The Moon

[Donald]

I feel like such a failure next to you guys. x)

US

I've just come into this thread not having looked at it for a couple of days.

#1 - You've got to work at not feeling that you're somehow not up to the mark so far as your work is concerned. Sure, there is still some learning to do. But ................
#2 - This, I think, is your best image on CiC up to this point. It's maybe not technically perfect. But the mood and atmosphere are wonderful. There's a lot we could talk about in terms of the image - the effective size of the moon and birds in relation to the whole space etc. But, quite honestly, knowing the equipment you're working with at this stage of your development as a photographer, and given your level of experience, that is a very evocative and striking image. Well done.

All the technical stuff can be learned and that will come. What this shows is an ability to 'see' an image. That's far more important.

[Shadowman]

I know, right? Their shots are so damn perfect! D;

You only get one night a month to capture the full moon and not many can capture on the first attempt. It takes patience and there are various threads in this forum dedicated to our many efforts.

[MiniChris]

Whatever you do, don't use a cheeser lens to try to do a good moon shot. My next task is to find a good telephoto that doesn't fall so far off the edge at full power, that the end result is blurred. The Tamron I used tonight to attempt a decent moon shot was a 70-300 macro zoom. Auto-focus or manual the images were just flat out blurry. Bleeaaahhh

This is my moon shot with that lens... I shot in in manual and AF. It works fine for doing some macro or if it is very bright outside. Other than that...yuck!

[Steve S]

Whatever you do, don't use a cheeser lens to try to do a good moon shot. My next task is to find a good telephoto that doesn't fall so far off the edge at full power, that the end result is blurred. The Tamron I used tonight to attempt a decent moon shot was a 70-300 macro zoom. Auto-focus or manual the images were just flat out blurry. Bleeaaahhh

This is my moon shot with that lens... I shot in in manual and AF. It works fine for doing some macro or if it is very bright outside. Other than that...yuck!

How are you taking the shot? I would think that lens is capable of a good image. Some things to try next time.............

Shoot the sweet spot of your lens. The moon is far away and you don't need alot of DOF, so shoot the f/stop your lens works best. Most lenses are sharpest between f/5.6 and f/11. I just looked up your lens, and at 300mm it is sharpest at f/11, so start with f/11 next time.

The moon is far away so the slightest movement will blur your photo. Use a good tripod. Add weight for stability (hang your camera bag or a weight to the center.) Use a timer or remote shutter release. Lock the mirror up. Turn image stabilizer off.

Use manual focus and 10x live view to focus. It is easy to miss the focus so shoot several shots and pick the one's with a good focus.

Spot meter and underexpose by -2/3ev to -1ev

The moon is moving , so get the shutter speed up to at least 1/100s . I've gotten good shots as low as 1/60s, but your better off with a higher shutter speed.

Processing, you'll need to do some noise reduction, add some saturation and contrast to the image and sharpen. Don't over crop the image.

Hope this helps.

[MiniChris]

Great info. I shall endeavor to give it a try tonight. I think I over-exposed by +1 EV thinking I needed more exposure. I'll check the data file. I use a solid monfrotto tripod. I never even gave Live View a thought with the 10X zoom...so much about this camera I still don't know. Thanks.

[UtopianStardust]

US

I've just come into this thread not having looked at it for a couple of days.

#1 - You've got to work at not feeling that you're somehow not up to the mark so far as your work is concerned. Sure, there is still some learning to do. But ................
#2 - This, I think, is your best image on CiC up to this point. It's maybe not technically perfect. But the mood and atmosphere are wonderful. There's a lot we could talk about in terms of the image - the effective size of the moon and birds in relation to the whole space etc. But, quite honestly, knowing the equipment you're working with at this stage of your development as a photographer, and given your level of experience, that is a very evocative and striking image. Well done.

All the technical stuff can be learned and that will come. What this shows is an ability to 'see' an image. That's far more important.

Wow, thank you. That really means a lot to me. It kind of gives me the will to keep on learning, because I'm just so close to giving up at this point.

[Donald]

Wow, thank you. That really means a lot to me. It kind of gives me the will to keep on learning, because I'm just so close to giving up at this point.

I'm very glad to hear that. It's normal that you go through these phases of feeling like just chucking it in.

As you get in to a new subject and become enthusiastic about it, you realise how much there is to know, how little you know, and everyone else seems to know so much more (which is not always the case, by the way). And you feel everyone else is talking a language that you don't understand - using words and phrases that don't make sense to you.

Been there!

But it does begin to make sense. Even without you being aware of it, you find yourself understanding things that you didn't understand the week before; posting messages using words and phrases that you didn't know about only a few weeks ago.

So, you stick with it.

[UtopianStardust]

I'm very glad to hear that. It's normal that you go through these phases of feeling like just chucking it in.

As you get in to a new subject and become enthusiastic about it, you realise how much there is to know, how little you know, and everyone else seems to know so much more (which is not always the case, by the way). And you feel everyone else is talking a language that you don't understand - using words and phrases that don't make sense to you.

Been there!

But it does begin to make sense. Even without you being aware of it, you find yourself understanding things that you didn't understand the week before; posting messages using words and phrases that you didn't know about only a few weeks ago.

So, you stick with it.

...WOW..That just described how I feel word.by.word. I'm not the only one huh? I kinda feel better now knowing everyone goes through it to some degree.

[moss]

...WOW..That just described how I feel word.by.word. I'm not the only one huh? I kinda feel better now knowing everyone goes through it to some degree.

I feel like you described all the time, and if I didn't find it as enjoyable as I do to learn i would've packed it in ages ago
also, I had a bash at shooting the moon, using my 70-300mm. probably cropped it too heavily though...and I shot at 1600 ISO so there's a lot of noise.

[Jim B.]

50D 400mm + 1.4X TC f/8 ISO 200 1/200"
Manual focus,mirror lockup with 2" timer on tripod.

[JonathanC]

Well here's my go at it.