Full moon photography

[Jackie Paterson]

Thanks for the advice. I am a real beginner just starting to shoot in RAW and trying to understand the settings. Trying to shoot the supermoon tonight, it was surrounded with clouds but they did not come out in the pictures? any advice?

[William W]

. . . I am a real beginner just starting to shoot in RAW and trying to understand the settings. Trying to shoot the supermoon tonight, it was surrounded with clouds but they did not come out in the pictures? any advice?

The image you attached is low resolution (a small JPEG file) so it is difficult t assess the Technical Quality with any degree of serious critique: that stated, it looks a good photo when viewed on my monitor.

What are the technical details?

What I mean is -
Camera
Lens (if a zoom lens at what Focal Length?)
Camera Mode (that is "Automatic", "Aperture Priority", "Manual" etc)
Aperture
Shutter Speed
ISO

***

Addressing the comment about the clouds: my assessment and educated guess is that - the clouds are not apparent in your picture because the Camera's Light Meter adjusted the exposure for the brightness of the moon, which was relatively very bright compared to the clouds. You might find that there is indeed some detail of the clouds in the Image File, but your processing has not revealed it yet.

All in all I think you should be happy with this first attempt.

WW

[Manfred M]

Jackie - I've moved your posting to a new thread. The thread you posted in was almost 4-1/2 years old. It is usually best to start a new topic.

As for your results, I'm of the same mind as Bill, the clouds in the sky were likely not bright enough for your camera to have picked them up, but without bit more data, it's hard to be sure.

[dje]

Hi Jackie

Generally the moon is quite bright compared to clouds that it is lighting up. You've managed to get good exposure on the moon itself but not enough exposure on the clouds. I don't know what processing you've done but the detail on the moon looks a bit soft to me. Some sharpening may help.

For moon and cloud shots, I sometimes take two shots - one with the moon properly exposed and a second with the clouds properly exposed. In the second shot, the moon will be over-exposed but the idea is to replace it with the moon from the first shot. It can be tricky to get the shot looking realistic sometimes if there is partial cloud in front of the moon!

Dave

[rpcrowe]

You should be quite satisfied with your image, especially as a first try.

In future captures, you might think of also including something earthbound like a tree, building or mountain silhouette along with your moon image. IMO, as in fireworks, while an image of the event in the sky is nice, inclusion of a terrestrial base for that image takes it up a notch or two.

I am hoping to get a shot or two of the moon coming up from behind the skyline of the City of San Diego tomorrow night. This type of image takes planning as to where and when to shoot...