Proper exposure to shoot the moon

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Okay, let's see what people think....

You want to take a picture of the moon. But you don't just want a round white disk -- you want a crisp image that shows surface detail.

What setup do you use? And what settings (shutter speed and f-stop) on your camera? And why?
 
That's interesting. The author seems to poo-pooh the idea of using the 'daylight' setting -- but then he proceeds to shoot ISO100 f/11 at 125th-250th second. Well, 'daylight' setting for ISO100 would be 1/ISO at f/16 -- which would translate in the real world to 1/125th at f/16. If the author shot his pic at 1/250th at f/11, this is exactly the same exposure as the 'daylight' setting of 1/125th at f/16.

The change in f-stop from 16 to 11 is pointless -- its only purpose normally would be to decrease depth-of-field, but since the focus is set to infinity, this isn't a factor. The only other reason to open the lens a stop would be to allow a faster shutter speed for either hand-holding or freezing motion. Neither is necessary since the author describes putting the camera on a tripod, using a cable release, AND employing the camera's timer.

So basically it's the 'daylight' exposure -- 1/ISO at f/16. And that would be correct.
 
I thought it was a pretty well written article. As long as I have been shooting film I have always heard the rule above and never had an issue. I can understand what he is saying about possibly needing to adjust depending on level in the say and other factors. For me I'll always start with moony 11!
 
Moony 11 will certainly work -- especially if you bracket.

The way I learned it at the Nikon School of Photography was like this....

Exposure is essentially based on the distance from the subject to the light source -- not the subject to the camera. Since the moon and the Earth are both roughly the same distance from the sun, the exposure for taking a detailed pic of the moon is the same as taking a well-exposed pic outside on a bright sunny day -- which is 1/ISO at f/16.

I tested this theory once at Freedom Park (Charlotte) during the Festival in the Park. It was nighttime, and I was standing by the lake. On the other side of the lake were lighted booths with paintings and such in them, surrounded by utter darkness. I wanted to capture that imagery. Behind me were similar booths, so I stepped up to one and took a meter reading -- then adjusted my camera based on those settings. Turned back around, focused on the booths across the lake, and took the pic. It turned out great! (I was shooting color transparency film -- so no adjustments were made during printing.)

I have no doubt that shooting 1/ISO at f/11 will render good results -- since it's only a single stop wider. But next time you're shooting the moon, try both settings and see what difference it makes in the image.
 
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I took this with my Sony H2. About a half hour before sunset. 1/800; f4.0; ISO 80.

Larry
 
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1/200 shutter; f8.0; ISO 80; 72.0 mm; Sony DSC-H2; handheld

I took this last night (Christmas '07) @ 11 PM; one night after full moon ... you can see the top right portion of the moon is slightly darkened as it wasn't quite a full moon.

Larry
 
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Shot at 300 mm with a shutter speed of 1/1000. Setup on a tripod, used a remote to trigger it. I decided to go shutter prioity rather than apature and started at 250 and climbed to 3000. Then I picked the one that looked good, but also one that had enough dynamic range that I could push it a little.

Shot RAW and adjusted some Levels.
 
Matt, it looks like you shot this on the 24th?

One of my exposures was similar but I wanted more detail in the little spot in the lower right that looks sort of like lines going out from it? But yours shows better detail in a similar feature in the lower left.

Nice shot.

Larry
 
alwayslearning said:
Matt, it looks like you shot this on the 24th?

One of my exposures was similar but I wanted more detail in the little spot in the lower right that looks sort of like lines going out from it? But yours shows better detail in a similar feature in the lower left.

Nice shot.

Larry
Click to expand...

Thanks. Shot on the 23rd. Plus, I was shooting RAW which allowed for a hell of a lot of enhancement.
 
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