I Give Up: I give up. For the past three years I have attempted to get good photos of the moon. Like others, I have seen these really cool and detailed shots taken with quite...

danielb59 Loc: The South

I give up. For the past three years I have attempted to get good photos of the moon. Like others, I have seen these really cool and detailed shots taken with quite unimpressive equipment by others and I wanted to emulate these shots. I have used two different sigma 50-500's, two different sigma 170-500's and two different 300's, one olympus and one tamron. I had taken the shots with and without a tripod, with and without a two second delay on a tripod, with and without a remote shutter release, at various shutter/aperture settings and at different zoom ranges. To date, none even approach some of the shots taken by other photographers using simpler equipment (point and shoots and ultrazooms). That is spelled C-R-A-P!! I live in Georgia and all my shots have been taken while shooting upward from the side of a hill and my only hope is that my geographic location has something to do with the problem. Also, does the time of evening or morning have anything to do with the clarity?

ANY suggestions would be appreciated.
Dan

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Hi Dan

Here are some guides I've used:

1. Day 300mm ISO400 F5.6 1/3000
2. Night 300mm ISO400 F5.6 1/350
3. Trial - 300mm ISO100 F8 1/250 Mirror Up WB Sunny and tripod.

Remember the moon surface is the SUN reflecting off. And the moon is moving while you are trying to focus and take the picture.

Hope some of this helps

Sarge

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Its not the lens, its the exposure. Biggest mistake most people make is shooting long exposures because they are shooting at night. Remember, its full daylight on the moon! Try the "Sunny 16" rule tonight.

Last nights full moon, hand held.

danielb59 Loc: The South

Thanks for the info. BTW, all focusing was done manually and set to infinity. My shutter speeds have rotated between 1/40 to 1/1000 and the apertures from f5 to f22. No combination seem to work. Daylight white balance always. I'll try mirror lock up and sunny 16. My exposures seem to be okay; it's the lack of definition and detail that seems to be the problem
Thanks again.
Dan

EricLPT Loc: Jonesborough TN

Dan you might try locking focus on the edge of the moon (nice sharp, contrasty edge) and then recompose the shot to put the moon in the middle of the frame.

Eric

kmohr3 Loc: Rockford, IL

Use 'spot' metering to keep the moon from being an over exposed big blob of light.

ianmartin1960

Hi Dan, I share your frustrations. Lest night the moon here was beautiful so I grabbed tripod and camera, took loads of different combination shots and all they turned out were white blobs. Nothing anywhere near as nice as the one above by MT Shooter. I will have another go again tonight if it is as clear (was a full moon here yesterday so especially nice), thanks for the suggested settings. argggghhhhhhhh keeping the faith here, not ready just yet to give in :)

Kerryanne Loc: Wyoming

MT Shooter wrote:

Its not the lens, its the exposure. Biggest mistake most people make is shooting long exposures because they are shooting at night. Remember, its full daylight on the moon! Try the "Sunny 16" rule tonight.

Stunning!

dtcracer

Can someone explain what "Sunny 16" is? I am new at photography and I haven't heard this term before.

PlushToy Loc: Nebraska

The basic rule is, "On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed [or ISO setting] for a subject in direct sunlight."[1] For example:

On a sunny day and with ISO 100 film / setting in the camera, one sets the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second (on some cameras 1/125 second is the available setting nearest to 1/100 second).

On a sunny day with ISO 200 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250.

On a sunny day with ISO 400 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.

dtcracer

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense.

PlushToy wrote:

The basic rule is, "On a sunny day set apertu... (show quote)

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

danielb59 wrote:

I give up. For the past three years I have attemp... (show quote)

If you show us what you've done maybe, maybe we can help. Right now I'd be spitting into the wind.

1. Remember that you're taking a picture of a ball of light.

2. You need a tripod

3. And just because you're turning your focus ring to infinity it doesn't mean that you're in focus

kendeitch

Don't dispair. I recently took a moon 'shot' at 3 PM from my car window, hand held. I used a Tamron 18-270 lens at ISO 400 and at f 8. The enclosed image shows the results. It doesn't have to be rocket science to get a good image.

moon

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

kendeitch wrote:

Don't dispair. I recently took a moon 'shot' at 3 PM from my car window, hand held. I used a Tamron 18-270 lens at ISO 400 and at f 8. The enclosed image shows the results. It doesn't have to be rocket science to get a good image.

Where were you to take that shot at 3 pm? Coldfoot, Alaska?

Wabbit Loc: Arizona Desert

MT Shooter wrote:

kendeitch wrote:

Don't dispair. I recently took a moon 'shot' at 3 PM from my car window, hand held. I used a Tamron 18-270 lens at ISO 400 and at f 8. The enclosed image shows the results. It doesn't have to be rocket science to get a good image.

Where were you to take that shot at 3 pm? Coldfoot, Alaska?

Hum, very good observation, something smells fishy in Albuquerque