Moon Photography

Moon photography is one of my dreams. Being a regular reader to DPS (Digital photography School),  I used to surprise when people click and post their moon shots on web. I wondered, how they gone such close and get the clear shots. Were they used any space ship or a telescope???

To make the dreams come true, I finally purchased a high zoom point and shoot camera (FUZIFILM S1800).  It has 18x optical zoom which is equivalent to 504 mm on a 35mm camera. This helps me to reach quite close and capture the moon.

Exif info: ISO – 64, Exposure – 1/30, Aperture – 11.0, Focal length – 90 mm

I would like to share few important things, which needs to be considered when capturing the moon.

• Choose narrow aperture to get greater depth of the field.
• Keep the ISO as low as possible to avoid noise.
• Focus manually and use spot metering.
• Set the white balance to fluorescent as the light coming from the moon is white in colour.

Exif info: ISO – 64, Exposure – 1/60, Aperture – 11.0, Focal length – 90 mm

• Mount the camera on a tripod for steady shot, With the long zooms, even a small hand shake can blur the picture.
• Use self timer or remote to operate the camera. so that you do not introduce any movement as the shutter button is pressed.
• Switch on your live view to compose the shot easily,  bending for a long time will introduce noise in your back and results backache.

Exif info: ISO – 100, Exposure – 8, Aperture – 11.0, Focal length – 90 mm

• Try with various shutter speed ranging from one second to 1/100 of second to get the right exposure.
• Follow rule of thirds for creating interest in the frame.

Exif info: ISO – 64, Exposure – 1/20, Aperture – 11.0, Focal length – 90 mm

Exif info: ISO – 64, Exposure – 1/30, Aperture – 11.0, Focal length – 90 mm

The super moon, captured on 19th March 2011.

Exif info: ISO – 64, Exposure – 1/160, Aperture – 11.0, Focal length – 90 mm