Moon 2 - Moon Tips...
Photography

Moon Tips…

Sigwhite 1 - Moon Tips...I don’t get asked alot of questions but I found the answer to a common question by Googling it. The question was “How do you photograph the moon?”.

Moon 1 - Moon Tips...
Image © Copyright 2009, Barrett Photo Art

The thing to remember is that the moon is reflecting the sun’s light and is bright. Most cameras on auto have a habit of exposing just for the light (over exposing) giving you a white, featureless, disk.

Moon 2 - Moon Tips...
Image © Copyright 2009, Barrett Photo Art

The secret to exposing for the moon is to do it manually.  Place the camera in “Manual” mode and I usually shoot in the neighborhood 1/200 of a second at f/8 -16 depending on the time of evening.

Moon 3 - Moon Tips...
Image © Copyright 2009, Barrett Photo Art

A tripod is a must. Believe it or not the moon is moving. (doh!). The first two photographs I used a 300mm lens. The last photograph was taken at 1/250th of a second, f/8, and a 900mm (Phoenix) lens. You can generally get great photos with the ISO set to 200-400.

The beauty of digital photography these days is that you get immediate results.  If  your shot doesn’t come out you can change a setting.  (Faster or slower shutter speed or increase/decrease the f/stop).  No waisted rolls there. *wink*.

I hope you enjoyed this little lesson and have some fun taking planetary photographs. I’m off to shop and dream for more camera stuff.

Peace, Love, and Green Cheese,

sig2 - Moon Tips...

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