Saturday, December 10, 2011

Let's go shoot a hole in the moon




Weird how some things you just never learn and some you're never too late to learn. Like I've never learned how to photograph a full moon though I always wanted to. And stupidly enough, I never had the sense to google it up. I was trying to shoot the full moon/ lunar eclipse earlier tonight and getting extremely riled as usual. Finally, I gave up in frustration and googled settings for full moon. Turns out I'd been doing it all wrong. The moon is actually a lot brighter than the mind thinks and the eye sees, and underestimating its brightness is one of the most common mistakes photographers make in their first attempts at lunar shots. ISO at 100 for moon shots and not 800 as I'd been shooting with in vain. I stand corrected. Better luck next time, hopefully.


7 comments:

  1. I have never attempted to photograph the moon directly. Next time I try it, I will remember your tips. Thank god for digital cameras. We can take a thousand photographs and choose the best one and be happy about it.

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  2. Finally! After 3 attempts in 2 days my comment was published!! Yay!

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  3. Phew, I was wondering why no one's left any pugmarks yet! I bought a new Nikon cam a couple of months ago, with a nice little 55-300mm lens and I was all set to shoot the moon - or so I thought. Turns out it's not just the settings but a tripod I need. Oh boy, if it's not one thing, it's another. I bet you'd take great moon shots though, Loch. Just a hunch :)

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  4. 55-300mm lens? Are you planning on wildlife photography?

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  5. I like shooting birds, yep, we get quite a few around the house, thanks to the trees.

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  6. The simple way to look at it is that it is bright harsh sunlight that is on the moon reflecting off almost white lunar soil, which is actually pretty bright with nothing but the earth's atmosphere between it and us. Of course I realised this AFTER I experienced the same. :)

    You can actually shoot the moon without a tripod too at 800 ISO and maybe 1/250th of a second at around 200mm from what I remember. If you could try this and let us know. Having VR (vibration reduction) ON helps :)

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    Replies
    1. Wow, I only just saw this. Many thanks. Couldn't have come at a better time because tonight's a full moon, methinks *not sure*

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