How to Photograph the Moon: An easy way to capture moon shots full of detail. A few simple tips on how to photograph the moon Photographing the moon settings

Photographing the moon is not as easy as it seems at first glance. This article covers composition techniques, camera settings, and lighting tips for photographing the moon.

The moon is a pretty tricky subject for photography. It turns out to be brighter than you originally thought, thus forcing you to tinker with the exposure. And instead of a huge, impressive disk that we imagine in our imaginations, we get a small dot of light that delivers nothing but disappointment.

There is a misconception that expensive equipment is required for "lunar" photographs. Yes, you can spend thousands of dollars on long lenses, but it is also true that you can get fantastic results using the equipment you already own.

Once you have mastered the tips in this article, you can learn to photograph the moon as well as the professionals, thus getting excellent results, regardless of your experience and budget.

We take into account the phase of the moon

Since the moon revolves around the earth, the sunlight hits it at different angles and as a result we get different phases of the moon, or, more simply, a different appearance of the moon.

Knowing the phases of the moon is very useful when photographing it.

The moon looks and feels differently in different phases. The full moon is the brightest, but it looks quite "flat" because the light hits it from the front. The moon between the first quarter and the full moon, as well as the quarter moon, are of the greatest interest because in these phases, lateral illumination falls on the moon, which creates shadows, thereby allowing craters and mountains to be shown on the lunar surface. The crescent, the darkest of all phases, emphasizes the dullness and uninteresting nature of the night sky.

Choosing the time for shooting

The best time to photograph the moon is at dusk, just before sunrise or just after sunset, when the moon is close to the horizon. At this time of day, the sky is illuminated with faint residual light, which allows you to highlight the surrounding details and add interesting colors to the sky and clouds, thereby creating a mysterious atmosphere.

Photograph the moon at dusk to create an atmosphere.

Arrive early so you can get ready and set the appropriate settings as the lighting levels change rapidly during this time. Different phases of the moon will take the best shots in different light levels, so take as many shots as possible during twilight to increase your chances of getting a stunning photo.

Try shooting at night to get pictures of a well-defined moon against a pitch-black sky, especially with long lenses. The moon is also visible during the day, although not so clearly, in which case it acts more as an addition than as the main subject of photography.

It is good practice to use a lunar calculator to determine the correct moon phase and sunrise and sunset times.

Fill the frame

If you can afford a long telephoto lens, you can surely get some fantastic, detailed photographs of the moon. You will need the longest lens you have. 300 mm is the minimum distance, preferably 800 mm or more.

To detail the lunar surface, you will need a long-focus lens.

Most digital SLR cameras have a cropped sensor. This means that the effective focal length you will have more than a full-frame sensor. Read more about the crop factor in the article.

To save money, you can combine multiple telephoto lenses into one. For example, with two 2x teleconverters and a 200 mm lens, an effective focal length of 800 mm can be achieved. The picture quality, of course, will decrease, but it's better than shooting with a standard lens.

Use an interesting foreground

Don't be discouraged if you don't have the money for a telephoto lens - there is good news. You can get great photos with any lens, even wide-angle ones - the main thing is to build the appropriate composition.

Use foreground objects to add context.

Instead of looking at the moon as the main subject of your photo, bring some objects in front to create an interesting scene. Photographing the moon through grass or mountain silhouettes adds atmosphere, so short throw lenses are not a disadvantage.

However, this technique has a drawback. It is often almost impossible to get both the moon and foreground to be well exposed. If you have the slightest doubt about the exposure, underexposing the foreground is better than overexposing the moon. After all, you can take two shots - one with the correct exposure of the moon and one with the correct exposure of the foreground - and then combine them in Photoshop.

Reducing vibrations and increasing clarity

The moon is very sensitive to camera shake, especially when using long lenses. The slightest movement can cause a blurry shot. Therefore, it is important to minimize vibrations. For this.

Use a tripod. A stable tripod is essential. By itself, it will almost completely reduce camera shake and protect against external disturbances such as wind.

Use remote release. Use the starter cord or remote control to eliminate jitter caused by pressing the shutter release button. If you do not have these attachments, use the release timer to achieve the same effect.

Use a mirror lock. Even the movement of the camera mirror can blur the photo. Mirror lock opens the mirror before you take a picture. If your camera has this setting, use it for extra clarity.

Choosing camera settings

One of the fundamental and most difficult things about photographing the moon is choosing the right settings. Due to the huge variety of shooting conditions, it is impossible to determine any universal settings. However, there is a regulated selection process that must be followed.

Manual shooting mode. Automatic mode will not cope with a bright moon in a dark sky, so you need to switch to manual mode. The selection of parameters should begin with an aperture of f / 11, the lowest ISO value (say, ISO 100) and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec. Use autofocus to focus on the moon, then set focus mode to manual to lock the focus.

Experiment. Take a test shot and view it on the camera screen, zoomed in to assess detail and exposure. Adjust the settings as you see and repeat the process. When using very long lenses, try not to set the shutter speed higher than? sec to avoid smudging. Much slower shutter speeds can be set when using wide-angle lenses.

Use bracketing. Using bracketing can do you well. This means that even if you have not guessed correctly with the settings, you may still have at least one picture that can be drawn in graphic editors.

Cheating inPhotoshop

You can use image editors to make your photos look the way you imagine them to be in your imagination. For example, you can blend multiple images so that both the moon and foreground are properly exposed, or even increase the size of the moon for the perfect composition.

The use of graphic editors is a very controversial thing, but sometimes the result exceeds all expectations. This photo composites two different pictures with different exposures.

This question gives rise to two rival camps, one of which insists that photographs should be subjected to minimal or no digital processing. However, even professional photographers sometimes sin with this, and, no doubt, sometimes the result is simply breathtaking. Who to join the camp is a personal matter for everyone.

Moon photography is somewhat of a challenge to your abilities and skills, and the reward for this challenge is a great shot. It is a process that needs to be learned and needs to be improved. And when you master it, you will get countless great pictures.

In this article I will show you how to photograph the moon. And not even just the moon, but a landscape with the moon. I will say right away that the task is not easy. But the result can be very, very interesting. It's worth working for. First, let's decide when is the best time to shoot. Of course everyone has seen the different phases of the moon. Such sickles, with different widths of the illuminated part. Every day the sickles get wider and wider, until finally the full moon comes.

Oh, these days of the full moon! Poetic time! I want to read poetry, fall in love, compliment girls. But this time we will not do anything about it. Because we're going to shoot the landscape with the moon. Although you can take the girl with you. She will not only inspire you, but also serve as a detail in the frame, an element of the foreground.

The full moon is also important for us for the following reason. The fact is that you need to shoot a landscape with the moon during lunar sunrise. Those. when the moon just appears above the horizon.

First, at this time, the brightness of the lunar disk is relatively low. It is quite comparable with the brightness of the foreground, with the details of our future landscape. In other words, all the elements of our image will be displayed adequately and will not require any special post-processing in Photoshop.

Secondly, while the moon is not high above the horizon, it is easily composited in the landscape, in other words, it is adequately combined with the ground details of the foreground of our future image.

But keep in mind, the moon rises very quickly above the horizon. Therefore, the shooting time is very limited. About 30 minutes. But do not rush to send the model girl to the starting position. A little more astronomy.

It is important to know that the time of moonrise is a variable quantity. Each subsequent lunar rise shifts in time by 20-40 minutes forward. Here, watch her. And you will see that the moon during its month can rise in the morning and in the afternoon and at night.

On full moon days, the time of its rise is very close to the time of sunset. Poetically speaking, full moon days are the time when the sun, as it were, meets the moon. As if looking at each other. Well, then the sun hurries over the horizon to rest. And the moon remains the main one in the sky.

Here is another very important astronomical subtlety. Two days before the full moon, our night star rises before sunset. With a difference of a few minutes. In two days, it will rise after sunset, at the end of twilight, practically in darkness.

Therefore, these two days before the full moon are very important to you and me as photographers. They are the ideal time to shoot a landscape with the moon.

Let's imagine a lunar month as a series of days characterizing a certain phase. In this case, the day of the full moon will be the 15th day of the lunar month. And the optimal time for shooting our landscape will be the 13th and 14th days of the lunar month. True, these days the illumination of the lunar disk is not quite full, somewhere around 98-99%, but visually it is almost imperceptible.

Write these dates in your diary, because by going to shoot the sunset on the 13th and 14th lunar days, you will be able to shoot not only the usual sunset, but also the rising of the moon. It will be enough just to turn around with the camera in the opposite direction.

Another important feature. The moon rises above the horizon in the same place where the sun rises in the morning - in the east. In summer, the place of sunrise shifts somewhat to the south, and in winter to the north.

Therefore, it will be extremely useful if you decide in advance where you will shoot. Choose the location of the future shooting in advance.

An ideal location where there is an open horizon to the east and southeast. Well, if there is a large body of water, then there is a chance to include a beautiful moon path in the frame.

No open horizon? Then look in the city for beautiful forged trellises, domes, and other architectural forms for the foreground. Perhaps just ordinary residential buildings in which the lights are already on. It would be nice to climb up to the ninth floor. Then the horizon will immediately appear, if it was not there before.

You can also try to shoot the moon over factory chimneys, or waste heaps, if you have something like that in the city. Or, for example, mountains, this is generally an ideal place for such a shooting.

Well, if you still decide to shoot the moonrise in the field, then I strongly advise you to find a shooting point near some hill (hill), or on the hill itself. In order to change the shooting point from the upper to the lower as the moon rises above the horizon.

Now it remains to clarify when these 13 and 14 lunar days, the most favorable for shooting, come. Everything is very simple here. There are enough resources on the network where this data is available.

For example site RP 5, where, in addition to the weather forecast, there is data on the time of sunrise and sunset and the moon, as well as information in what phase the moon is on a particular day.

Or type in the search engine the phrase "lunar calendar" and you can also find out the current lunar day. And there are also specialized resources, where, in addition to the time of sunrise and sunset, there is data on the exact direction of sunrise for a particular place.

Now about the shooting technique. A telephoto lens on your DSLR is highly desirable. The longer the better. In order to convey the moon as large as possible.

The lens aperture is not so important in this case. Because we still have to cover the diaphragm a little. How much will depend on the presence of the foreground in the frame.

Already at a focal length of 200 mm for a camera with a cropped matrix, the lunar disk is transmitted quite large. But with lenses with a focal length of 300 or 500 mm, the result can be even more interesting.

If you don't have such a lens, then shoot with what you have, and don't worry too much about it. Because your imagination and your perseverance will be able to overcome any technical inconsistencies or lags, and it is not at all necessary to inscribe the moon on the entire frame.

Recall, for example, Kuindzhi's painting "Moonlit Night on the Dnieper". There can be a lot of options for the layout of the future shot. A tripod for such shooting is very, very desirable, and in some cases is simply necessary.

It is very important not to overexpose the lunar disk, so that the characteristic pattern and relief of its surface are not lost. Therefore, when photographing in one of the semi-automatic modes, in the camera settings, be sure to set a negative exposure compensation, for example, -0.7 or - 1.0. This will prevent possible loss of detail in highlights.

Let's consider the option of shooting a lunar landscape using one of my photographs as an example. The shooting day was chosen according to the calendar. It was the 14th lunar day, that is, one day before the full moon. The moon rose at the same time as the sun went down.

The shooting was carried out on the banks of the Dnieper, from a high steep bank. The width of the river in this place is about 500 m. Shooting mode - aperture priority. Exposure compensation -1.3EV. The focal length of the lens is 65 mm.

There was no possibility to use a longer focus. Because then it would not be possible to include interesting foreground details in the frame.

The manual exposure mode is very useful when shooting at twilight. It is more flexible than semi-automatic modes. And the correctness of the exposure can be controlled by the monitor and the histogram. Shoot preferably in RAW format. This will allow you to then correct inaccuracies in the exposure.

I wish you to find new, interesting ideas for shooting scenes with the moon. And if you have any questions, then write, ask, always ready to help.

David Noton, renowned landscape photographer and Canon Ambassador, explains how to capture the longest lunar eclipse of this century.

On Friday, July 27, 2018, the longest lunar eclipse in this century awaits us, during which the moon will turn blood red. This astronomical phenomenon will last a total of 1 hour 43 minutes, starting from sunset and rising of the Earth's satellite over Europe.

A lunar eclipse is a phenomenon when the Earth blocks out sunlight and the Moon is in its shadow. The moon will turn red due to an effect known as Rayleigh scattering (also called elastic scattering), where green and violet waves are filtered out in the atmosphere.

It will be possible to see the "bloody" moon from different points of the continent, but in southeastern Europe the phenomenon will be longer, since there the satellite will be higher in the sky during the eclipse.

Canon Ambassador and renowned landscape photographer David Noughton provides five tips to help you capture this rare and unusual event.

Download special applications

The position of the Sun in the sky at a certain time of the day depends only on the latitude of the observation point and the time of year. However, the situation with the Moon is somewhat different - its apparent motion across the sky is determined by the complex elliptical orbit of the Earth. Changes in the trajectory of the Moon's motion depend not on the annual, but on the monthly cycle, which is why the time of the appearance of the Moon and its trajectory change so much.

Fortunately, you no longer need to fiddle with astronomical tables to calculate the motion of the moon - you just need to download the application to your smartphone. For example, the Photographer’s Ephemeris application will tell you the times of moon rise and set, its azimuths and phases; and the Photopills app provides detailed information on the position of the moon in the sky.

With the help of these two applications I am planning to shoot a "blood" moon in Dorset, England. I want to capture it in the first 15 minutes after sunrise, while it is still low in the sky - then I can capture an object on the horizon, such as a tree on a hill, to reflect the scale of a celestial body.

Use a telephoto lens

One of the main tasks that I will have to solve on July 27 is how to photograph the Moon so large that every crater on the asteroid-dug surface is visible. Usually such problems are solved by astronomers with super-powerful telescopes. However, a telephoto lens with a focal length of about 600mm on a full-frame camera also makes an impressive shot. I will be shooting with a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV with an EF 200-400mm f / 4L IS USM Ext. 1.4x.

Use a tripod

When you choose a shot, you will find that the moon is moving across the sky with unexpected speed and it is surprisingly difficult to follow it through the lens. Since you will be using a telephoto lens, it is important to choose a stable tripod from which you can get the best quality footage. If you want to shoot handheld, keep in mind that the subject is located more than 384,000 kilometers from you and even with a short shutter speed the slightest movement will ruin the frame.

Fit the moon into the landscape

Don't forget about composition. While detailed close-up shots of the Moon may be beautiful, in fact they are of astronomical value only. The moon attracts me much more when it is part of a landscape or serves as a source of light when shooting. It is quite difficult to achieve the latter, since the amount of light reflected by the Moon is small and, in comparison with it, the lunar surface itself turns out to be very bright. Until recently, night photography inevitably required very long exposures, but the stunning sensitivity of cameras such as the EOS-1D X Mark II and Canon EOS 5D Mark IV has opened up a whole new world of night photography for photographers.

Find the right shutter speed for your subject

The Moon looks most expressive and natural in a landscape when it is surrounded by a slightly illuminated sky. Such pictures turn out to be realistic, they are full of charm and special mood.

In any shot taken at medium or wide angle, the Moon will appear as a pinhead-sized speck of light, but its presence will still be felt. She naturally attracts the eye, even if it seems to be an insignificant detail. Of course, you will need to find the right shutter speed: if it is too slow, then even when shooting with a wide-angle lens, only an ugly blurry trail will remain in the picture.

On a clear night, choosing the right shutter speed is a prerequisite for photographing the moon. A shutter speed of 1/250 s at f8 and ISO 100 (depending on focal length) will eliminate blur and get a technically flawless shot. When shooting with a high-end camera like the Canon EOS 5DS R, you might even be able to see the twelve cameras that were left on the moon by NASA astronauts in the 1960s!

About David Nouton

The author of many breathtaking landscapes and views from different parts of the world, a multiple winner of the title of BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year, David has been the best in his field for more than thirty years. At the age of 60, he is still traveling and photographing landscapes. Canon prefers the EOS 5DS R and EOS 5D Mark IV cameras and the EF 24-70mm f / 2.8L II USM lens.

Thank you for the material provided

The question of how to photograph the moon is far from as simple as it seems initially. It does not matter whether you photograph the Moon with a DSLR, a system camera or a soap dish, in reality very often you cannot get any acceptable result. In this article, we will look at how to photograph the moon and avoid common mistakes.

What mistakes occur when photographing the moon?

First, let's take a look at some of the common mistakes a photographer faces when photographing the moon. Perhaps the first difficulty for a photographer is the selection of the correct exposure pair, that is, the ratio of aperture and shutter speed. Some aspiring photographers are trying to shoot the moon with a slow shutter speed and low ISO, while others are trying to shoot in aperture priority mode or program mode. In both cases, the results of photographing the Moon are disappointing: in the first case, you will get a blurry "something" instead of the lunar disk (do not forget that at a long exposure, the camera is rigidly fixed, and the Moon moves across the sky), and in the second case, we have an overexposed white circle, devoid of any -or details.

So how do you properly photograph the moon? Well, let's try to consider this issue in more detail and try to determine the algorithm of actions and technical means that we need for this kind of shooting.

What do we need to photograph the moon at night?

To begin with, let's dispel the myth, popular among photographers, that it is possible to photograph the moon well only with a tripod. Of course, a tripod can be a useful addition, but it is quite possible to do without it. The only aspect when taking close-up shots of the moon may be the presence of a telephoto lens. In principle, the minimum focal length for photographing the lunar disk can be considered a value of 300 mm. By the way, you can take pictures of the moon not only with a DSLR or a system camera with interchangeable optics, but also with an ultrazoom, and the result with a competent approach will also be very impressive.

In order to photograph the moon and not overexpose the frame, it is worth remembering that a night star is, in practice, a much brighter object than we think. This illusion of relatively low brightness "deceives" not only the human eye, but also the camera's automation, which sets the shutter speed too slow when shooting in aperture priority mode or program mode. For this reason, when shooting, try to set the shutter speed manually, using the lunar disk spot metering, or using the aperture priority mode, feel free to set the "minus" exposure compensation by one and a half to two stops. In this case, you should shoot in RAW mode and then, when processing in a converter, further reduce the brightness of the highlights. This is the only way to "stretch" the texture of the lunar disk. So, let's figure out step by step how to shoot and set up the camera (for now we will talk about photographing the moon close-up, not the night landscape):

Attach a telephoto lens to the camera or, in the case of using "ultrazoom", set it to the maximum value of the focal length.
Mount the camera on a tripod (we repeat that this condition is not necessary, since the shutter speed during shooting is not very long, but it is desirable - nevertheless, the risk of getting a frame with a "wiggle" will be lower). If you are shooting handheld, you can turn on the gimbal if your digital camera has one.
Set the minimum value of sensitivity in the camera (as practice shows, 100 ISO is quite a suitable value for photographing the moon at night).
Select RAW mode to save the captured images (of course, if your camera supports this image recording format).
Rotate the mode dial to aperture priority (A) or manual (M).
Activate the exposure correction mode by entering a negative value in 1.5-2 stops (it is optimal to use a correction of 2 "stops").
Shoot. If there are overexposures, correct the exposure compensation value or close the aperture one or two values. By the way, it is better to photograph the Moon with average aperture values, from 5.6 to 8.

Outcomes:

As you can see, photographing the Moon at night is not a very difficult task, but it requires a somewhat specific approach. In the case of using a film camera, the situation is complicated by the impossibility of viewing the resulting frame in advance and making adjustments, if necessary. Here you can advise one thing - I photograph the Moon on film, make a few "sighting" pictures in advance with the "digital". However, with due experience of this kind of filming, you will no longer need it. We hope this little material will help you avoid mistakes when shooting the Moon and allow you to make more interesting shots.

This post was written by Laura Charon. Laura is a passionate photographer. At first she used an old camera, and more recently a Canon 400d.

Most photographers enjoy photographing the moon. The conditions are the same for everyone: a DSLR, a tripod, a timer (or a device for a remote shutter release) and a bright moon in the sky. However, the result is often an overexposed spot against a black background. A flat disc or gray picture with no crater detail.

Here are some tips I can give based on my own moon photography experience.

1. "Lune / Moon", OliBac, Flickr
Shutter speed: 0.005 sec (1/200), aperture: f / 5, focal length: 84.2 mm, ISO: 50

So the tips:

First: use a telephoto lens

At least 300mm if you want to fill the entire frame with the Moon. Although, in principle, the moon can be photographed with an ordinary lens, even a whale. A 2x converter will not be superfluous, it perfectly complements the lens and at the same time is quite inexpensive.

Second: Set up the camera manually

Although many digital cameras have automatic night shots, manually setting ISO, shutter speed and aperture will produce significantly better photos. Start at ISO 100. The moon is a light source, and brighter than you think. You can use high ISOs without fear of noise. Set the aperture to about f / 11 (wider apertures will result in less sharp images). A shutter speed of 1/125 will be sufficient. We will call this the "rule", but you can of course experiment with the settings. Try manual focus shooting. Cameras sometimes have trouble automatically focusing on the moon. Take multiple shots with different aperture and shutter speed settings.

2. "The Bird and the Moon II", Flowery Luza, Flickr
Shutter speed: 0.001 sec (1/1000), Aperture: f / 4.0, focal length: 200 mm, ISO: 1600

Third tip: don't be afraid of underexposed shots

You will probably get a slow shutter speed at normal settings. After all, you photograph at night. But in fact, such endurance is not needed. During processing, you can wash everything right, and keep in mind that the moon moves across the sky and even at 1/15 shutter speed the image may turn out to be a little blurry.

3. "Crescent Moon", Lrargerich, Flickr
Shutter speed: 0.008 sec (1/125), aperture: f / 4, focal length: 29.2 mm, ISO: 125

Fourth tip: Shoot different phases of the moon

Each moon phase has its own mood. There will be more light during the full moon than during the waxing or aging moon. It's probably even intuitive. It is also great to photograph the moon at various stages of its movement. The moon at the horizon seems larger. Photographing early in the evening is also often beneficial thanks to the original lighting effects.

Hope these simple tips will help you have a lot of fun photographing the moon. Despite the fact that the topic of photographing the moon is rather trite, this bright disk never ceases to attract interest, to attract the attention of our eyes and our lenses.

Original: Laura Charon, photodoto.com