Some of you had to have taken notice of the big mon this week, if you had clear skies that is.

We had a nice clear sky 2 nights ago. Pam was out there trying to shoot that big ball in the sky.

Nice job Pam!

Too much smoke and haze from ongoing/recent wildfires here, so I'll offer up one from the past.

This is obviously photo shopped a bit.

Very cool.

Nice shot by Pam. We had rainy skies here in northern AZ, but they were welcome.

Nice shots. We had clouds!

Looks like the same moon I saw! The smoke laying lower in the sky disappeared as the moon got higher!!

Then I went to bed!

Ken

Note the orange colored one is in the smoke haze!!

Whoops, I guess Photobucket and/or I lost the lighter one!!!
northern dave's was better anyway!!!
Ken

From the front deck, though not this week.

A question for all. Any willingness to provide details? Lens, shutter speed, F-stop, manual or automatic, and or other relevant data like dusk/dawn/midnight/ enhancements/ or whatever. I'll try to get my specifics up tonight.

I was out there mostly observing and holding Pam's beer for her while she got her shots.

I was tossing my "advice" around, which turned out to be non helpful.

She had a 70-300 EF/IS lens mounted on her 70D, also trying out her new manfrotto 3 legger.

She was using a remote trigger.

In my grand wisdom I offered the opinion that she might try to choke down the aperture and go with a slower shutter speed.

That didn't work for chit.

We found that shooting wide open in AV and letting the cam pick the shutter speed worked better. Focus became the real challenge, we selected a single focal point in AF mode and did the best to lead the arc of the moon's travel with the handy manfrotto ball mount. Let the moon come into the frame and snap away, repeat, repeat, repeat.

The damn thing doesn't hold still that's for sure.

We did try some manual focus as well, I can't say for certain if the handful of decent captures she ended up with had MF or AF, but I do know she did better in AV, wide open aperture.

I'm sure there's a better way, but of the few things we tried that worked the best.

Shots were taken in our yard, (we live out in the country) we found the darkest spot in the yard possible to shoot from. I'd say the moon was positioned about 1/3 of the way through it's arch across the sky, thinking it was possibly close to midnight.

Her 70-300 is the f4-5.6 L series, so "wide open" is f4

Here are my thoughts. Since the moon is moving, try for a fast shutter speed, say 1/350sec with a 300mm lens (try 1/focal length) for a shutter speed. Use as low an ISO as possible to reduce noise. Choose a sharp aperture, like f/5.6 to f/8. You may read to use the "sunny 16" rule for moon photography, but f/16 may be soft due to diffraction. Tripod and release highly recommended. Spot meter on the moon and check the histogram for exposure. Shoot when the moon is less than full so some side-lighting causes the craters to show more.

I like to photograph the moon during the last 30 minutes before sunset, or 30 minute after sunrise, against the landscape so the bright moon is easier to expose for and there is warm light on the land. After sunset, the moon tends to overexpose against the darker landscape if taking one exposure. With a telephoto lens, you may need to blend two exposures so both the landscape and moon are sharply focused and/or exposed.
This image is one exposure focused on Cathedral Rock:

Nikon D90, 200mm, f/7.1, 1/500sec, ISO 200

Thanks for that advice, Doug.

Especially on the aperture, I overlooked what should have been obvious.

It didn't register (like it should have) in my mind that Pam's lens would be sharper f/5.6 to 8, I've read this so I should know it.

I'm too quick for knee jerk decisions "wide open"

Let's see now. What did I use on my smoke tainted moon?

Nikon D 3100
Tamron SP 70-300mmF/4-5.6 Di VC USD
Tamron 1.4x Tele Extender
Manual focus
ISO 200
Shutter 1/250
Aperature F11
VC Off
Used Timer on camera
Cheap tripod

Messed with other settings and settled with this one!

Ken

Rummaged through Cookies computer last night. The image behind the mule deer was :
May 5 2012 at about 21:30.
Canon 100-400 at 400
ISO 100
F 5.6
1/250 sec
Handheld, but leaning on a rig

Not near the clarity of Pam's though.

The mule deer buck/doe were actually snapped in overcast daylight, converted to black and white, darkened, and the night sky and moon pasted in behind the foreground and sky lined buck. The doe is in the lower left foreground and is visible if one expands the image via the "reply" button. Most effort, however, went into manually filling the small daylight sky voids in the weeds and sagebrush where Photoshop could not handle the conversions.

Pretty good atmospheric clarity this last Tuesday evening, so I grabbed Cookies 500mm and the 1.4 extender and gave things a try.



I'm still amazed at the synchronized rotation deal with earth in that we always view the same side of the moon. Must be a logical explanation, but I've no idea how it happens.

Canon 70D, F 5.6, 1/200, ISO=100

Still think Pam's earlier image is better.