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My moon secrets and mottos

I am hopeless at night-time photography, and I am certainly no astronomer, but have found myself drawn to taking moon photos lately.  And (I could be wrong but) I seem to be getting the hang of the settings for getting some detail in my moons.

Not sure if anyone else has noticed but the moon has been SPECTACULAR lately. Maybe it’s the clear cold winter nights? The fullness of the moon?

Whatever, I have loved it.

Loved it in the daytime when it seems like part of the cloud-work in the cobalt blue sky…

moon_6925 e

Loved it as that white moon begins being cloaked by a darkening backdrop…

sunse_6860 e

As our plunging sun (and it seriously dives fast from the sky in the part of the world, unlike anything I have noticed anywhere else in my travels) leaves it white and stark in the blackness…

sunset_6908

And especially loved it when some atmospheric trick colours it orange and glorious and fiery as it rises through the trees from the east…

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So I thought I’d share my settings with you (any amateur photo nuts out there?). In case you WANT to try it at your place, but keep getting blurry white moons in your shots.

The key is to switch to manual.  I know. Scary.  But at night-time, your camera cannot read light from such a small portion of the frame (at least on a 200mm lens, which is my maximum zoom).  It will tell you there is not enough light to take a hand-held photo. This is bollocks. There IS.

Experiment a little.  Speed up that shutter.  Capture that detail.  Here we go:

PHOTO NERD INFO.

moon_6925 e

Exposure 1/2500 sec
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 800

Not sure, but think I was taking some action photos prior to this shot, hence the pumped up shutter speed.   It got the colours right and the moon detail is sharp.  Lucky me!

sunse_6860 e

Exposure 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture f/32.0
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 250

I had dropped that aperture to try to get a bigger depth of field in this shot (branches close and moon far away).  This made me drop my shutter speed to get enough light  (I find I can hand-hold the camera down to 1/15 second on a GOOD day).

sunset_6908

Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 800

See how fast that shutter speed is here. Nothing in foreground to keep in focus, so I could let that aperture open up again.  The glare of the moon at this time nearly beat me (detail not as sharp as I would like, but it was darned cold and I was heading into that warm house regardless!).

moon_7364 e

Exposure 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture f/9.0
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 800

This shot was taken after a VERY long day in the paddock as we turned the last corner for home. I had the ute still running as I shot it out the window.  If I had more time, I would have played more with the aperture to get better depth of field (leaf shadows in foreground) but I still like the detail and colour of the moon.

Is this helpful?  (Please share your efforts with links in comments if you have a crack at it.)

For my non-photo-nerds out there, I finish with a thought/motto which I added to my first moon photo and shared recently on my Facebook page.  I cannot say I manage to live by it all the time, but I believe the closer I get to this, the more content I am.

bluemoon_BBofOZ E

What is your favourite motto?

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