Quick lunar photography question (with pic).

[dan_hall4]

<p>I have a 40D and 100-400. Got enthused tonight looking at some moon shots, ordered a Canon 1.4x TC that I had been wanting for wildlife anyway. It is coming at me via Amazon 2nd day air. I was all excited about photographing the moon on Nov 2nd (next full moon). Then I get smart, check my work schedule (I work 12 hour night shifts as an ER nurse), and see I am working that night. So... how about Nov 3rd I quietely ponder to my ignorant self. Only shot the moon once before so I have no clue. Any thoughts on this. Also, any suggestions on what time of evening/night is best? Just as it rises, after dark, middle of night, etc... Any suggestions on photographing the moon in general would be of help. Thanks for your patience and thoughts.<br /><br />Below is a cool moon calculator I found that gives specific times of moon rise, transit, set, etc.. for your location. Just enter your city/state/date and it gives the info. Neat site. Unfortunately it won't tell you when you are scheduled to work the graveyard shift. Ha ha.. Below that is my solitary moon shot to date. I am hoping with the 1.4x TC I may do better. I am new to photography with just over 4,300 shutter actuations on my 40D and the below moon shot was in the first hundred or so:rolleyes:<br /><br /><br />www.aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/2279219740_1bf3915f8a.jpg">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/2279219740_1bf3915f8a.jpg</a></p>

[cwphoto]

<p>Well Dan, the full moon is not the best time to photograph the moon-no shadows to delineate craters. Try it anyway for practice. Remenber the moon is reflected sunlight, so it is the f16 rule and shutter speed is identical to the ISO. Actually I open up an additional stop for best results for me. For ISO setting of 400 it would require 1/400 @f16. Again I would try f8-11, plus consider the loss of light w/tele-extender.</p>

[dan_hall4]

<p>Thanks Curt. I appreciate the input and will try your suggestions for sure. Glad to hear full moon is not the ideal time. I didn't want to wait till Dec 2nd to get my moon shots with my new 1.4x TC:)</p>

[colin carron]

<p>In lunar photography the best definition is normally found on the terminator where light and dark meet. This has the longest shadows so the best contrast. You can see from your photo that the moon tends to be a low contrast object and you will need to post-process to get the best contrast. I suggest you bracket from the sunny 16 exposure to get the exposure right. Or just start with auto exposure and go with trial and error. Your shot above seems a little over-exposed so I suggest you try what you did last time and reduce shutter times from there till you get the best contrast.</p>

<p>However full moon shots are quite impressive so I would still have a go at them and any other phase of the moon. You can have fun trying to stitch photos together but be aware that the moon wobbles so it will not present exactly the same appearance at all phases and stitching could be tricky.</p>

<p>Perhaps the most important thing is to minimise camera shake when taking the shot. So use a big, heavy tripod or weight down a lightweight one. Remember to turn off any IS when using a tripod. Trip the shutter using the self timer and do not touch the camera or tripod while it is taking the picture. Keep out of wind as much as possible. A fast shutter speed as possible is also useful as the moon moves across the sky quite quickly. I suggest you set your lens at either full aperture or maybe one stop down from that.</p>

<p>The other problem is turbulence in the air. The air is a continuously moving transparent fluid with currents being set up by temperature differnces. So set up the tripod away from houses (which give off heat). The light path thriugh the air is shortest when the moon is highest so to get the best clarity wait until it is well above the horizon. Air clarity varies a lot especially in cities and you will soon learn to see when the air is particularly clear.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

[bobatkins]

<p>Shot this one last night (7D + 500/4.5L) while doing some camera testing. Time of night makes no difference (as long as it's clear and it's dark!). First quarter is good, which is around now! </p><div></div>

[dan_hall4]

<p>Thanks Colin and Bob,<br>

Explanation and inspiration:)</p>

<p>Thanks for the info and image.</p>

[colin carron]

<p>Cracking shot, Bob!</p>

[15sunrises]

<p>Nice shot Bob. The Canon 500mm looks incredible, let me know if you ever need somebody to take care of it.</p>

[bruce_hooke]

<p>While you seem to be interested in photographing just the moon right now (which is just fine!) if you decide you want the moon with some foreground then a whole set of additional factors come into play. Since the moon is as bright as daylight you need some light on the foreground if you want the foreground to be anything but black. I am still trying to figure out moon shots myself, but I believe the usual approach to photographing the "full" moon with some foreground landscape (that is not in silhouette) is to take your picture a day or two before the full moon, when the moon is in the sky while there is still some light to illuminate the landscape.</p>

[jimitoucan]

<p>Sunny 16, Moon 11. Anyone heard of that one? It is an old formula. Remember, if you use the meter in your camera you will be way off. Bracket, sure, but I bet the best exposure will be f11 at the shutter speed that matches your ISO.<br>

If you want to do a scenic with the moon in it, then the best time is 1 to 2 days before full moon as it rises when the light is balanced to show detail in the moon and in the landscape. Also, sometimes doing just the moon a day or two before gives you a lighter background instead of black. Naturally the moon will not be completely full but it might look cool.<br>

Oh yea, another thing is to photograph the moonset early in the morning the day of or after full. Very cool.<br>

Main thing, have fun!<br>

Jim </p>

[Wouter Willemse]

<p>I always use spot metering on the moon itself. Works like a charm for me.</p>

[Two23]

<p>I always called the moon's basic exposure rule the "Lunar 'Leven." That has the same snap to it that "sunny sixteen" does.<br>

Kent in SD</p>

[garydem]

<p >to take a picture of the moon you need- <br /><br />long lens 1000mm(35mm equivelent) about. <br />high iso(800?) to force afaster shutter speed. </p>

<p >exposure-the moon, odd as it sounds is hign noon sunlit. just like noon on earth. we are 240000 miles to moon, BUT earth or moon is 93000000 miles to sun. that determines exposure. use sunny 16 rule. that is for a full moon 1/iso at f16. some use a sunny 11 rule for moon. This is called the loony noon rule. then bracket like crazy. shoot a very hign shutter speed to start, take more than 1 shot at each shutter speed(3) then go down to about 1/30sec.</p>

<p >use stong tripod. </p>

<p >use cable shutter release or self timer. if self timer this will take a while, and you will have to keep adjusting moon in viewfinder.</p>

<p >Use mirror lockup if your camera has it.</p>

<p >Turn IS,VR,SR off, your camera is on a tripod.</p>

<p >DO NOT TRUST LIGHT METER IN CAMERA. it is being fooled by all the black sky. even spot meter, if available will not help, it won't go small enough to get moon only. moon is only 1/2degree wide, smaller than any spot meter.</p>

<p >get away from city. turbulence and lights are bad news. <br />if 1000mm or so not available, use biggest available. crop in post-processing. <br />not as good as big lens but will work. <br />shoot many pics, you can always delete later. <br /><br />happy moon pics. good luck. <br />also- <br /> sunny 16 rule- <br />i/iso is shutter speed. if iso is 100 then shutter speed is 1/100about. <br />fstop is 16.0. </p>

<p >the f stop is f16. this a starting point. any lens is not at max sharpness at f16, so adjust fstop to f8 or f11, and move shutter acccordingly.</p>

<p >check moonrise times in your area. you want about 3 hours after moonrise to start your pic taking. this gives the moon time to get far enough above the horizon to clear the horizontal atmosphere and turbelance.</p>

<p >you also need crystal clear skys. NO rpt NO haze, clouds, or humidity. humidity is noticable if you have corana around the moon, this could also be haze. in which case shoot on another night.</p>

<p >happy moon pics. <br /><br />gary <br />second reply- <br />on the subject of lenses- </p>

<p >i use the bigma(sigma50-500+1.4converter). a smaller lenses will work, you just have to crop. but, if cropping heavily do not expect a lot of detail, you just won't get it. though remember any lens is multiplied by the crop factor. so your 135 becomes about 200-205mm. </p>

<p > i shoot at iso800 and at f8.0 end up at about200th-400th of a sec. when start taking the shot i start at 1/1000 and go down to about a 1/30. i also shoot three shots at each shutter speed, thus increasing the odds of getting a good one somewhere in the bunch. i expect to hit the good shots as stated at about 200th-400th.</p>

<p >do not shoot if high humidity or haze or any kind of atmosspheric turbelence. it just is a waste of memory and time. i shot originally in a park in Detroit michigan on what i thought was a clear night, forget it. i actually got some good pics 200 miles north on the shore of Lake Huron. much better.</p>

<p >0ne thought, if available you can try putting a 2X converter on the lens, that would get to over 400mm. there are also several moon pic takers that use more than i converter. 2 2Xs or a 2X and a 1.4. it sound odd but the results are worth it. they are better than the crop heavy method.</p>

<p >do not underestimate how bright a 3/4 or just under full is in terms of brightness. it equal to highnoon on a cloudless day in the summer.</p>

<p >focus- </p>

<p >put lens on manual focus. then put it on infinity(assuming lens does not focus past infinity,some do) or manual focus.</p>

<p >f16.0 comes from the rule of 16. it is the starting point. if you want f8.0, as i use, then you move the shutter speed accordingly to get back to the EV. it is 1/iso for shutter speed under rule of 16. for f8.0 and iso500, for example, you move 2stops or 1/125. at iso500 the shutter speed is 1/500.</p>

<p >by the way, the above set of instructions work, i just got back from oscoda michigan, i live in detroit, used the same instructions, it worked.</p>

<p >also, with my setup: pentax *istD, bigma50-500 at 500, 2x converter, this gives 35mm equiv of 1500mm. the moon's size is almost exactly 1/2 of the short side of the frame. in other words, you need all the telephoto power you can get.</p>

<p > </p>