shooting the moon

[jo]

We have clear skies and a full moon tonight so I thought I'd give it a try. Two new pics in my gallery.

Manual - F11 - 1/250 - and ISO 400 seemed to work out best. 100 was too dark.

I'm just not happy with them. Any helpful hints?

[CarolLHB]

How pretty!:)

[ceejay3744]

Jo,

You sure do have a terrific gallery and the moon shots are spectacular.

[Edmund]

JO, Just remember that full sunlight is striking the lunar surface, so the old "Sunny F-16" Rule applies. For full moon exposures use the Sunny F16 rule, for Half Moon use Sunny f16 +1/2 stop. Quarter Moon use the same as Half moon. The best time is at twilight with the full moon rise so that you can silowhet a mian subject as trees ,mountain or what ever. If you don't know what the Sunny F16 rule is here is a quick definition: With the sun basically high in the clear cloudless sky set your aperature to F16 and the shutter speed to the reciprocal of the film iso value ( or the reciprocal of your iso setting on a digital camera). Example aso of 100 then set aperature at F16 and shoot at 1/100 of a second.
Hope this helps.
Eddie

[jo]

Thanks, Eddie. I'll try again the next time I have a clear sky and a full moon. I don't get a clear moonrise at home -- too many trees, but that's another interesting effect. Maybe I'll catch it at my daughter's house next month. No trees to block the rising moon there.

And thanks for the compliments girls. A bad/unsatisfactory shot is always worth a photoshop try. :rolleyes:

[kimh]

2 nights ago I had my camera and tripod all ready for the full moon but it never came from behind the clouds. Was not sure of camera settings so appreciate the info for next time.
BTW-they did come out great!
Kimh

[bwolford]

Never heard of the Sunny F16 rule but I'll be trying it in Mexico (hopefully) this weekend. Dumb question, but what does the +1/2 mean?

Brice

[kimh]

It is the exposure compensation.
Kimh

[jo]

JO, Just remember that full sunlight is striking the lunar surface, so the old "Sunny F-16" Rule applies. For full moon exposures use the Sunny F16 rule, for Half Moon use Sunny f16 +1/2 stop. Quarter Moon use the same as Half moon. The best time is at twilight with the full moon rise so that you can silowhet a mian subject as trees ,mountain or what ever. If you don't know what the Sunny F16 rule is here is a quick definition: With the sun basically high in the clear cloudless sky set your aperature to F16 and the shutter speed to the reciprocal of the film iso value ( or the reciprocal of your iso setting on a digital camera). Example aso of 100 then set aperature at F16 and shoot at 1/100 of a second.
Hope this helps.
Eddie
The moon shining in my bedroom window woke me up EARLY this morning and I gave it another shot -- see my gallery.

[tbrannon]

That looks really good Jo!

[AngelicKim]

Great shots Jo. I have written down the settings. I have never been able to get a really good shot of the moon like you did.

[jo]

Tripod and remote switch are a MUST! And I probably forgot to turn off the Image Stabilizer on my lens in January. I remembered to do that this time.

[msbrad]

Beautiful photo!
m

[kimi_boo]

Oh Jo... good for you. :D :D

All of my attempts have come out over exposed. :(

We should have a full moon tonight, if the clouds aren't too bad I may give it a try. I can handle F16 but will have to play with my shutter speeds. :o

[Cmcburnett]

Jo, love your gallery. Great job;)

[Edmund]

Jo, Great shot. glad to see the sunny f-16 rule still applies. Another pointer is you could manual focus the moon if possible or just place the focus ring on infinity. I don't know what camera you used but these are some ways to get better focus manually vs AF. You could also finagle the settings to give the same exposure but a faster shutter speed such as :
1. Set ISO to 100
2. Aperature=f-16 & speed=1/100sec or
" f-11 & " 1/200 " or
" f-8 & " 1/400 "
Each combination has the same "Quantitative Exposure Value" so we can increase shutter speed if you think this was the cause of a poor focused image. Remember that the slowest speed one ideally wants to shoot at is again the reciprocal of the film/ISO speed. In this case 1/100 sec. And I assume you used a tripod.
Love the shot
Eddie
PS I had forgot about this post glad it helped you out.

[jojo99]

Jo, that's a really wonderful picture :)
We had a lunar eclipse not so long ago and I took about 50 photos to get a handful of decent ones, none as good as yours though. Well done!!!!!!!!!!
Jo-Jo

[jo]

Drat! I just changed the settings on my camera and went outside to try F8 and 1/400 -- and the sky is cloudy! It was severe clear an hour ago!

Well, the nice thing about shooting the moon is there'll be another clear night -- if not next month, then maybe in June or July or ... Something to shoot for.

Thanks for the pointers, Eddie. I let the camera auto focus first, then I change to manual and attempt to get it a little clearer. I do use a tripod for this, but the neighbor's friendly cat likes to rub up against my legs and the tripod legs and he shakes the camera. Gosh darn cat!

And thanks for the compliments, JoJo, Charlotte, Kim*3, Michelle, Tina...and if I missed anybody, please forgive me. I've been up since about 4 a.m. and it's after 11 p.m. I'm tired!

[AngelicKim]

I went to let the dogs out and there was the clear full moon. I ran for my camera, put on the zoom lens and changed the settings. I forgot to change to f-11 so this is what I got.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1ctOq9BVESPXKRwC41CsZIhB5UjIH0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ctOq9BVESPXKRwC41CsZIhB5UjIH0)

Oh, and I couldn't find my tripod so I braced the camera on the fence.

[jo]

Good shot for hand-held, Kim. The tripod saves me, though, as well as a remote shutter switch. My shaky hands need all the help I can get!

The sky cleared during the night and the moonshine woke me up again at 4 in the morning, so I took a few more shots this morning playing with the settings on my camera. The one I posted from yesterday morning is still the best of the lot.

[Punkinsmom]

I like the one shining behind the trees, I may have to give it a try now although we are expecting strong storms later today. This morining would have been perfect, I could just kick myself!

[AngelicKim]

I have found my tripod this morning but don't think I will get a second chance tonight. Storm all day today and suppose to carry on over night and tomorrow with nothing but rain. They are saying some areas could get upto 3 inches of rain.