Shoot the Moon

Sitting around now for close to two weeks because of the Corona Virus quarantine trying not to get too bored, so thought I would use some of the extra free time to create another post. The time of year is approaching when we will again explore and photograph the night sky. One of the easiest night sky objects to photograph is the moon.

The moon to me is one of the most fascinating objects floating around up there. Growing up during the early days of the space race and the race to get to the moon, triggered a lifelong love affair with all things related to the exploration of this amazing realm. What is so great about the moon is that is so close and big and for a photographer, so bright. Photographing it is actually quite easy to accomplish, but if you have never given it a try, then there are a few things you might need to know about how to do so.

You do not need a whole lot of fancy astronomical equipment to get started. All you need is a digital camera, a telephoto or zoom lens, a cable/remote shutter release, and a tripod. With this basic setup, you can capture some amazing images of our nearest celestial neighbor.

As far as camera's go, just about any digital camera will work. However, with the lens you will need a telephoto or zoom lens somewhere between 300mm and 600mm. Most routine 70 - 300mm 'beer can lenses' will work just fine. If you are fortunate to own something around a 400mm to 600mm lense you will be the better for it. I use a Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0 - f/6.3 zoom lens and have gotten good results with it, but I have also used a lower quality Minolta 75-300 f/3.5 - f/5.6 lens with good results. The rule is, just use the biggest lens you have.

A wireless remote or cable release is really a good thing to use as well because it helps to prevent vibrations that can blur your shots. In a pinch you can use the 2 second self timer to accomplish the same thing.

You do not need a high dollar tripod, but it does need to be sturdy enough to handle the lense you are using. Some of the bigger zooms are quite heavy and require a tripod with some beef to it to hold it steady.

So, how do you capture the moon? Well, contrary to popular belief, a full moon is not the best time to photograph it. Certainly under certain circumstances the full moon offers some amazing opportunities, but the moon is filled with all kinds of craters and mountain ranges than require shadows to be able to see them in detail. A full moon most often will washout the details. The best time is during one of the crescent phases when there is a shadow or terminator falling across part or most of the moon's surface. This also offers a wider variety of opportunities as the texture of the moon changes as the terminator moves across the surface.

However, should you desire to photograph the full moon, the best time is to catch it just after it rises above the horizon right at dusk. When it sits low in the sky, two things can happen. First it will take on a deeper richer color and can be almost red at times. This is because the light reflecting off it must travel through more of the atmosphere which imparts a yellowish or orange tint to it. Secondly, you can also include some of the natural world that may be found along the horizon like tree lines, or buildings, or mountains, or whatever. This can add a great deal of interest and context to you image.

Shooting the moon during a lunar eclipse can be one of the best times as the moon will slowly progress through a wide variety of colors and textures.

As far as exposure. There is no one way to accomplish this, but there are a couple of things you need to know. First of all, you should take your camera off AUTO for this can cause you all kinds of issues. You can shoot in Aperture Priority, but even this sometimes requires a lot of exposure compensation. The best way of course is to shoot in Manual Mode.

Another thing to remember is to use what is called Spot Metering instead of Matrix or Evaluative metering. Spot metering is where you set your metering mode to use a single point of reference in the field of view, usually the center point. This way you can meter directly off the brightest part of the moon. Matrix or Evaluative metering will get confused by all the darkness surrounding the moon and cause the camera to over expose the moon. By spot metering on the moon itself, you will achieve a much more accurate exposure value.

So here is what I do most of the time. I will use Manual Mode. I set my White Balance to Daylight, I set my ISO to 100. I set my Aperture to f/8.0ish most of the time, and I start with a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second. I find the moon using a smaller focal length like 200mm or something similar, then I zoom in to the maximum...in my case 500mm and center the moon in the viewfinder, focus then I lock the tripod head, wait for a few seconds for any vibrations to dampen, then using a cable release fire off a couple of shots. After looking at the results I may alter the exposure up or down.
Once I obtain the results I want, I load them into the computer and apply a small amount of post processing.

Photographing the moon is an easy way to break into photographing the night sky. It's easy, can be done virtually anywhere, and the results are always rewarding.