Super Moon tips anyone? :D

[m-tinkerbelle]

hey everyone!
I used the "search" function to see if there were any posts related to the upcoming "Super Moon" next Saturday, but I found none.
Any of you have tips for taking a photograph of the moon?

Tell me that it's impossible to get a decent shot with my 55-300mm so that I don't go to the other side of the city for just nothing :goodvibes

in case there is hope (or in case you just want to share them) what tips can you give us beginners for taking such a shot?

I was hoping to go to my planned spot at sunset time to see what I can catch with my lens and play with the different exposure settings and shutter speeds :D

I'm not planning to get any professional-looking photos, I just want to capture it because you don't see a super moon every night ;D

If there is hope I might go buy a tripod (I was going to buy one anyways ;D)

:)

thanks! :D

[ukcatfan]

Sorry to disappoint you, but photographically speaking, the moon is not going to look any different than any other full moon. This is the closest pass in 18 years, but the distances are on an astronomical scale and from our vantage point here on earth, the distance is not going to be enough to make it actually appear any larger. There are always Internet hoaxes floating around that say things like it is going to be 50% larger in the sky and blah, blah, blah, but it just is not true.

As for the shot itself, the moon is very bright and requires a faster shutter speed than you would expect. Sometimes a tripod is not needed. Also, the best time to shoot a full moon is actually the day before it. You can then get shots of it rising when there is still light in the sky and a decent background.

[Anewman]

I think that photos of just the moon all look alike, and they are all pretty boring.

Only thing IMO that makes moon shots interesting, when you add something to them to give you a kinda scale. Anything like tree tops, planes, horizon added to a moon shot makes them much better IMO.

[ViOnline]

what shutter speed, exposure and ISO do you usually use for moon shooting?


Sorry to disappoint you, but photographically speaking, the moon is not going to look any different than any other full moon. This is the closest pass in 18 years, but the distances are on an astronomical scale and from our vantage point here on earth, the distance is not going to be enough to make it actually appear any larger. There are always Internet hoaxes floating around that say things like it is going to be 50% larger in the sky and blah, blah, blah, but it just is not true.

As for the shot itself, the moon is very bright and requires a faster shutter speed than you would expect. Sometimes a tripod is not needed. Also, the best time to shoot a full moon is actually the day before it. You can then get shots of it rising when there is still light in the sky and a decent background.

[My2Girls66]

Like UKCatfan said a faster shutter speed than you'd think with it being dark. Start around 1/250th, ISO 100/200 and play from there. Tripod, vr off.

[YesDear]

Think of it this way. It is daylight on the moon at night. A standard exposure in bright daylight is F16 at 125fth of a second. I would start there. ISO 200 should be fine.

[boBQuincy]

The moon reflects light from the sun, with an albedo of about 0.12. For the non-astronomically inclined, this is about 1 stop less than grass (or an 18% gray card) so start off by exposing for a sunny day (1/ISO @ f/16) and open up a stop. Bracketing +/- 2 stops from there should work fairly well.

Don't use the meter unless you have a really good spot meter function. The dark sky will make the camera totally overexpose the moon. Yes, a 300 mm lens can get pretty good moon photos although it will still be pretty small in the frame.

[ukcatfan]

I think that photos of just the moon all look alike, and they are all pretty boring.

Only thing IMO that makes moon shots interesting, when you add something to them to give you a kinda scale. Anything like tree tops, planes, horizon added to a moon shot makes them much better IMO.

I completely agree with this, which is why I say to get them the night before (i.e. tomorrow night). The moon rises something like 51 minutes later each day, so you have almost an hour more of light tomorrow compared to Saturday.

[Shutterbug]

Per this article from Nasa:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

Nearby perigee moons are about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than lesser moons that occur on the apogee side of the Moon's orbit.

If you want the moon to appear as big as possible capture it as it rises above the horizon.

[rtphokie]

Anything that gets people out and looking into the night sky is a good thing, but as others have pointed out, dont expect anything spectacular. Here is a comparison of apsides from 2009.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0710/ApogeePerigee2006_ayiomamitis.jpg

[Shutterbug]

When I was at the park tonight I took note of how much the moon stood out even with all the light that was still in the sky from the setting sun.

Unfortunately the next two nights are suppose to be cloudy

[m-tinkerbelle]

Sorry to disappoint you, but photographically speaking, the moon is not going to look any different than any other full moon. This is the closest pass in 18 years, but the distances are on an astronomical scale and from our vantage point here on earth, the distance is not going to be enough to make it actually appear any larger. There are always Internet hoaxes floating around that say things like it is going to be 50% larger in the sky and blah, blah, blah, but it just is not true.

As for the shot itself, the moon is very bright and requires a faster shutter speed than you would expect. Sometimes a tripod is not needed. Also, the best time to shoot a full moon is actually the day before it. You can then get shots of it rising when there is still light in the sky and a decent background.

lol! now I see why there were no posts about this :lmao: thank you all for saving me from an unnecessary bus journey :goodvibes

I think that photos of just the moon all look alike, and they are all pretty boring.

Only thing IMO that makes moon shots interesting, when you add something to them to give you a kinda scale. Anything like tree tops, planes, horizon added to a moon shot makes them much better IMO.

I don't know I've seen many great shots, but chances are they had huge amounts of photoshop. I was hoping to get the moon rising seen from the other side of the river, and some iconic monuments and all reflected in the river XD But as you say, if the moon isn't any larger than normal it won't come out looking any better than any normal nighttime picture. :)

what shutter speed, exposure and ISO do you usually use for moon shooting?
It would have been my first shot of the moon :lmao: I was just going to play with the settings and see if I could get anything on my LCD screen :rotfl:

Like UKCatfan said a faster shutter speed than you'd think with it being dark. Start around 1/250th, ISO 100/200 and play from there. Tripod, vr off.

just wondering, why should the VR be turned off? :D

YesDear, Shutterbug, Rtphokie and BBQuincy, thank you for your ideas, suggestions and advices

We'll have clear sky both tonight and tomorrow night, and we'll probably go to enjoy the nightlife at the other side of the river but I'll leave the equipment at home ;) thanks a lot everyone! you saved me from embarrassment hahaha

i'm laughing my heart out, all blushed :lmao: I won't trust certain internet sites anymore hahahahaha :lmao:

:grouphug:

[ukcatfan]

lol! now I see why there were no posts about this :lmao: thank you all for saving me from an unnecessary bus journey :goodvibes



I don't know I've seen many great shots, but chances are they had huge amounts of photoshop. I was hoping to get the moon rising seen from the other side of the river, and some iconic monuments and all reflected in the river XD But as you say, if the moon isn't any larger than normal it won't come out looking any better than any normal nighttime picture. :)


It would have been my first shot of the moon :lmao: I was just going to play with the settings and see if I could get anything on my LCD screen :rotfl:



just wondering, why should the VR be turned off? :D

YesDear, Shutterbug, Rtphokie and BBQuincy, thank you for your ideas, suggestions and advices

We'll have clear sky both tonight and tomorrow night, and we'll probably go to enjoy the nightlife at the other side of the river but I'll leave the equipment at home ;) thanks a lot everyone! you saved me from embarrassment hahaha

i'm laughing my heart out, all blushed :lmao: I won't trust certain internet sites anymore hahahahaha :lmao:

:grouphug:

I wouldn't say to not go, I just wanted your expectations to be realistic. So many rumors spread about things like this that people expect huge differences. There is even a ridiculous rumor that floats around about once a year that says Mars will be so close that it will appear as large as the moon.

To get your background looking larger in the frame, do not get too close to it. Make it be the right size in your frame when you are already at 300mm.

Turn off VR when on a tripod because it can actually make the shot worse. It is already stabilized by the tripod, so you don't need the VR.

[m-tinkerbelle]

I wouldn't say to not go, I just wanted your expectations to be realistic. So many rumors spread about things like this that people expect huge differences. There is even a ridiculous rumor that floats around about once a year that says Mars will be so close that it will appear as large as the moon.

To get your background looking larger in the frame, do not get too close to it. Make it be the right size in your frame when you are already at 300mm.

Turn off VR when on a tripod because it can actually make the shot worse. It is already stabilized by the tripod, so you don't need the VR.

thank you for your post ukcatfan :D I've never heard of that Mars rumor :rotfl:that one would have been harder to believe for me. Due to athmosphere effects under certain situations in the past I HAVE seen the moon way larger than usual, I thought this was one of those days and that's why I believed the rumors were right XD
but you're right, it won't look significantly larger because of the perigee

Nah I don't think I'll be going :goodvibes if I happen to be near the river I'll take pics but I won't bring the tripod. If I get something nice I'll post it but I don't want to bore you all with beginner pics ^_^

I'm very happy with my new hobby though ;D

[GrillMouster]

When photographing the moon, think of the "Sunny 16" rule.
I agree with the comments the shots of just the moon can be bland. I find the same to be true of fireworks shots. Including other objects/structures/people to show scale and place can make for a much more interesting image and composition. However, having a clear shot of just the moon can come in handy for future creative composites!

[mabas9395]

In my opinion, some of the more interesting moon shots are when it is less than full. Flash photographers should understand this. When the moon is full, the light source (the sun) is practically head on to your subject. When its a half moon, the light source is off to the side and its like moving your flash off camera. You end up with more interesting shadows that help define the surface of the moon.

That being said, if the weather cooperates, I plan on trying a super moon shot as well.

[zackiedawg]

I love moon shots personally...just about any kind. I shoot it a lot - telephoto, wide, landscape, metered, blown out, HDR'd, with foreground object, with clouds, daytime, nighttime, multiple exposures, photoshopped...any way I can think of. A moon gallery I compiled with some of my stuff:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/the_moon&page=all

I do wish though that I had around my house a wide open vista to the horizon, as I'd love to get a rising moon shot with a foreground object silhouetted in it. I as yet haven't been able to, because I have no vistas - I can't see the horizon where I live!

[Gianna'sPapa]

This was taken last night, nothing spectacular. It was taken at 300mm, 1/1000, F4, ISO 200. It is cropped quite a bit and taken handheld (laying on my back)

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5252/5537621643_4e01d52149_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/45097427@N02/5537621643/)
Moon 31711 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/45097427@N02/5537621643/) by Gianna'sPapa (http://www.flickr.com/people/45097427@N02/), on Flickr

[zackiedawg]

Here's a preview of the super moon - took it at 1am Saturday morning, March 19, 2011 (about an hour ago) with my DSLR-A550 and a Tamron 200-500mm lens at 500mm, paired with a Tamron 2x teleconverter for 1000mm on a 1.5x crop body camera (that's 1500mm equivalent!!):

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133258690/original.jpg

[PrincessInOz]

Sunset is in 2 hours time in Melbourne....:rolleyes1

[WilsonFlyer]

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16mar_supermoon/

[PrincessInOz]

I'm shooting with a Canon kit 55 - 250 mm on a crop camera. It's times like this that I wish I had a better lens.


Moon rise over a Melbourne park on March 19, 2011 - 7.20 pm

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz82/PrincessInOz/2011%20Mar%20Moon%20Perigee/MoonPerigee007.jpg http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz82/PrincessInOz/2011%20Mar%20Moon%20Perigee/MoonPerigee008.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz82/PrincessInOz/2011%20Mar%20Moon%20Perigee/MoonPerigee013.jpg




Moonlight - a little after 8 pm

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz82/PrincessInOz/2011%20Mar%20Moon%20Perigee/MoonPerigee040.jpg




Heavily cropped.

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz82/PrincessInOz/2011%20Mar%20Moon%20Perigee/MoonPerigee032.jpg




Taken from my backyard - about 8.45 pm.


http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz82/PrincessInOz/2011%20Mar%20Moon%20Perigee/002.jpg


princess::upsidedow

[m-tinkerbelle]

Here's a preview of the super moon - took it at 1am Saturday morning, March 19, 2011 (about an hour ago) with my DSLR-A550 and a Tamron 200-500mm lens at 500mm, paired with a Tamron 2x teleconverter for 1000mm on a 1.5x crop body camera (that's 1500mm equivalent!!):

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/image/133258690/original.jpg

wow! did you find any alien life? :rotfl: nice lens!!!

thank you all for sharing your pics! I regreted not having my camera with me yesterday afternoon, that won't happen tonight XD I changed my mind and if I have time I'll be giving an opportunity to my camera and ... my lack of skills XD

the moon did look brighter yesterday and a bit bigger, but you were all right, not significantly different,... not as large as the media made it sound

I doubt I'll be able to take the shot I want (both for my agenda for tonight saturday night :goodvibes and for my camera/55-300 lens)

If i finally go to give it a try and I get something a tiny bit decent I'll post it here :lmao:

I guess the fact that I never had a telescope is making me more eager to get a nice moon+tower+river shot than I would normally be hahaha

thank you all! have an awesome weekend :D

[m-tinkerbelle]

hi!!!
I just came back from our saturday night photography nightmare...a nightmare for DH, who was so patient with me taking like 100 pics with the same composition :lmao:

I didn't get a tripod so I was very unsure of what the resulting pics looked like, because my hands are never steady enough

Still, I got many pics that I liked. Here's my favorite. I know it's far from perfect and it's a very well known picture that you could find in almost any travel book :rotfl: but knowing that it was me who took it makes me very excited!

so, here it is:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60719759@N02/5541207534/http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5297/5541207534_df76f87a93_b.jpg
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/60719759@N02/5541207534/)

these are the settings I chose for this pic:

Camera: Nikon D3100

Focal length: 58.0mm (handheld, as I said :( )
Exposure program: manual
ISO setting: ISO 400
Exposure time 1/10 sec.
FNumber f/4.5
No Flash
Auto white balance

Any comments/suggestions/advices, etc will be very well welcomed ;D

I took other pics with a longer shutter speed, and they of course came out looking lighter than this one. I chose to share this one with you all because it's closer to what my eyes were seing at the moment. There will be plenty of time to play with photoshop or to be more "artistic" in other pics. Besides, it's bedtime here so I gotta go :goodvibes

As for pics of the moon itself... none of them came out well XD as you all pointed out, it's too bright and I can't get the right settings! All I get is a shiny empty dinner plate. I would have tried more things but my battery just died (what's worse, I have the moon right outside my bedroom windows so it would have been a perfect chance to take as many pics as I wanted before going to bed :cry:)


good night!!! good luck to those who'll be trying to take a pic of the "event" ;D

[ukcatfan]

I was out last night playing with the kids and taking pics of my daughter flying a kite when the moon rose, so I went ahead and took a few shots. Here is one of the ones I like.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/kmhobs/IMGP5713-RAW_MAX.jpg

[ukcatfan]

Did a little post processing and I actually like this one more

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b309/kmhobs/IMGP5712-DIS_1.jpg

[Shutterbug]

The moon was really orange when it came up tonight and not really all that bright, made it hard to take a good photo. I am right now playin in photoshop to try and clean it up.

[mabas9395]

Nothing but clouds here. Guess I'll have to wait another 18 years.

[Kphoto]

Darn...beautiful moon, beautiful palm trees, beautiful weather, terrible pictures.

So I downloaded a free stock moon picture from freenaturepictures.com and accidently pressed Overlay Blend when adding it to my palm tree picture. I like it, I'm keeping it - here's my version of Blue Moon.:dance3:

Karen
http://i1236.photobucket.com/albums/ff446/karen_miller1/pshbluemoonweb.jpg

[m-tinkerbelle]

when i went to bed i ended up with insomnia so when the battery was fully charged I took this pic from my window, which came out acceptable thanks to your tips! :thumbsup2

I'm VERY pleased with it, a lot more than I ever expected my moon shot to be! so thanks a lot ;) I had had the exposure compensation on and at 2.0+ or 3.0+ without noticing ( and I guess that's why it seemed so hard to take a picture of it lol :lmao:

here's the pic:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5542728388_26a6d475bd_b.jpghttp://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5542728388_26a6d475bd_b.jpg (http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5542728388_26a6d475bd_b.jpg)
this one is at ISO 100,
exposure time 1/640 sec
aperture value: f/ 5.6
focal length: 300 mm

I did some cropping and adjusted the curves adjustment just a tiny bit to make the moon brighter

If it weren't for you guys, I would have never been able to take this shot! thanks a LOT!

I went to bed very satisfied ;D