hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA

My best pictures of a full moon are in the daytime. Less contrast between the moon and sky.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

Could have been lens flare.

chaman

What??! The guy clearly states there was a bright spot where the Moon was supposed to be! So a lens flare EXACTLY over the Moon....not only that a flare so bright it replaces the Moon itself. Please.....

The guy clearly shot in AUTO and totally dismissed the whole process of thinking about exposure. You could try to adorned it anyway you want but thats what happened. Some here are more preoccupied about buying lenses (that dont know how to properly use) than to actually invest the time learning the basics, which are not that complex really.

papakatz45 Loc: South Florida-West Palm Beach

Don't be so nasty. Obviously the OP asked the question because he needs help. Your response shows your lack of patience with someone who does not know what you might know. Shame on you.

chaman

You think the guy wants to learn? Ive seen it time and time again here. People want results without investing the time it takes for such results. Do a browse of the guys posts. Not a single question about exposure. The guy expects to press the shutter and obtain NatGeo results.

Shame? Not really. Now the guys here who love to give empty praises to ANY IMAGE posted here should be.

huskyrider705 Loc: Phenix City, Alabama

I might as well put my version in.This was just a snapshot I grabbed when I was getting in my jeep to go home late Friday evening after sunset. It's way off from what most would suggest but I didn't have my tripod to get a better shot so I just grabbed a quick shot. I also use spot metering and single point focus on this and most of my photos.
If I had been planning this shot I would have used a tripod with a cable release, live view and manual focus @ ISO 100, f/8 to f/11 and a much slower shutter speed would be needed for correct exposure.
I don't know if you can see it but there is a faint star just above the barely visible trees on the bottom right. The moon was so bright that it washed everything out at the settings I used here. The trees and star would have been much more visible with the tripod settings above.

Canon EOS 80D, EF70-300 f 4-5.6 IS USM @ 300mm f/6.3, 1/100sec, ISO 320

(Download)

cucharared Loc: Texas, Colorado

Tripod, 200-500mm Tamron @500, spot focus, manual settings, ISO 160, 1/160 sec, f10, 2 sec delay on shutter - works for me. It's certainly a solid starting point for the moon itself. But, next time I think I'll start with ISO 100 and adjust the others as necessary. And, I think I'll try to remember to turn the in-body stabilization off - haven't had that problem until this last moon. I'm hoping that's why my image wasn't as good with the A77ii as it has been with the A6000.

Where I can't yet get a keeper is trying to get the moon exposed correctly and also get anything else in the forground to show up.

ron

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

I am fairly certain it has already been stated; the bright spot is caused by overexposure (best to set exposure manually) and such a short telephoto for shooting the moon. In my opinion, shooting the moon should be done with no less than a 400mm and is much better with an 800mm to 1200mm lense.

blackest Loc: Ireland

You can do it with flash maybe, there is a huge dynamic range in a moonlit photograph. 1/160th is slow enough to open the shutter fully. best results would be with an off camera flash set up near the foreground that you want to see. The illumination that you get from the flash is determined by the flash power and its distance from the subject (not the distance from the camera). The other problem with using flash is its a small point source of light making it naturally a harsh light. A large white shoot through umbrella or maybe a reflective one should make for a softer light.

Using the flash for the foreground will make no difference to the brightness of the moon. it's too far away and the light from the flash fades away by an inverse square relation ship. If the flash is 1meter from the subject and set to properly expose it then by 2 meters the power of the flash will have dissipated enough that it's 2 stops down and no longer providing any effective light. if it was 10 meters from the subject then it would be 20 meters to dissipate. flash effectively has a depth of field. unfortunately if your flash can expose correctly at 10 meters then anything at 7 meters will be 1 stop over exposed, so for this to work you don't want anything nearer to the flash than your subject.

Other than that you can expose for the foreground and take a shot and then expose for the moon and then combine the two photos in post processing.

One thing kind of handy is the f-stop values on your camera since they are log values

F1 1.4 2.0 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22 32 units don't matter

e.g if the subject is correctly lit at say 8 feet from the flash then anything 5.6 feet from the flash is over exposed 1 stop and 4 feet by 2 stops. going the other way at 11 feet it would be 1 stop under and by 16 feet 2 stops under. if you use a snoot you can limit the field of light on the flash to target a small area and hopefully avoid getting anything nearer illuminated by the flash.

Anyway a few idea's for you to play with.

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Does that really help when the moon is so far away and already lit by the sun? Sorry. Couldn't pass that up.
Best to use a red lens on the flashlight/torch so you don't mess up your night vision.

blackest Loc: Ireland

seriously, when setting up your camera a little light so you can see what you are doing, very much helps. :)

OddJobber Loc: Portland, OR

Seriously, a cell phone works for that too.

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

I agree be helpful and be nice.

mavrick8019

Thank you all for the response I will try all the recommendations this weekend.

Thanks
Phil

mavrick8019

Chaman,

If I knew what I was doing I wouldnt be asking what appears to the simplest question. I thought this thread was to ask questions to get better. It must be nice to be one of the top photo guys in the industry. Why not show all of us your perfection and wave the next time you are on the sideline of a professional sports game or show us your many published pictures in Sports Illustrated.