Speed here is the next frame.

[Old Timer]

Here is the next frame after the posted image from last night. Not as centered, but with a branch over part of the moon. Speed you gave us some very good pointers on moon shots in your earlier post. What do you think is the trickest part of a good moon photo. This one at 1/180 at f5 ISO 200 3mp. I was on manuel and just really experimenting.

[I_Fly]

I really like these. With the addition of the branches, they remind me of a horror movie/story. Pretty good results for experiments!!

[Speed]

Here is the next frame after the posted image from last night. Not as centered, but with a branch over part of the moon. Speed you gave us some very good pointers on moon shots in your earlier post. What do you think is the trickest part of a good moon photo. This one at 1/180 at f5 ISO 200 3mp. I was on manuel and just really experimenting.

These are both great shots. And the bare branches do give it a Hitchcock aire. Is that a shower I hear? :-O

The trickest part to me is getting a good, smooth release. Being steady is very important. Use a tripod if you have one with you. Otherwise, steady yourself as best you can, using whatever supports you can. I always use a cable release when shooting astronomy shots of any kind. If your camera doesn't have a cable release or remote of some sort, then compose and use the self timer to take the shot.

Even using a cable release you can shake the camera. When I first started taking astro-photogrpahy shots, anything under 1/250th of a second got soft or blurred. During the eclipse I photographed, I was taking shots down to 1/10th of a second and they were sharp. I've learned how to be smooth with my release!

Even now that I've taken dozens of moon shots and I've learned to release the shutter smoothly, I still bracket my shots. There is enough difference in the brightness of the moon, and in atmospheric conditions, that there is no one set shutter speed that works. So I always brackett my shots to ensure I get a sharp, well exposed frame. With 400 speed print film, and the f10 apeture of my Celestron, I find that 250th to 500th of a second usually gets me a keeper.

Keep shooting and sharing those shots with us! I'm really enjoying them. :-)