I set up my tripod and remote clicker thing and set out to take some shots of the moon last night. I was pleased with my individual shots (like this one) but the ones with the water reflections weren't very good at all!! The grass and ocean was fine but the moon looked like a lightbulb with no details. Hopefully I can practice again tonight!! If you have any suggestions please let me know. Thanks.
@kwind I don't know how keen you are on post-processing, but it's a photoshop (or other program..) trick involving lining the two pics as two layers and then erasing all but the properly exposed areas of the topmost one so that everything looks dandy. I'm sure there's some good tutorials out there :)
Its a great shot, as you can see some of the crater details. Id imagine with the water shot you would almost need to set your exposure on the moon but then you would miss out on the water......look forward to seeing how you go.
@pablodeislanegra Sigma 50-500. I can't remember the rest of the specs. It's an okay lens but I don't use it often. I originally got it so I could shoot my kids from far away at swim meets but it's heavy and a bit stiff to rotate and generally didn't let in enough light.
I suppose a graduated filter could work. I actually sat and waved a 3X5 card in front of the moon once to try and keep it from getting overexposed while getting some of the landscape. It actually worked to an extent :-)
Lovely! There's been a gorgeous Moon visible here as well for the past few nights, but as I don't have a lens that would do the work (I'm saving up for one!) I'll just have to wait a while before I can go out and learn this Moon stuff. Btw, I'm glad to hear you're a fellow Aperture user! I still don't know how to use it to the max, but the missing layer technique is sometimes missed. (I suck at Photoshop and don't currently even have a copy for Mac...)
@kwind Also..if you don't have Photoshop and don't want to shell out for it, GIMP is free. If you shoot in RAW you'll need a converter like (free) UFRaw. And then there are lots of good (and bad) tutorials on youtube!
Great shot -- this is a great phase of the moon to shoot, you have just enough directional light to highlight the crater detail. When the moon is totally full the sun hits it directly and it looks flat.
What mode were you shooting in with the camera? (auto, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual?) I suspect it was one of the first three, which would explain your problem with the reflections.
The camera's metering system (which is what is responsible for determining the exposure) tries to get an exposure that works for the whole image. Often it does an OK job, but in cases like this it won't. When you took the shot above, the moon filled a reasonable amount of the frame, so the camera was able to say 'OK, I'm taking a photo of something bright, I'll need a pretty fast exposure'.
When you zoomed out to include the water and grass, the moon got much smaller in the photo. This made the camera think 'OK, I'm taking a shot of a dark scene. That bright spot in it probably isn't important, the photographer wants the detail in the dark scene, so I'll do a long exposure'.
Of course, in this case, that bright spot is important. So in order to take moon photos where the moon doesn't fill the frame, you'll need to use manual exposure. You can use the settings you used for this photo (ISO 1000, f/11, 1/250 second) although you would get better quality by using a lower ISO and a longer shutter speed (e.g. ISO 100, f/11, 1/25 second) and as you are using a tripod and remote 'clicker thing' you don't need to worry about camera shake.
By using manual mode you will always get the moon exposed correctly, no matter how big or small it is in the photo, or where it is in the photo (middle, edges).
The only problem is, this fast shutter speed may not be enough to bring out the foreground detail in the lake and grass that you want -- they may just look too dark. In that case, the only thing you can do is either use a graduated ND filter to darken the moon, or combine two shots in post-processing.
@abirkill Thanks for all your info and ideas. I was actually shooting in manual mood in RAW. I had started with the ISO at 200 but it was too dark, so I gradually increased it. I understand what you're saying. Thanks for explaining in simple terms. I think I just need to keep shooting!!
@kwind If ISO 200 was too dark, did you try slowing down the shutter speed? If you have a smartphone you can get 'exposure calculator' apps that will calculate equivalent exposures -- so you can enter 1/250th, f/11, ISO 1000, and it will tell you that at ISO 200 you'll get exactly the same exposure using 1/50th, f/11. Really useful for this kind of thing.
@ravdeepkaur Thanks. I'm pleased with this one. It's the ones I didn't post that need help.
What mode were you shooting in with the camera? (auto, aperture priority, shutter priority, manual?) I suspect it was one of the first three, which would explain your problem with the reflections.
The camera's metering system (which is what is responsible for determining the exposure) tries to get an exposure that works for the whole image. Often it does an OK job, but in cases like this it won't. When you took the shot above, the moon filled a reasonable amount of the frame, so the camera was able to say 'OK, I'm taking a photo of something bright, I'll need a pretty fast exposure'.
When you zoomed out to include the water and grass, the moon got much smaller in the photo. This made the camera think 'OK, I'm taking a shot of a dark scene. That bright spot in it probably isn't important, the photographer wants the detail in the dark scene, so I'll do a long exposure'.
Of course, in this case, that bright spot is important. So in order to take moon photos where the moon doesn't fill the frame, you'll need to use manual exposure. You can use the settings you used for this photo (ISO 1000, f/11, 1/250 second) although you would get better quality by using a lower ISO and a longer shutter speed (e.g. ISO 100, f/11, 1/25 second) and as you are using a tripod and remote 'clicker thing' you don't need to worry about camera shake.
By using manual mode you will always get the moon exposed correctly, no matter how big or small it is in the photo, or where it is in the photo (middle, edges).
The only problem is, this fast shutter speed may not be enough to bring out the foreground detail in the lake and grass that you want -- they may just look too dark. In that case, the only thing you can do is either use a graduated ND filter to darken the moon, or combine two shots in post-processing.