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
