First try at the moon

[jdgeier]

So last full moon I gave it a half hearted attempt. Today i put some more time into it, Best of the night but not satisfied. Would like to get a more uniform shot .

Nikon D3100
f'/5.6
ISO 100
1/100 sec
200 mm Focal

[Appl3Pi3]

A week ago I spent the night trying to shoot the moon myself... and it was my first attempt.

So noob to noob, here are a couple of thoughts on your picture.

Compositionally I'd say it's fine: it's "just" the moon and it's full. the centre position should be the right one. The exposure looks ok. No idea about white balance as the moon assumes different tint and tone based on how much it's close to the horizon, what's its phase and what are the atmospheric conditions.

The major problem I see here is the picture is very noisy and grainy. I don't know if that is what you were trying to achieve but I'd say you just cropped it too much just to have it bigger. The fact is with a 200mm you can not probably get a moon big like that.

About the EXIF data, as you are going to crop the picture so you want as much sharpness as you can get: I would use F9/11 aperture to maximise it. Obviously put the camera on a tripod for the same reason (maybe you already did it).

As you can see in my attempt HERE even though I was using a 300mm I cropped the picture less than you did: more than that and it wouldn't be sharp enough.

[windrider86]

Do you have anything specific you want help with?

[Hill Country Hack]

Hello,

Your image has some blown highlights and looks a bit over processed for my personal tastes.

I usually take my moon shots with light still in the sky to minimize the brightness of the sun reflecting off the moon. I use f8-f11 ISO 100 and shutter speed of 1/125 and faster depending how much light is in the sky. It is a balancing act to properly expose the moon. I will toy around with center weighted metering and meter the moon. Of course a tripod and remote shutter release is used. One can use the timer (and mirror lock up function) to reduce any possible camera shake.

[jdgeier]

Well I have to say that agree with everything that has been said here. I uploaded the wrong picture edit.

Its the same picture just not cropped as tight and contrasted as harsh.

[Appl3Pi3]

Ah the right picture is much better! I like the colours.

It looks a bit soft though; next time go with f9/11, tripod and mirror lock-up (as said by Hill Country - I didn't know that )