How do you effectively take a picture of the moon?

Question

I know we have all seen it, the low big beautiful moon just asking to be photographed. Now my question may seem stupid but whenever I go to take the picture it ends up as a small little dot on the picture and nothing to be excited about. HELP PLEASE!!!

Answer 1

The reason you can SEE the moon is because the sun's light rays are illuminating it while you are on the dark side of the Earth; it is a very bright sphere in a very dark background (it looks blue-white because of the intensity of the sun's light rays, even though it is really a brown sphere).

If you use a Average (or Center-Weighted) light meter, you will average out the darkness of the sky alongwith the moon's brightness... you will NOT get a correct light reading. So, if you use Spot Metering, you'll see that your camera will NOT use a large aperture because you're actually photographing a very bright sphere; also, it will NOT give you a slow shutter speed, either... otherwise, you'll get a star-trail effect... or an image of an elongated blob of light.

I suggest that you use a Spot Metering on your camera and that you focus to infinity (the moon is pretty far away).

I also suggest that you use at least a 300mm lens; otherwise, you'll only get a small dot in your image for the moon (remember, it is very far away) and that you mount your camera on a tripod to enable you to focus and compose your shot without dealing with the weight of the camera and lens.

It would help you to use a lens hood or if you were in total darkness (like in the countryside, or mountainside away from the glare of the city lights) to keep stray light from ruining your image.

Answer 2

Obviously the more powerful telephoto lens you have, the better - At least 200mm on a 35mm film camera. As far as exposure, keep in mind that the sun is shining on the moon. So your exposure would not be much different than what you would use for a picture in the daytime on earth. - If your camera sets exposures automatically, chances are the dark sky will make the exposure too long or open up the lens too much- which will wash out the moon. If you want to get details of the moon's craters in your picture, don't take your picture when the moon is full - because the lighting will be too flat. If possible, use a tripod, and use the fastest shutter speed that will give you good exposure.

Answer 3

I agree with most everyone above. You need at least a 200 mm lens and it would help if that lens was on a DSLR where the lens factor is 1.5-1.6x, so you are shooting with an effective 300 mm lens. Obviously, even more would be better.

Spot meter off the moon or try the same "sunny 16" rule used for taking a photo of the sun. It's f/16 at the inverse of the ISO. If you are using ISO 400 (and don't try to shoot any faster, by the way), it would be f/16 at 1/400 of a second. Bracket this up and down a couple of stops.

Be prepared to crop in Photoshop or similar program.

For what it's worth - take a look at my icon. That's exactly how the photo was exposed. 200 mm (300 equivalent); f/16; 1/200th of a second; ISO 200 (to avoid digital noise); cropped to within an inch of its life!

Answer 4

The edge of space is not significantly closer to the moon than right here on the surface. Cameras lofted by balloon are only useful for seeing the earth from really high up. Still, the largest telescopes on the ground are not large enough to resolve the lunar landers. We've already sent probes to photograph the moon's surface, however, and they were able to see the lunar landers. But the conspiracy theorists just say those were faked too. I would consider them unimportant except they have a penchant for trying to convince small children of that, having found their intellectual equals.

Answer 5

It depens on what type of lens you use for a moon photography.Moon will be little bit bigger at the raising time.If it is an SLR camera, you should use a 400mm tele lens or more than that.If it is a digital one it should have a 20x zooming power.In digital SLR cameras except Canon EOS5D and EOS 1DsMark2 series, the lens power will increase 1.6 times approximate. What ever it may be, you should use a srong tripod to get a non shaken picture.

Answer 6

A friend of mine at college had a pretty good size telescope with an eye piece where he could attach a 35 mm camera. He took great pictures of the moon which looked like he had been flying over the moon's surface. He built it himself(the man is a genius), You can, however, use a very good telephoto lens on a very good 35 mm camera. I don't know how well digital cameras would do. If you don't have the money for one maybe you know someone who will lend you theirs.

Answer 7

without a very expensive set up i don't think those shots are possible, for what you need is something that will attach to a telescope like the ones in those domes that the astronomers have in universities...or perhaps those very expensive telescopes that are sold to hobbyists in those optics shops that sell such things...the best way to do that kind of moon shot is to photograph the moon with a telescope lense and then crop and enlarge in photoshop, then photoshop the rest of the periphery into the picture....that's the way i do it. with practice and a mac you can make it look real

Answer 8

all the technical advice is great, but you have to make sure you take the picture at the right time. i went outside one night and the moon looked like it was practically sitting on the ground, it was huge and bright, and not 10 minutes later when i got my camera out it was already a little speck way up in the sky, you just have to be prepared i guess

Answer 9

Depending on what camera you use, I strongly suggest you use a tripod since the slightest vibration (your pulse) will give you blurry pictures. I also suggest that you use your camera's timer since the moon is one tough subject to focus on.
Also, if your camera allows it, try to zoom into the moon a little for better results.

Answer 10

You need an SLR (single lens reflex) camera with a special long lense or a professional digital camera.