Intro & I need help!

[picnovice]

I am wanting to learn lunar and night shots and have read a lot, but obviously not grasping the concept. This was taken with a canon350D, 70-300IS @ 300, f5.6,15s, ISO 100,help please




I am new to photography and to this forum. There is a terrific amount of info here and I appreciate all who are willing to share of their time and knowledge. Thanks.

[dcclark]

First, welcome! You've come to the right place.

Second, you've discovered one of the classic problems of night photography: how to get the moon right! Believe it or not, the moon is VERY bright, and you definitely don't need 15 seconds to expose properly. Go out and try this -- set your camera to ISO 100, 1/200 sec, and f/8, and grab a shot of the moon. You may need to change the shutter speed slightly, but you'll get a decently clear moon shot.

What happened with your 15 second shot is that the light from the (bright) moon "blew out" and you lost all details. In addition, the moon moves FAST across the night sky, so you actually managed to get some motion blur here as well.

There is always a problem of getting the moon to look "right" in a night photo, when your subject is something other than the moon -- for example, a tree silhouette, or a building. Because most other objects are so much dimmer than the moon, it's hard to expose properly. Many people actually take two separate photos -- one of the moon, and one of the rest of the scene -- and then Photoshop the moon into the other photo.

Good luck!

[picnovice]

David,
Thank you for your reply. I will definetly try that. Should the focus be at the moon or some other distant point? Thanks again.

[dcclark]

If you focus on the moon, or anything "near" it, you'll end up focused at infinity anyhow -- so the question is sort of irrelevant. I usually focus right on the moon, for simplicity.

[picnovice]

Thank you so much.
RDA

[Trader]

Also, make sure you are at the 300mm end range of that lens you are using. This will ensure that you have the narrowest width of image in the shot.