Shoot the moon .. help please: Hi, Last night there was a spectacular moon rising through clouds at a very dramatic angle through my creepy 150 year old oak tree. I set up the tripod...

adlerburg Loc: NY's Capital District

Hi,
Last night there was a spectacular moon rising through clouds at a very dramatic angle through my creepy 150 year old oak tree. I set up the tripod and with my trusty Sony A700 and Sony G 70-400 lens to capture the spectacle. Zoomed out to 400, the moon and clouds were in nice focus while the black silhouette of the oak nicely blurred in the foreground. Every picture I snapped just was a blurred ball of white... as embarrassing as they are, I've attached them here for help on what I didn't do. I tried the gamut of ISO and shutter speed from fastest to slowest to no avail. I was completely disgusted and disappointed to let that shot go. It looked perfect through the viewfinder with moon craters and all. Sometimes I look all day for a great shot, and when one is presented right there, and I miss it! Any suggestions what I was doing incorrectly? And perhaps the right way to "shoot the moon"?
Thanks everyone.
Regards,
Mick

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

Try two things: With you camera on a tripod, manually focus and START with a "daylight" exposure with your camera on Manual-- and then bracket. Your camera meter (from the samples) is averaging for the dark night sky. The "trick" is to expose for the moon only. Your shots are way over exposed and out of focus. Good luck. It may be that your focus is off because the focus was "locking" on the tree branches you mentioned?

notnoBuddha

You did not mention your shutter speed for one thing - first guess is you need a tripod on solid ground for starters.

adlerburg Loc: NY's Capital District

notnoBuddha wrote:

You did not mention your shutter speed for one thing - first guess is you need a tripod on solid ground for starters.

I know it didn't make sense.. but I started at 1/1000 and went all the way down to .4 with every step along the way. Still same horrible shot. I had the camera on a tripod.

Stumptowner wrote:

Try two things: With you camera on a tripod, manually focus and START with a "daylight" exposure with your camera on Manual-- and then bracket. Your camera meter (from the samples) is averaging for the dark night sky. The "trick" is to expose for the moon only. Your shots are way over exposed and out of focus. Good luck. It may be that your focus is off because the focus was "locking" on the tree branches you mentioned?

I did focus, both mf and af.. and in the view finder, the shot was perfect in focus.

Thank you guys for the replies.

iresq Loc: Annapolis MD

Can you camera do spot metering? That would be a good place to start.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

adlerburg wrote:

quote=notnoBuddha You did not mention your shutte... (show quote)

Then my only guess it that it is way over-exposed. Try beginning with the "sunny 16" rule and then bracketing (two stops over and under)

The sunny 16 rule is F/16 and a shutter speed equal to 1/ISO speed. So if your ISO is set at 250, the shutter speed should be 1/250 with F16.

russthepig Loc: Claremont, CA

The moon is really bright against the black sky. Too much light. Try the lowest ISO, fast shutter but open aperture for clarity.

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

Here is the shot I got the night before last and the info file
if you click on the download button it will open in the next page so you can read it better ... pay no attention to the time of the photo that is so in need of adjustment in my camera

RocketScientist Loc: Littleton, Colorado

shutter speed should be 1/iso. if your iso is 400 speed should be 1/400 or in that neighborhood, iso 100 speed 1/100. Daylight for white balance, it is the sun that lights the moon.

This was with an Opteka 600 - 1300 completely manual lens at around 1000mm. The F number was 12 or 13. leaves a bit to be desired.

adlerburg Loc: NY's Capital District

Thanks everyone. My lens.. 70-400 obviously doesn't have the reach of you guys.. but I do feel vindicated! Thank you for the help! I was in Shutter priority, speed at 1/8000 WB=Daylight ISO 640.. and I at least got a shot!

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

adlerburg wrote:

Thanks everyone. My lens.. 70-400 obviously doesn't have the reach of you guys.. but I do feel vindicated! Thank you for the help! I was in Shutter priority, speed at 1/8000 WB=Daylight ISO 640.. and I at least got a shot!

Good job :)

RocketScientist Loc: Littleton, Colorado

Looks good.

adlerburg Loc: NY's Capital District

This is one of the best forums. Thank you guys for being so helpful, considerate, non judgmental... I experienced some pretty rude forums.. and am thankful I happened upon UHH. Does anyone have a suggestion for a long reach lens for my Sony Alpha that isn't stunningly expensive?

photogrl57 Loc: Tennessee

adlerburg wrote:

This is one of the best forums. Thank you guys for being so helpful, considerate, non judgmental... I experienced some pretty rude forums.. and am thankful I happened upon UHH. Does anyone have a suggestion for a long reach lens for my Sony Alpha that isn't stunningly expensive?

What size lens do you have currently ?

pigpen

adlerburg wrote:

Hi, br Last night there was a spectacular moon ris... (show quote)

I had the same issue. Since the moon is illuminated by the sun, I tried setting my white balance to "sunny". Came out much better. Also spot meter on moon only.