Two moons!

[GregL]

A couple of weeks ago I was trying to get a few photos of the Moon. I've never done this before.

Well we've only had about 3 minutes of cloudless skys since I wanted to get some shots. When there was a break I took a few. I thought they were all duds but I was looking through them today and at least here's an interesting one.

Anyway, I'll keep trying.

[Iguanasan]

Interesting shot, GregL. I wonder what caused the reflection.

The trick to taking pictures of the moon is that you have to remember that it's reflected sunlight. You have to almost pretend you are shooting outdoors on a summer day. Everyone thinks that because it's night time you need long exposures, etc. But, alas, it's the farthest from the truth and you end up with an overexposed circle of light.

[Mad Aussie]

IGs is right ... the moon is notorious for fooling you in that way. Try much faster shutter speed like 1/125th and f8 and adjust from there.

I think the lens flare (blue moon) you got is a result of the UV filter you have on. Try removing it next time for shooting the moon.

[GregL]

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a go next time I see the moon.

[BlueX]

I've shot the moon at 1/250th of a sec before. It is really bright. Use the spot meter in your camera if you have one. I wrote some tips on taking moon pics in the tips and tricks thread.

http://www.photography.ca/Forums/showthread.php?t=1948&page=3

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a go next time I see the moon.
I just corrected my shutter speed in the above post. I meant 1/125th ... not 1/25th.
All my moon shots have been between 1/125th and about 1/250th

You can see some of them here http://picasaweb.google.com/madaussie69/Misc#

[GregL]

Thanks BlueX and Mad Aussie for the tips. I'll give them a go. Nice pics MA.

[Mad Aussie]

Here's another of my moon composites I've found ...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u104/Mad-Aussie/09%20photographyca/IMG_0919_2.jpg

[BlueX]

Yeah, those are nice pics Ma. What focal length were those moon shots taken at? Where those pics cropped or enlarged?

[Mad Aussie]

I'd have to dig through the files to to be certain but I think for most of those I had my 100-400mm so 400mm is most likely. I remember cropping in a bit on some ... especially those golden coloured shots which were really that colour!

[BlueX]

I was a bit disappointed to see how small the moon is in a frame even with my 300mm lens. I wish I had a long lens like that, especially last year when the lunar eclipse took place. The longest lens I had then was a 200mm and most of my pics turn out too blurry (didn't have a good tripod then either) :(.

[Iguanasan]

I was a bit disappointed to see how small the moon is in a frame even with my 300mm lens. I wish I had a long lens like that, especially last year when the lunar eclipse took place. The longest lens I had then was a 200mm and most of my pics turn out too blurry (didn't have a good tripod then either) :(.

Most of my successful moon shots are hand-held. This was taken with my P&S. 9MP with 10X optical zoom then cropped. It's that darn tricky thing of taking moon shots at night that confuse people.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8Q3edxpMqBs/SasO24qssNI/AAAAAAAAEBA/AJB8cCkzSrk/s400/IMG_1378.JPG

Model: Canon PowerShot SX110 IS
ISO: 80
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 4.3
Focal Length: 60mm

[BlueX]

Most of my successful moon shots are hand-held. This was taken with my P&S. 9MP with 10X optical zoom then cropped. It's that darn tricky thing of taking moon shots at night that confuse people

Wow, good job hand holding that shot! Most of the time, the moon is bright enough to use a fast shutter speeds, like 1/200th or 1/250th sec. But when the eclipse started, the moon lost brightness and I had to use longer shutter speeds which opened the door for camera shake. All the shots before then were not blurry.

[Michaelaw]

I only have one moon shot and it was not quite night but I still used 1/200



http://www.redzonefilms.com/pics2/moon in tree sm.jpg

[Iguanasan]

Wow, good job hand holding that shot! Most of the time, the moon is bright enough to use a fast shutter speeds, like 1/200th or 1/250th sec. But when the eclipse started, the moon lost brightness and I had to use longer shutter speeds which opened the door for camera shake. All the shots before then were not blurry.

Thanks!

Ahhh, of course. Sorry, I had missed the part about the eclipse. That would add a bit of a wrinkle to it.

[BlueX]

Thanks!

Ahhh, of course. Sorry, I had missed the part about the eclipse. That would add a bit of a wrinkle to it.

No problem. I hadn't thought about it either until it was too late, when I was looking over the shots on my computer. Learning is half the battle it guess, now I'm just waiting around for the next eclipse. Next time, I hope to do better.