Tips for Photographing the Moon

[Anonymous]

As a relative beginner with an EOS90D with 18-135 nano USM lens,  I'm getting excited about a 'Harvest Moon' tonight. Here in the UK we have a clear blue sky and I live in the hilly Pennines, so should be ideal for some great photos. 

So please let me have some tips for set up etc - I have a tripod and don't mind getting up early tomorrow if needed.

Thanks 

Twiddler 

[shadowsports]

Greetings ,

A sturdy tripod is recommended.  A remote cable release for the shutter might also be a good idea. 

The EF-S 18-135 is not a very fast lens so you will need to do a long exposure.  At some point you may want to consider a lens with a faster aperture and a little more reach.

Be sure to share some photos with us after your shoot.🙂

[Anonymous]

Thanks Rick - will do. 

[kvbarkley]

135 is pretty short, you will not get much detail in the moon. Actually, given the brightness of the moon, look up "loony 16" rule, the exposure time is not too long.

You can ignore the exposure stuff, but you can calculate how many pixels the moon take up by using calculations from here:

https://community.usa.canon.com/t5/EOS-DSLR-Mirrorless-Cameras/Getting-prepared-for-the-eclipse/td-p...

[kvbarkley]

Sorry, it is the looney f/11 rule since the moon is not quite as bright as a sunlit scene on earth.

[kvbarkley]

By my calculation, the moon will take up 374 pixels.

[ebiggs1]

"135 is pretty short, you will not get much detail in the moon."

Yes, 135mm is not just pretty short it is way too short of FL unless you want a lot of surrounding area in the photo. However it does depend on what results you are after.

"Actually, given the brightness of the moon, look up "loony 16" rule, the exposure time is not too long."

This is something people don't realize, it is only dark here on Earth where you are but on the Moon it is full daylight. It is really not possible to expose properly for here on Earth and detail on the Moon in the same photograph. Of course there are procedures and tricks you can do to get both

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all your help - I appreciate my lens is limited- but I'll still get some photos+ I've never heard of loony 16 - so you learn something every day!

[kvbarkley]

Note that loony 11 is to expose the moon correctly, you will probably need much more exposure for the landscape. To EBiggs's point, take *two* shots, one exposed for the moon, and the other exposed for the foreground and combine them in post. I did this shot in one exposure, though it is much wider than 135mm:

[Anonymous]

You were right about the lens!!!