I was wondering what the settings on my camera should be so I can take atleast decent pictures of the moon on saturday. My Nikon D60 has a 55-200mm lens and built in flash.
@christabug This is the biggest moon shot I currently have in my 365 - hoping to change that this weekend though!
Settings for this were: 1/60 sec @ f/8 ISO 100
If in doubt, under expose slightly so you don't wash out all the detail of the surface.
I just read an article on this went something like this:
Use your manual mode, experiment with settings.
Just remember, it's noon in the middle of the day on the moon. You'd generally use the same exposure as you'd use here during the middle of a bright sunny day. The Sunny 16 rule might apply.
Now, your red harvest moon might be a little different. You might need more exposure.
Use a tripod if you have one, set the timer for the shutter.
@sburbidge@kjarn WOwowowo Seriously brilliant photos.. I really appreciate you posting your settings for these as I would not have known where to start. Thanks so much for sharing =o)
Got help from @sburbidge to get this shot (sorry I mention you a lot lately Steven, lol). I hoping to go out and do better tonight. Preparing myself for tomorrow night. Sorry if I'm going to be bombarding you with moon shots over the next few days, lol.
My list of things to try is getting so long because of 365! Every one has so many awesome photos of different things - the moon has now made it to my list :)
Forgive me sounding really stupid (here goes :D )
on my camera, the exposure is a number from 4000 as the highest and 30" as the lowest.
does the 4000 mean 1/4000 of a second?
I think the 30" means 30seconds.
just to confirm.
In my experience - zoom in as much as possible and be sure to set exposure from off the moon. You shouldn't need a long exposure. A lower ISO will maintain greater detail if you decide to crop or post-process.
A bright moon should allow for a fast shutter, at low ISO with an average aperature (5.6 or so). A stable base or tripod is necessary when utilizing the zoom, because any movement will be advertised in the image profoundly.
@nickelbabe Yes, 4000 is 1/4000 of a sec, then going in increments to 30 seconds - and possibly B (Bulb) after that, where the shutter stays open for as long as you keep it pressed (normally with the use of a remote cable release to prevent camera shake).
I heard the best time to shoot the full moon is sunset the night before it is full because it is higher in the sky. Also, sunset on the night of the full moon if you want it actually to be full so you can work with the ambient light. I have never done it, just read and heard a lot about it. Good luck. Hoping to get out there tonight if I can find someone to stay with my kiddos :)
Here's mine from the other day. 280mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/60. In reality, that's too slow of a shutter at that focal length because even on a tripod, the moon moves slightly across the viewfinder in that fraction of a second and the image can be a tad soft. If possible I usually try to be in the 1/125 to 1/200 range if I'm shooting with my longest lens.
This isn't my shot. I hope Bill doesn't mind but, here is his shot from last month. It's fabulous! They are calling for clouds here. Good luck to everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing your shots.
@kirsty1975 Not cloudy over here, nice and clear but I've never taken a good moon shot and didn't do so tonight either. Tried everything so better get it sorted before tomorrow night!
Im trying to get a shot of the moon at the moment and I'm using 1/100 f8.0 iso100, I have a point and shot camera on manual settings, I just can't zoom enough. I think my max zoom is 60.0mm.. I'm so disappointed because I have some good shots but when I crop them close I can see the pixels :(
@annielf Fabulous. Mine didn't work out tonight. I was hanging out my bedroom window with the tripod on my bed so that wouldn't have helped. The moon looked good until I cropped then it was all blurred. Oh well, tomorrow is supposed to be nice so going out to the field again.
@kjarn You must have a better point and shoot than I do-lol! I put mine on Night Shot, Green Mode and Zoom and it just about the size of a dime with no detail. Oh well, guess I need a better camera.
@kirsty1975 Kirsty, my failed ones were tripod on the grass and trying to frame the moon with tree branches. The clear one was just the moon on a nice solid porch! Will try again tonight. Good luck to you.
My pic for today (sorry - can't work out how to post the pic rather than just a link) has settings F5.6, ISO200, 1/320, 300mm. It is on a tripod, which really does help, but if you haven't got one, set a faster shutter speed and increase the ISO to keep the same level of detail/reduce camera shake. A rough guide that a friend taught me was to set whatever shutter speed I could safely hand-hold at full zoom, then set the aperture to under-expose by at least -3EV.
Thanks everyone who helped me....sadly I don't have a picture to show of the moon after all of the wonderful advice... I was working with a 55-200mm lens and the moon came out as a white dot the size of a dime... it was my very first time taking a picture of the moon but im still very unhappy. tonight was supposed to show the moon as 33% larger so I was hoping that with my lens the moon would show up better. It was cloudy when the moon was rising so I didnt get to see it at the right time either. Anyways....Thanks again.
I'm sooo impressed with all these moon shots! Great job everyone!
I gave it my best last night, but wasn't overly impressed with my own results. I'm having a very difficult job getting the focus right it seems. Can anyone give me advice on the best way to focus on the moon? It doesn't look like motionblur what I have, but really being slightly out of focus. While I do allow my camera to autofocus and then I switch it to manual to keep that setting.
I'm using a Nikon D5000 with a 80-300 mm lens (fully zoomed to 300 mm ofcourse). It's on a sturdy tripod, indoors to prevent windshake and shooting through an open window. I have the selftimer on 10 seconds to prevent any wobble and I even have shutter delay active to have a slight delay between the mirror going up and the actual photo getting taken to remove even that slight motion. So, it really does seem to have to do something with the way I'm focusing.
Any insights would be hugely appreciated!!
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This is cool article that might help....
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-a-lunar-eclipse
here was my first attempt but I hope to have another go sometime this year...
Settings for this were: 1/60 sec @ f/8 ISO 100
If in doubt, under expose slightly so you don't wash out all the detail of the surface.
Use your manual mode, experiment with settings.
Just remember, it's noon in the middle of the day on the moon. You'd generally use the same exposure as you'd use here during the middle of a bright sunny day. The Sunny 16 rule might apply.
Now, your red harvest moon might be a little different. You might need more exposure.
Use a tripod if you have one, set the timer for the shutter.
Got help from @sburbidge to get this shot (sorry I mention you a lot lately Steven, lol). I hoping to go out and do better tonight. Preparing myself for tomorrow night. Sorry if I'm going to be bombarding you with moon shots over the next few days, lol.
Here it is again, still cropped but not asmuch.
Great photographer! :-)
on my camera, the exposure is a number from 4000 as the highest and 30" as the lowest.
does the 4000 mean 1/4000 of a second?
I think the 30" means 30seconds.
just to confirm.
Thanks!
A bright moon should allow for a fast shutter, at low ISO with an average aperature (5.6 or so). A stable base or tripod is necessary when utilizing the zoom, because any movement will be advertised in the image profoundly.
@lilmrs78 Wow, that is one amazing moon.
And another one (not included in my 365 but also shot at the same moment) :
I gave it my best last night, but wasn't overly impressed with my own results. I'm having a very difficult job getting the focus right it seems. Can anyone give me advice on the best way to focus on the moon? It doesn't look like motionblur what I have, but really being slightly out of focus. While I do allow my camera to autofocus and then I switch it to manual to keep that setting.
I'm using a Nikon D5000 with a 80-300 mm lens (fully zoomed to 300 mm ofcourse). It's on a sturdy tripod, indoors to prevent windshake and shooting through an open window. I have the selftimer on 10 seconds to prevent any wobble and I even have shutter delay active to have a slight delay between the mirror going up and the actual photo getting taken to remove even that slight motion. So, it really does seem to have to do something with the way I'm focusing.
Any insights would be hugely appreciated!!