Super Moon ~ Tips on Capturing the Moon

First I have to tell you- my dear friend Kim (who creates some amazing pictures btw) is going to be offering some online workshops teaching Photoshop & Elements. I know there are a lot of different classes out there- but if you are just getting started & it’s all so confusing right now, this would be a great place to start. I can’t tell you how long it’s taken me to learn everything she will teach you in about 2 hours time. Seriously- I so wish she would have done this a year ago. AND—– it’s so affordable. You won’t have to forego picking up new gear just to pay for the class. Click the button below & check it out & sign up!

NOW- Let me start by saying- a good portion of capturing the moon depends on it’s placement & the phase it’s in. In my experience- my view of the moon when it’s full, like the super moon, the face that I see has less craters & detail. I have always been less than impressed by my moon shots when it’s full. So I had low expectations when it came to the super moon on Saturday.

Now- here are some things that I have learned about shooting the moon.

First– you need to go against your urge to open the shutter. Capturing the moon is actually like shooting directly at a giant flashlight. You can keep your ISO low & your shutter speed fast. I’m usually using my long lens- so my aperture is usually at a minimum of f/5.6 when zoomed at 300mm.

Second- don’t expect those fabulous moon over the horizon shots to just happen. If you want a detailed moon- you have to go with the settings I mentioned above. When you do this- everything else is black. If you want to capture everything below the moon- you have to open your shutter & your result will be a big glowing dot in the sky. (like this shot below) You have to use a double exposure to get the look you are after. Unless you are shooting at dusk & still have some light in the sky. This being said- the example below shows that I didn’t have quite as much light as I thought- I ended up with the dreaded glowing dot. (I have yet to play with double exposure- maybe someday I will give it a whirl.)

5/5/2012 Super Moon 125mm ISO 200 1/25 f/4.5 (not what I wanted)

It was a good thing that I had low expectations for Saturday- because these really came out like crap in comparison to others I have done in the past. (shown towards the end of the post) I really wish I would have done the bulk of this post before going out to capture the super moon because I would have had all these things fresh in my mind before setting up to shoot. I know that the hubs is going to ask me how they turned out & I am going to have to say- not so good. I thought I was getting it while it was happening- but as you know- the little screen can be deceiving at times. So a good part of this post will be examples of the good & the bad. When looking at my settings between the good & the bad- there is a lot I can tell you of what I should have done & then there are some where I really don’t know what went wrong.

5/5/2012 Super Moon 300mm ISO 800 1/160 f/5.6

I thought the sky was light enough to be able to still capture the details. It just wasn’t as sharp as I thought I could get.

I didn’t adjust the warmth either- because at the time it was that yellow while rising.

5/5/2012 Super Moon 300mm ISO 400 1/200 f/5.6
I should have lowered the ISO to 200 to get this sharper.

5/5/2012 Super Moon 300mm ISO 200 1/250 f/5.6

I really don’t know what the deal is with this one. I had my settings right- but the clarity is beyond disappointing. This particular lens has been less than sharp for me lately. I don’t know why. Maybe from when it dropped back in October. But I don’t know why it would take so long to show the effects of that. It’s just not consistent- which is a bummer.

So it was bugging me & bugging me & bugging me. I couldn’t let it go. I waited all day on Sunday to get out there & try again. It finally rose around the time we were heading to bed & so I rushed out to snap a few before turning in. I was pleased with how they turned out & I even like the mysteriousness of it slipping behind the one lonely cloud that was in the sky that night.

5/6/2012 300mm ISO 400 1/200 f/5.6

I upped the ISO & lowered the shutter speed because it wasn’t nearly as bright while rising.

So- what a difference a couple days makes. I shot this yesterday morning. Yes- I got up at 5am because it was all I could think about. I knew that the moon would be brilliant & bright & I wanted another stab at it. So I got up & got exactly what I was after. You can see that it’s slightly less than full- but that allowed me to capture those craters better & all I did to this image was run a sharpening action on it.

5/7/2012 300mm ISO 200 1/250 f/5.6

Now here are some examples & settings of some past moon shots.

This one I captured back in October. I like that it shows the detail & it’s clear- but it still looks less spherical to me.

October 2011

Then there was the lunar eclipse. This was trickier because it wasn’t glowing at all. So I opened the shutter wide & went against all the rules in my head. The result wasn’t sharp- but I was able to capture exactly what I was seeing with my eyes.

12/10/2011 The Lunar Eclipse 300mm ISO 400 1.0 sec f/5.6

As I mentioned before- sometimes capturing the moon while the sky is blue- rather than black, is the best option. I actually captured this in February one morning at sunrise. While the moon isn’t detailed & sharp- I was able to capture the mood- which at the time was what I wanted.

2/12/2012 Sunrise 100mm ISO 200 1/250 sec f/6.3

This is my favorite shot of the moon to date. I shot this back in January & I love it because not only did I get all my settings right- but I like that it’s less than full, which actually gives it the 3 dimensional feel. Like you see in the images above- when the moon is completely full- it can sort of look flat when captured.

January 2012 300mm ISO 200 1/160 f/5.6

So- it’s obvious that I have a lot to learn still. I’m far from an expert.
But I hope that you are able to see what I have done & it helps you capture what you are after.

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Pieni Lintu says

May 8, 2012

I liked that last one most!

MG Atwood says

May 8, 2012

Thanks for this. I went out on the 5th, not happy with what I shot. Have been so beat the next two nights I totally spaced it. MUST try tonight!

Jessica says

May 8, 2012

I’m soooo jealous!!! We had full clouds on super moon nights! Love your photos!!! Beautiful!

Susan @ Sunflower Status says

May 8, 2012

Wow! The main tip that got me was “zoomed at 300mm”… I so need to get a better lens and try this. I LOVE that last shot, truly amazing!

Jaymi says

May 8, 2012

wow your moon shots are incredible, and I love seeing all your settings! I just don’t have a long enough lens to shoot the moon, and the one time I tried moon shots was with my camera hooked up to a friend’s telescope! But I couldn’t get the shots in perfect focus. I did read that sometimes atmosphere can make your photos look out of focus, so it might not be your lens. There may have just been a haze in the sky that you couldn’t see that was slightly dispersing the light of the moon. But all your shots are pretty incredible–I especially love the last two!

Lil Mama Stuart says

May 8, 2012

interesting – I’m really surprised you can see the details in the craters, nice!

Pam Bowers says

May 8, 2012

Your moons are always so beautiful. I wanted to try a shot with the foreground showing this time. I’m surrounded by hills so while the moonrise was at 7:30 I didn’t actually see it till closer to 8. It was way too dark.

Linda R says

May 8, 2012

WOW! I just loved reading how you got these shots. I didn’t even get to see the super moon 🙁

Thanks so much for all the info. I am definitely going to try this.

Hugs~

Karen Mortensen says

May 8, 2012

Wow. Beautiful pictures.

homeschoolceo says

May 9, 2012

Very helpful tips Gina! The detail in your last shot is amazing. I really love the landscape shots though, even though there is less moon detail. They’re gorgeous!
I was hoping to get some decent shots last weekend but we had cloudy skies.

Kim C. says

May 9, 2012

I think these are pretty great! I would have loved to have shot mine closer to the horizon, but couldn’t. I love how large your moon looks. And the eclipse is very out of this world with the colors. Very cosmic!

Adeena says

May 9, 2012

That last shot is *fantastic*!!

And I love the blue sky one, too.

I didn’t see the super moon when it was yellow – it was cloudy right until it got pretty high in the sky. So, I like the first one, too. 🙂

Kimberly says

May 9, 2012

I always love seeing your moon photos! Thank you for sharing your experiences! I typically start shooting at ISO 100, f/11, 1/125s and adjust the shutter speed from there. I almost always have to lower the SS. The one I posted recently of the super moon I shot at ISO 100, f/25, 1/20s. I was just experimenting and this one turned out the best. 🙂

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