Make The Most Of What Light You Have

Shooting the Moon hinges on how much light you let into your camera’s sensor.  You need enough light for definition, but not too much, which would affect clarity.

Light

Begin with an ISO of 640, but be willing to push up to 800 or even 1000 or beyond.  When you review your photos, make sure they are bright enough, but not washed out (too high an ISO).   When looking at your photo, ask if it is as bright as what your eye is seeing.

Craters Galore!

Detail

For Detail— especially of the Moon’s many craters— start with an aperture near or at f16.  This will result in dark photos, so increase your ISO.  As I always say, Review and Refine.  After each shot, check to see what you need to adjust for better photos.  But go for crater detail (narrow aperture like f16), and then adapt your ISO so your camera sensor takes in enough light.

At 700mm, ISO 800, aperture f18, and shutter speed of 1/320th second, I got great detail here of Tycho, one of the Moon’s most famous craters— located just above the bottom center.  One of the “younger” craters, Tycho is about 108 Million years old, 53 miles wide, and 15,400 feet deep. 

I think of aperture as Detail, so a narrow aperture provides contrast/detail of the Moon’s many craters.  Each night, because Earth and the Moon move, the Sun shines on different craters.  Every Moon photo shoot is different.

Less Moon= More ISO!

Although you’re photographing at night, you’re seeing daytime on the Moon.  The Sun shines brightly on all of those craters and dried basalt fields (the dark gray areas known as Meres or Seas, because early astronomers mistakenly thought they were seas).

When the Moon isn’t full, focus on the most “white” surface you can.  Check out my General Settings below to consider using Single Point Autofocus. 

Half and Crescent Moons leave little to focus on, so it’s important to tune your camera into that glimmer of “white” light.  I say white here in general, but the Moon is both white and many shades of gray.  The less Moon you see, the more ISO you will need.

Black And White, Yet Oh So Colorful!

The Picturephant Expert Master Class covers shooting the Moon, especially chasing the color from Moonrise to when it shines overhead.  Rising Moons can appear more golden, because Earth’s atmosphere obscures the clarity of what you’re seeing.  So customize your White Balance to a higher color temperature closer to 4,800 Kelvin.  There is a strategy to customizing White Balance, which is too intricate to discuss here.  That’s why it’s covered in the Picturephant Expert Master Class.  If you’re not comfy adjusting White Balance, keep it at Auto White Balance like you should for your usual photo shoots. 

Here’s an interesting example of a golden color.  At the time I took this, smoke from wildfires hundreds of miles away up in Canada affected the air quality in Pennsylvania— casting the Moon in a golden color.  Had I used Auto White Balance, my camera would not have rendered the truly golden color I saw.  I customized my White Balance color temperature to 4,800 Kelvin to get exactly what I saw that night.  

To me, Moonrise looks more like an old incandescent light bulb (warmer, golden white), while a Moon overhead looks more like an LED light bulb (a colder, bluer white).  To get both colors right, customize your White Balance especially during Moonrise.  Later on, when the Moon is higher and more overhead, Auto White Balance is good enough. 

See the Moon Total Eclipse in the Super Photos Gallery for an example of how customizing White Balance enabled me to chase the Moon’s color throughout the Eclipse.

Stay tuned for future Blog Posts about shooting the Moon!