| Author | Thread |
|
|
06/22/2005 07:57:10 AM · #1 |
| I've been looking through several DPChallenge portfolios and I've found some really cool moon pictures. Last night, there was a full moon. I have a 300mm lens and I tried all kinds of shutter/aperture combinations...but all of my shots were too bright and you couldn't see any detail on the moon. Generally speaking, what is a good shutter speed / aperture combination for a rising, full moon? |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:03:23 AM · #2 |
You have to shoot with the same settings you'd use for a bright object on a sunlit day (that's what the full moon is). I think I had some OK results around f5.6 and 1/250 sec or in that range.
Also:
NASA Science News for June 22, 2005
Mercury, Venus and Saturn are converging for a spectacular alignment this weekend.
FULL STORY at
//science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/22jun_spectacular.htm?list749386
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:07:03 AM · #3 |
| with the camera I have, you can't change lenses or anything, so I have a 30x zoom on my camera though, so I zoom as far as I can, and I used the flash last night..and got a decent outtake of the moon. I'll load it later. still on my camera. it was blurry, not real sharp or anything, but I use the flash to bounce off the light and get some detail. |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:08:47 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by chafer:
Generally speaking, what is a good shutter speed / aperture combination for a rising, full moon? |
I did a test between two cameras a while back using the moon. Here are my comparison shots. This shows what a fixed aperature changing the shutter speed shows.
Moon Shots
Message edited by author 2005-06-22 12:22:22.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:10:04 AM · #5 |
| also you will get best results if you take the photos in the winter months |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:11:51 AM · #6 |
Russell,
I shot the moon rising last night too:
 
I had my camera on a tripod (an absolute necessity) and bracketed my exposures between .5 second and 8 or more seconds. I stuck at about f 11 or so and was using my 70-200 canon f4. The moon is very bright unless you catch it very low on the horizon obscured by atmospheric murk. The shorter exposures were designed to capture a detailed moon. The cityscape is not as bright, and requires a longer exposure. I spent some time reworking these shots by combining a moon from a shorter exposure with a cityscape from a longer one. The first image above was essentially created using that method. The second is a single exposure (moon was a little lower and dimmer, and still more ambient twilight to light the landscape) but tweaked for brightness (bringing the city up and the moon down in brightness).
It takes a lot of patience and practice to get good lunar images. keep trying! |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:17:58 AM · #7 |
I love shooting the moon.
F2.8
1/2000sec
ISO 64La Luna |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:19:19 AM · #8 |
Cool shots, strangeghost. Love the second one.
I was also shooting two previous nights, trying to compare different settings, and different hardware options (using a teleconverter vs not using it...
Here are some:
  
Edit: These are all 100% crops, no resizing. Out of camera is what it is, others have levels/USM applied to them
Message edited by author 2005-06-22 12:20:54.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:20:45 AM · #9 |
Heres mine from several nights ago...
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:40:02 AM · #10 |
Originally posted by crazycrystal1977:
I used the flash last night..and got a decent outtake of the moon. |
Wow, that must be one HELLUVA flash!!! What's the guide number on that thing? lol
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:46:46 AM · #11 |
Here's an animated GIF showing the change in alignment of the planets over the next several night. This will not be an easy observation for a casual skywatcher: Venus is MUCH brighter than the other two planets (Saturn and Mercury). You will need to watch very carefully to catch all three. Many will be tempted to give up after staring at Venus for a few minutes and not seeing the other two:
Animation
Caution: Animation is about 700K
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 08:47:22 AM · #12 |
Originally posted by Telehubbie:
Originally posted by crazycrystal1977:
I used the flash last night..and got a decent outtake of the moon. |
Wow, that must be one HELLUVA flash!!! What's the guide number on that thing? lol |
I have no clue.. lol...just a normal flash on my camera..it seems to show more detail than if I don't use it. Interesting thing huh? |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 10:41:56 AM · #13 |
Astrophotography Guide for EOS DIGITAL. Yes, there's another version of the 20D made especially for astrophotography.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 10:44:26 AM · #14 |
oh bummer i thought for sure there were going to be shots of slippy's butt here
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:13:20 PM · #15 |
Originally posted by crazycrystal1977:
Originally posted by Telehubbie:
Originally posted by crazycrystal1977:
I used the flash last night..and got a decent outtake of the moon. |
Wow, that must be one HELLUVA flash!!! What's the guide number on that thing? lol |
I have no clue.. lol...just a normal flash on my camera..it seems to show more detail than if I don't use it. Interesting thing huh? |
Not to mention the 6-second shutter delay you'd need for the light to reach the moon and bounce back.
Firing the flash probably changes some settings automatically, which may account for the better-looking photos. |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:19:34 PM · #16 |
Originally posted by Ram21:
Originally posted by chafer:
Generally speaking, what is a good shutter speed / aperture combination for a rising, full moon? |
I did a test between two cameras a while back using the moon. Here are my comparison shots. This shows what a fixed aperature changing the shutter speed shows.
Moon Shots |
Good info Ram, I may be trying again tonight with it rising over lake michigan so this may come in real handy. I've had ok luck in the past shooting in raw with 6x zoom then converting it enlarged and using USM to sharpen it, wish I had an example to show.
Message edited by author 2005-06-22 16:23:44.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:22:30 PM · #17 |
Originally posted by crazycrystal1977:
with the camera I have, you can't change lenses or anything, so I have a 30x zoom on my camera though, so I zoom as far as I can... |
How much noise are you getting using the digital zoom? I hope your using a tripod or something to help this. I would think just that cameras 10x would be good enough.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:24:50 PM · #18 |
"moon shot"
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:37:39 PM · #19 |
Mine from 2 nights ago.. Full sized crop straight from the camera no processing...
Message edited by author 2005-06-22 16:40:58. |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:40:08 PM · #20 |
My best one from a few months back with a 300mm lens. Cropped and sharpened a lot.
F5.4 Shutter: .4
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:40:35 PM · #21 |
Tonight is supposed to be a great night for moon shots, too, by the way:
News Story
PS -- This story mentions that it's supposed to be a good night for viewing in Britain, but our local Pittsburgh TV station was saying the same thing here... so it's not just a special mooning for our friends across the pond :)
Message edited by author 2005-06-22 16:41:56. |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 12:46:17 PM · #22 |
Ahhh, Dr. Jones always has the proper perspective. Now that is a moon to behold.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 03:10:33 PM · #23 |
Handheld:
Straight out of the camera and I just have a small P&S camera.
Message edited by author 2005-06-22 19:11:36.
|
|
|
|
06/22/2005 03:14:33 PM · #24 |
 This is mine, I entered it into the darkness contest but all the "noise" was too hard to get rid of without ruining the clouds...I need a better camera. |
|
|
|
06/22/2005 03:17:10 PM · #25 |
| yeah the delay sucks a big one, I wish there was someway I could stop that. That would help alot on my pictures. Anybody know if there is a way I can stop that long delay on my camera??? |
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/09/2025 07:15:21 AM EDT.
