so this is where I would adjust for the best exposure. As the camera's metering system, even using spot metering, can be fooled by the expanse of black, I would also bracket the exposure with multiple images just in case the base exposure is a little off.

Every moon shot is a little bit different, particularly in exposure owing to shooting angle, atmospheric density, and atmospheric haze so it helps to keep practicing.

I hope this helps!

[hopeg]

'Moonrise over New Mexico'?? That sounds oddly familiar!!

I wasn't sure what you were talking about, so I googled it. How interesting!

[hopeg]

Hi Hope! I see that you have a fairly well exposed image and although it is relatively small in the frame owing to the focal length of your lens, you might want to crop it close to see how far you can go in enlarging the image without loosing detail.

I'm sure you noticed the settings you used to get the exposure as close as this so it might raise a question or two on how you could improve your next moon shot. If the moon is almost directly overhead on a clear night, you have the least amount of atmospheric haze between you and your subject which translates into the both a sharper and brighter image.

We really don't care about how black the night sky is so our exposure settings need only take in the moon's surface, which is a tiny part of the frame at this focal length. Sunlight reflected off a full moon's surface is going to be similar to a sunlit day on Earth reflecting off a mostly gray surface. This is why you have a small aperture, high shutter speed and high ISO.

We don't really need a high ISO as the subject is well lit so we can lower the ISO and in doing so, limit the noise in the image to a minimum. That leaves Aperture and Shutter Speed.

The entire subject is at infinity so without any Depth of Field issues to address, Aperture could be set to whatever produces the sharpest image for this camera/lens combination. Typically that would be two stops down from wide open but it varies with your specific equipment.

And shutter speed? Particularly if you are on a tripod, camera movement should not be an issue. The Moon is relatively stationary in relationship to the earth and with virtually no background, almost any Shutter Speed will work so this is where I would adjust for the best exposure. As the camera's metering system, even using spot metering, can be fooled by the expanse of black, I would also bracket the exposure with multiple images just in case the base exposure is a little off.

Every moon shot is a little bit different, particularly in exposure owing to shooting angle, atmospheric density, and atmospheric haze so it helps to keep practicing.

I hope this helps!

Thank you! I will read over this very useful info a couple times to make sure I get it, thank you so much!

[Andrew76]

I wasn't sure what you were talking about, so I googled it. How interesting!

I got to see an original print of it about 2 months ago at an art gallery up here in Toronto. It's stunning. But even more stunning than the print itself, was the story of how he got it. Almost by accident, and with all of the exposure calculations done in his head, from memory, and experience. Doesn't sound like much with a digital camera, but shooting 8x10 plates, one really doesn't want to mess them up! And, he didn't.

Very nice shot you have there by the way, Hope! Great job for a first attempt at the moon. Frank has offered some really sound advice, and it's pretty much the settings that I use for moon shots too.

[Stagecoach]

Well done Hope.

Not much more can be added to what has already been said, the important thing is to learn from these experiences and in time you will instinctively know how to tackle each opportunity you get and know what you can achieve with your equipment.

Grahame

[IzzieK]

Hope...what Frank means is that in your software, Photoshop or similar, you can zoom in until you see some noise or some softness, then back off the zoom a little bit till you think it is useful enough to look at. You will find that you might have captured more than you thought you did. Try that...

Thank you! I will read over this very useful info a couple times to make sure I get it, thank you so much!

[mknittle]

Nice moon shot Hope. If you on a tight budget. Gimp is free and it much like Photoshop.(just Google "GIMP"
There are also quite a few people on this forum that use it.

Rocky nook sells a book "Gimp ( I think 2.8) for photographers" by Klaus Goelker that's pretty good.

[rambler4466]

For moon exposures like this one: (at equivalent ISO settings)
f/8 1/125 ISO 100

f/8 1/250 ISO 200

f/8 1/500 ISO 400

The way to avoid the headlight look of the moon is to photoshop moons like this one into the sky. Therefore, it can be helpful to keep a folder of different moons shot at different focal distances and have them placed in different areas or corners of your frame. For example, lets say you want a moon placed in the upper corner of a sky that you took with a wide angle lens. A moon shot in the middle of your frame with a 200mm focal distance would not be appropriate. It would just be too big to be realistic. Have some blue sky moons in your folder, too! Moons a few days before full are good ones to have.

Just remember f/8 1/125 ISO 100.