# Friday Night Moon Shots



## kundalini (Feb 19, 2010)

Bored on a Friday night and just itching to post a photo but don't what it should be? Post a moon shot. I've found out if I start earlier, they don't seem quite so fuzzy. 

Go on.... you know you wanna do it................


19Feb2010


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## PackingMyBags (Feb 19, 2010)

Nice...what lens?


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## kundalini (Feb 19, 2010)

PackingMyBags said:


> Nice...what lens?


 Nikon D300 with 300mm f/4 + 1.7TC.


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## Casshew (Feb 19, 2010)

Wow, I love it, dramatic and lovely.


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## webmaster705 (Feb 22, 2010)

Wow i just love it, it seems so romantic and eye catching its a fantastic shot, i am sure i will have some good shots like yours soon


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## Rob_W (Feb 24, 2010)

Great shot, this was the best i could get on Monday, taken with
my old Nikon 70-300 f4-5-6 on its own. I've found its a bit soft
at the 300 end, soon being replaced...


22 Feb 2010​


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## kundalini (Feb 26, 2010)

I've already gotten a couple tonight, but I'm over at friends house and they have no photo editor.   

I'll have to post tomorrow, but PLEASE GO AHEAD AND POST YOUR FRIDAY NIGHT MOON SHOT!!!!


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## PerfectlyFlawed (Feb 27, 2010)

lol.. i tried. 
Your guys' moon shots are AMAZING! Im jealous. I only had my 55-200mm on me.. and this was as close as i could get. The moon looked awesome in the storm clouds..so thought if try.

Whats the trick to getting a super good, clean shot? ( aside from a longer range lens..lol --is 300 enough )


Bump.


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## JimmyO (Feb 27, 2010)

Mine

was from that farmers harvest moon or whatever when its the biggest ever or sumtin


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## the iconic image (Feb 28, 2010)

You can't get decent results but aiming a lens at the moon and triggering the shutter.. Stack a 1 stop and a 2 stop ND filter in front of your glass. Use a 400 with a doubler, manual focus, fire some frames. You get the picture.. There is one I shot of the moon tonight on my blog.

the Iconic Image


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## PerfectlyFlawed (Feb 28, 2010)

Stack a 1 stop and a 2 stop ND filter in front of your glass. Use a 400 with a doubler said:
			
		

> Ok...I'm totally new to this stuff... 1 stop? 2 stop ND filter???...400 w/ doubler? Lol
> Can u be a little more specific...so I know what I need? Lol still learning the manual focus---i turned off auto was trying to take a quick pic before the clouds swallowed the moon again lol used the low light iso option on my cam. Wanna say it was 1800 ISO.


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## JimmyO (Feb 28, 2010)

the iconic image said:


> You can't get decent results but aiming a lens at the moon and triggering the shutter.. Stack a 1 stop and a 2 stop ND filter in front of your glass. Use a 400 with a doubler, manual focus, fire some frames. You get the picture.. There is one I shot of the moon tonight on my blog.
> 
> the Iconic Image



Honestly dont even like your shot, looks like something a scientist would like, but it just looks ugly, and also the last time i checked the moon wasnt blue. 

My shot was taken with a tripoded d90+180mm 2.8 AIs at either f/4 or 5.6.


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## PerfectlyFlawed (Feb 28, 2010)

Honestly dont even like your shot, looks like something a scientist would like, but it just looks ugly, and also the last time i checked the moon wasnt blue. 

My shot was taken with a tripoded d90+180mm 2.8 AIs at either f/4 or 5.6.[/QUOTE]

Was this directed towards my shot?!


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## JimmyO (Feb 28, 2010)

PerfectlyFlawed said:


> the iconic image said:
> 
> 
> > You can't get decent results but aiming a lens at the moon and triggering the shutter.. Stack a 1 stop and a 2 stop ND filter in front of your glass. Use a 400 with a doubler, manual focus, fire some frames. You get the picture.. There is one I shot of the moon tonight on my blog.
> ...



I wasnt talking to you....


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## PerfectlyFlawed (Feb 28, 2010)

JimmyO said:


> PerfectlyFlawed said:
> 
> 
> > the iconic image said:
> ...



Ok, I appologize. I am on my cell phone and the quotes are confusing to make out. I thought I was. But sorry about that.


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## JimmyO (Feb 28, 2010)

Its ok, no worries


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## Stosh (Feb 28, 2010)

the iconic image said:


> You can't get decent results but aiming a lens at the moon and triggering the shutter.. Stack a 1 stop and a 2 stop ND filter in front of your glass. Use a 400 with a doubler, manual focus, fire some frames. You get the picture.. There is one I shot of the moon tonight on my blog.
> 
> the Iconic Image



There is absolutely NO reason to put any type of filter in front of your lens when shooting the moon.  If your shot is overexposed, shorten the exposure time.  The moon is never any brighter than an earth scene in the middle of the day.  They are both lit by the sun and are both the same distance from said sun.

Some basics:
Get the longest lens you have.  Sometimes a slightly shorter focal length prime is sharper than a longer zoom, so keep this in mind.  Experiment.

Set the aperture to its sharpest setting (usually 2 stops slower than wide open).

Depending on how sharp your lens is, you can put a teleconverter on it too.  Keep in mind this greatly reduces the light and sharpness, so if you can already see the softness of your lens at max zoom, there's no reason to amplify the softness with the teleconverter.

Now choose ISO and shutter speed.  It's somewhat of a balancing act if you're handholding the shot, but if it's a tripod shot and you have some kind of remote, timer, and/or mirror lock up, then go with ISO 100 and adjust shutter speed accordingly.  If handheld, make sure your shutter speed isn't slower than 1/F.L.  In other words if you have a 300mm lens, shutter speed shouldn't be slower than 1/300th of a second.  Adjust ISO accordingly.

It's very basic stuff with exposure.  If you have a white ball, it's overexposed.  If you have a black screen, it's underexposed.  The histogram is your friend, but it's easy to see visually too.  

It's best to shoot the moon when it's at least 45 degrees above the horizon - less atmosphere to shoot through and therefore less risk of distortion at higher focal lengths.  Happy shooting.


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## PerfectlyFlawed (Feb 28, 2010)

Stosh said:


> the iconic image said:
> 
> 
> > You can't get decent results but aiming a lens at the moon and triggering the shutter.. Stack a 1 stop and a 2 stop ND filter in front of your glass. Use a 400 with a doubler, manual focus, fire some frames. You get the picture.. There is one I shot of the moon tonight on my blog.
> ...



i loaned out my 300mm, so ill have to give it a nother try with my 55-200mm. (hopefully thats enough  ) Im gonna play with settings and work with it again.. i think tonight was supposed to be a full moon...( if the storm clouds dont swallow it whole that is..lol)

Thanks for the advice!:thumbup:


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## j-digg (Mar 2, 2010)

Taken with a Canon 55-250


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## sojourn (Mar 2, 2010)

I have not tried to capture the moon close up, but I've seen some good information to get me started.

What I do have is a lunar corona, who's subtle colors were difficult to capture. Coronas are caused by tiny water droplets of similar size way up in the atmosphere. This one was particularly colorful. The star to the right is the planet Jupiter.







This image has a bit of lens flare, but it was one of my first attempts at dusk photography, showing the new moon:


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## kundalini (Mar 2, 2010)

Apparently I left my memory card with the Friday Night Moon Shots at my friends house over the weekend. However, when I was driving home on Sunday, the moonrise was spectacular. I still had a 15 minute drive home when it began its ascent. After scramblng to get setup to still see it orange, I got this shot.




 



Not the best, but something.​


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