Full Moon

[Nick McC]

Tried to get some shots of the full moon last night and tonight, but could not figure out what exposure/shutter speed I needed to use to get what I wanted. Here are the results though.







The middle image is a combination of two photos. One with the exposure and shutter speed set to get the trees (whiched ended up blurring a little), and the other set to get detail in the moon.

[mjs1973]

The moon can be a tricky subject. Because the moon is usually very small in your frame, the cameras meter is easily fooled by all of the black sky in the frame. This results in way over exposure. The moon is being lit directly by the sun, and is very bright. The sunny f/16 rule can be used to get you started, and they tweak your exposure from there.

I like your second shot the best of these 3.

One trick that I have learned, but haven't tried yet, is to shoot the full moon a day or two BEFORE it is full. So I guess technically it's not a full moon, but I don't think too many people will notice. The reason for shooting the moon a couple days before it is full is because when the moon rises, the sun will still be up a little bit. With the extra sunlight, you can get a better exposure on fore ground elements, and not blow out the moon.

[Lori11]

Very nice shots! Thanks for the tips too Mike, I have the sme trouble and will try that!

[Nick McC]

Never thought about changing the f/stop, thanks for the tip Mike.

[drg]

One more item to consider. The moon is a moving target. So if you are using too long a shutter speed it will not be as crisp a photo. The use of a tripod helps to no introduce any extraneous motion to get that sharp, well focused surface of the moon.

Shooting just before or right after sunset can produce some spectacular images. The colors in the sky make a nice backdrop for the moon. The moon being closer to the horizon will induce distortion as the atomosphere plays more of a role in the photograph. There is more of it when shooting across the circumference of the earth as opposed to more overhead.

Good luck and will look for more moon shots!

[GB1]

I've found that shooting -2 f stops is the way to go to get detail on the moon. Of course, this underexposes the rest of the shot I think Mike is on to something. Either that, or do like you are doing and perform PS miracles. # 2 looks good though I might have decreased the moon's lighting even a bit more.

G