How I shoot the moon..

[kiwitayro]

Funny that this thread should be sitting here waiting for me. I just got a Tamron AF70-300 f/4-5.6 that I use on my Rebel XT DSLR (which makes it more zoomy, I am told). The first thing I tried it on was the moon with a tripod & setting it on a timer so I wasn't touching the camera. This is the best shot I got (totally unedited, just cropped):



Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/29.0
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

I'll try playing with it in the Gimp & if all goes well try some more shots tonight. Great topic! Thanks!

[arlon]

Did you use MANUAL or auto focus? I highly recommend shooting a dozen or more shots all manually focused. AF never seems to catch the moon well. It focuses on the edges maybe, not the craters.

1/20 of a second at F29 is a big issue. Moon is moving too fast to shoot that slow. Back that Fstop down to f8 and start at around 1/250 sec.

[A-Lyn20]

Originally Posted by sjlarue

Don't forget to get pictures of the moon during the day. Sometime down the road, you might need them:

Fantastic!

[A-Lyn20]

I also strongly suggest using a remote to snap the picture. That way you're not moving the camera at all. I'm heading out in about an hour to try and get some more.

Here is my best effort from last night.



Happy Snapping!

[arlon]

remote or self timer works well too.

[bmcguirk]

Beautiful shots!! You've inspired me. I'm heading out now to try some shots!

[frehleycomet]

I am so lost as how to shoot the moon. I have a Canon Rebel XTI 400 with a 75-300mm lens and I am not sure what settings you all are using. I read that I should set it at 1/250 and f8 but how can I possibly set those 2 without one changing when I change the other. Another thing I read was to under expose and then bring back the contrast. LOST is the main word here lol. Please help because the moon is one of the most glorious objects in the universe to be able to have beautiful pictures of. Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated.

[arlon]

Lost, set f8 and 1/250 sec for a starting place in MANUAL MODE.
Set your lens to MANUAL focus and focus by hand (camera on the tripod).

When you look at the moon in your replay display you don't want it to be white. gray is good (that will be a little under exposed).

Copy the pictures to your computer and open the picture that looks like it has the best focus (remember you're supposed to shoot about 20 shots refocusing for every one of them) with your photo editing software. What ever photo editor you have should have an option to increase contrast a little. That's all you need to do for the exposure, a little sharpening and you're done.

I use photoshop elements. Contrast is under ENHANCE, ADJUST LIGHTING, BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST. (+10 to +20 on the slider should do it)

Sharpening I use: ENHANCE/ADJUST SHARPNESS for radius I usually use 0.8 and amount is usually 30-50% range.

Hope that helps a little (-:}..

I have found a few lenses that just won't take a decent moon shot no matter what I do but most 200-300mm lenses work pretty good.

[frehleycomet]

Thanks I will give it a shot and post or question when I'm ready. By the way I use Photoshop CS3 for my editing.

[arlon]

Sounds like you're good to go. It may take a few tries but a little patience and trial/error will help a lot! (-:} Any questions, don't hesitate to ask PM works to.