My First Moon Shot

[Kwagga]

Hi

I am new to this forum and just recently purchased my first SLR Camera. I dont know too much about photography but really trying to learn as much as possible .. So any suggestions and help would be appreciated!!

This is my first try at photographing the moon (last night).. know its not a great shot, but would appreciate any feedback/suggestions..

Thanks!

Kwagga

[BryanC]

It's a very nice shot of the moon, good job. When it's a full moon, the light can be flat, so I like when it's less than a full moon because it gives craters dimension and detail like you have here. Can you post the details like what camera, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, tripod or not? It's a requirement in the critique sections in order to give better help and advice. Also, it can help others wanting to try this, too. Thanks...and again, nice shot!

[Kwagga]

thanks BryanC.. appreciate it!

Oops... sorry will post the details shortly...

[Kwagga]

Hi

Details below. I have also attached my original image before I cropped it.

Question – when activating Live View, i magnified the image x 5. Looked very good on the LCD display but when the picture was taken it goes back to the normal view (small), I then had to zoom/crop the picture to get the final result. Is there any way you can take the picture as it appears on the Live view at 5 x zoom and have that as the final result? Reason is when you crop/zoom the image it seems to loose some detail/sharpness, how can this be changed?

Camera Model Canon EOS 1100D
Shooting Date/Time 04/01/2012 08:37:02 PM
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/10
Av( Aperture Value ) 22.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 400
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens 70-300mm
Focal Length 300.0mm
Image Size 2256x1504
Aspect ratio 3:2
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode Manual focusing
AF area select mode Manual selection
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 7
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0isable
Auto Lighting Optimizer Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Enable
Dust Delete Data No
Drive Mode Self-Timer Operation
Live View Shooting ON

The lens I used was a Sigma 70-300mm, and yes I did use a tripod and self timer. Could you suggest any other lenses for this type of photography?

Thanks,

Kwagga

[BryanC]

Here's a pretty good thread with a lot of info and shots from other members:

How I shoot the moon..

As for the live view, that's only magnifying the image on the screen, not zooming in with the lens. With 300mm being the max on your lens, you will have to crop like you did to get that image. A longer lens would require less cropping to get the same effect. Check out the thread and more importantly, the settings that people used. You could have opened up your aperture more than f/22 to give you a faster shutter than 1/10. This can help for a sharper image. Lenses aren't usually their sharpest at the f/22 range and a slower shutter speed might show any little movement. Using a tripod and the self timer is a good thing. Also, I'm not familiar with your camera, but if it has a mirror lock up (MLU) feature, that can help, too. Again, check out that thread. A lot more info there than I can post for you here.

[Kwagga]

thanks bryan... really appreciate your input!

Yip I am very new to this and playing around with each setting when taking a photo. i try and keep notes of what i did if I get a good enough change in effect..

will check out the link..

cheers,

Kwagga