Photos from the Moon.....

[Pooh_Girl]

OK, so maybe I should have said "Photos OF the Moon". I have a question for all you photographers that took some incredible shots of the moon during the last eclipse; HOW DID YOU DO IT?? My DH attempted to get a couple shots of the moon tonight using his Pentax K100D and his Tamron 70-300mm lens and he shot RAW in manual setting since it was his first time to try and take pictures of the moon and it would give him more control post-shot. Boy, it didn't help. Each shot looks as though he was taking a picture of a flashlight or something. There was nothing to indicate that it was the moon: no detail, nothing. Any tips?? I thought about posting a picture of his attempt and then I thought I could probably draw the same thing by just taking a black piece of paper and putting a yellowish white dot on it. Help!!!

 

[ukcatfan]

The moon is much brighter than people give it credit for. It sounds like it was over exposed. Try switching to spot metering to get a more accurate reading. Getting the focus right can be tricky as well. Sometimes MF is needed.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

Yes, and also you're probably pushing what the lens is going to be good at. I did some moon photos with a 400mm lens and it was still far from filling the frame. I'm not super familiar with the 75-300mm lens but I'm going to guess that it's not at its best when all the way out to 300mm, and you're looking at a relatively small object.

Like Kevin said, give spot metering a shot first (which'll require putting the moon right in the center of the frame) and if it's still too bright, either go to manual mode or try using exposure compensation.

 

[NostalgicDad]

These are a few examples of how I've shot the moon. In the first 2 images you can see by just the little difference in exposure times the difference in brightness. They were both shot at about the same time. As Kevin mentioned, spot metering works best since overall, the moon is a bright object. I've had better luck sometimes before it gets completely dark or even a little before sunset. I also set manual focus to infinity.

I used my Nikkor 70-300VR (VR off on tripod) lens but still had to crop at about 60% to bring out much detail. Feel free to post your shots so we can get a better idea of some possible adjustments.



Manual Exposure
Shutter 1/20
Aperture f/7.1
ISO 100
Focal Length 300mm

Aperture Priority
Spot Metering
Shutter 1/6
Aperture f/7.1
ISO 100
Focal Length 300mm

Aperture Priority
Spot Metering
Shuttter 1/15
Aperture f/13
ISO 100
Focal Length 300mm

 

[Super]

The longer the exposure the more it looks like this