Lunar Eclipse Photo
Awesome! I nearly forgot about the eclipse until a friend instant messaged me to remind me. Living in the city I had a hard time finding the moon because of buildings blocking it. I eventually jogged down to the corner and saw it.
Thanks for posting the photo. My husband missed it due to sleep so I'm sure he'll be delighted seeing this.
Thanks for posting the photo. My husband missed it due to sleep so I'm sure he'll be delighted seeing this.
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Eclipse in series
I shot the same kind of sequence. I started about 7:30 PM and ended at about 9:40PM CST. This is really pretty fun stuff to shoot. Can't wait for the next full lunar eclipse on December 20, 2010. It will be cold then, too. (It was about 0 degrees without wind chill factor the whole time I was out there last night!)
Last edited by Cooper Guy; Feb 21, 2008 at 09:00 PM.
Cmon, lets here some settings here. F-stops and shutter speeds, please. I went out to shoot this last night and while I think I had the right idea I am curious to see how you guys did it. Anybody use any filters or anything?
I left my F-Stop at 5.6 and shutter speeds varied. Recalling from memory, don't have access to photographs right now, shutter speeds went from 5 sec (I think, maybe longer), all the way up to 4000
Seems to high but its not, it correctly exposes the moon. (Full moon that was at 4000) If you use "P-Program Mode" then it adjust for all the black sky and you over-expose the moon. I'll have my photos up tomorrow and I'll post 'em and the link to full gallery. I'll include values here.
Secret of "Shooting the Moon" (lunar)
This rule basically says that to get the proper exposure for the moon without getting that big white blob that most people usually get, you set the exposure at f/16 @ 1/ISO. For example, if you set your camera's ISO to 1000, then your proper setting would be f/16 @ 1/1000 second. From there you can interprelate your exposure up or down, that is, use a faster shutter speed or larger f/stop, or both, since you really don't need f/16 for a photograph of the moon which is at infinity. (For those of you that don't understand the concept of f/stops, the smaller the f/stop or aperature, like f/4 or f/5.6 the less depth of field. The larger the number like f/16 or f/22, the greater the depth of field.)
So an equal exposure of f/16 @ 1/1000 second would be f/8 @ 1/4000 second. If this is a little fast, then start out with an ISO of about 640: f/16 @ 1/640 sec. To get to f/8 the equal exposure, which is 2 stops faster on the shutter would be 1/640 to 1/1250 to 1/2500 sec.
Keep in mind that if the moon is orange or even a partial moon you may need to open the the f/stop 1/2 to 1 stop to compensate for the lower brightness of the moon. This is what I had to do at the full eclpise since it was so dim.
With that said for exposing the moon, keep in mind the name I use - Basic Daylight Exposure. So if you are ever in a jam where you aren't sure of the correct exposure of a photo because maybe your light meter isn't working for whatever reason, you can use the BDE in bright sunlight. I promise you will get the perfect exposure EVERY time with the sun at your back and no greater than 90 degrees to the subject. And now that you know the BDE rule, when you shoot in something less than bright sunlight, OPEN up the aperature or f/stop by 1 to 1 1/2 stops (to let more light in the lens) or slow the shutter down (but not below 1/60 sec) for overcast days or perhaps shooting into the sunlight, that is, your subject is backlit by the sunlight - you are exposing for the shadow and you won't get a silhouette of the subject.
I hope this helps and doesn't confuse too many of you. But just follow the f/16 rule for exposure and the rest is easy! And READ YOUR CAMERA'S MANUAL!
Last edited by Cooper Guy; Feb 21, 2008 at 08:46 PM.
Thats great, thanks Cooper Guy. If I can find where my memory cards wandered off to I will put up a couple of mine.
It was really hard for me to get a propper shot of the moon in full eclipse because my camera wouldnt focus in on it and manual focus is hard for me when you combine: a focus by wire lens, a pretty small view finder, and me pushing the buttons manual focus becomes a no go.
The relationship between aperture and shutter speed, is it every time you have the f-stop you have to multiply the shutter speed 4x to keep the same relative exposure?
Last thing (I promise), what focal length was the lens you were using?
It was really hard for me to get a propper shot of the moon in full eclipse because my camera wouldnt focus in on it and manual focus is hard for me when you combine: a focus by wire lens, a pretty small view finder, and me pushing the buttons manual focus becomes a no go.
The relationship between aperture and shutter speed, is it every time you have the f-stop you have to multiply the shutter speed 4x to keep the same relative exposure?
Last thing (I promise), what focal length was the lens you were using?
Tüls and I were bummed we missed it. Our friend told us it was going to happen but gave no time...then he dissappears and shows back up without us knowing and was all "You guys didn't go outside?"
GAH!!!! oh well...guess I'll see it next time...:P
GAH!!!! oh well...guess I'll see it next time...:P
Here's my first attempts with my Nikon D50 at 200mm on a tripod using the remote. I set the ISO 200, aperture f/5.6, and shutter speeds from 1/30 to 4 seconds. Wish I had a tele-extender. I had no idea my camera could even do this. 



Last edited by lacning74; Feb 22, 2008 at 08:35 AM.
May have been a first attempt, but you got great results. I didn't try to shoot this eclipse, since I wasn't in any kind of location that would have gotten good results. I also thought we would have a good cloud cover, so you can imagine my surprise as we were coming home from dinner to see a full eclipse happening. My previous (and first ever) attempt can be see in this thread, post 517: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=59206&page=21
Standard operating procedure is to SHOOT anyone who owns a 400/2.8 and doesn't brave the cold and use it.
Here is a link to all of mine:
Matt LaClair Photography
And a selection I liked:
Most were shoot with a 75-300mm/5.6. A couple are from a 50mm.
ENJOY! Hope you like 'em as much as I do.
(For values and focal lengths, put mouse over larger verzion, slide bar should show up. Click the "I" button, below "Photo Info")



Last edited by MNEEME; Feb 22, 2008 at 04:30 PM.
Probably one of my better ones. All I did was crop it in PS and zoom in. I shot this at 150mm on an Olympus E-500 so you have to multiply the focal length times 2 if you want a 35mm equivalent (it's something like 1.5x for other digicams). Apeture = f/14, Shutter speed = 1/40. I think I was using a -2.0ev exposure compensation.

Then I go and find this article on www.wrotniak.net, probably one of my favorite photography sites (he is an olympus guy far as I can tell).
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/moon/index.html
Which is about taking pictures of the moon. If only I had read it and practiced a few nights beforehand. (doh)

Then I go and find this article on www.wrotniak.net, probably one of my favorite photography sites (he is an olympus guy far as I can tell).
http://www.wrotniak.net/photo/moon/index.html
Which is about taking pictures of the moon. If only I had read it and practiced a few nights beforehand. (doh)







