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So I have been subjecting the moon to my practice pictures this past week, these were all done free standing and surprised myself how well they came out, considering what little I know. I do thank all of you here for inspiration and very helpful tips.
My biggest struggle is how to get less "sheen" on the moon during the hours between late evening with a nice blue sky and after sunset with the black night sky. I adjusted my settings with some help but am afraid I might be missing something.
One more question, how do I get the trees and such to show better in the same picture? I could see all of them clearly with the naked eye, thanks.
5:30pm f6.3 1000 s/s ISO was on auto but went to 320
7:40pm f7.1 200 s/s and 200 ISO
8:15 pm f 6.3 40 s/s ISO 100 These 2 are the sheen I am referring to
Getting the moon and foreground in focus is pretty difficult. The sheen you see is just over exposure and would disappear by adjusting the aperture smaller(bigger number). If you start with a manual setting you could try this. ISO 100, aperture f22 or as high a number as the camera permits, adjust the shutter speed to give proper exposure on the moon. These settings will give you the best chance at a clean foreground and a proper moon exposure. There are programs for focus stacking that would help so Google is your friend there. Also you could shoot the trees and moon in different frames and combine the 2 images in photoshop.
The moon will be the brightest thing in the sky and therefore will command the most attention from your camera. Another good tip is to always use a tripod for moon or any night time shots. Remember the Earth is rotating at roughly 1,000 mph and the moon is orbiting at a slower speed. That is a lot of motion to compensate for while trying to hold your camera at eye level.
Keep up the good work. Jerry
Last edited by shenango; Apr 28, 2024 at 03:34 PM.
Here’s a moon photo I took a few years ago during a total lunar eclipse. No telescope was used, just a 70mm f/2.8 lens. It was made by making a series of exposures with increasing time, then combining them using HDR software. Click on image to see full resolution.
Moon pics
