How to shoot the moon

[Bynx]

The best definitions of the moon is along the line separating the light and dark. If the moon could be shoot every couple days for a complete cycle and all the sections beside the line put together I think it would be an incredibly defined picture.

[JLV]

I saw a beautiful, huge full moon a few weeks ago. I ran in the house and grabbed the Canon S5 IS. But as I started taking shots I quickly saw that the moon came out as just a blown out white blob, with no detail. I assume this is an issue with the white balance? Any tips on how to zoom this bad boy in on the moon and get some shots that show a little detail other than this blown out mess? Is it as simple as mounting this guy on a tripod and going for a long exposure, or will white balance still cause problems even in that case?

If your camera has spot or center metering and focus, try it. This may give you what you are looking for.

[Idnas71]

How would you suggest better results on a picture like this, when the moon is not the only subject of the photo? I hate that it just looks like a giant spotlight.

This was taken with a Canon S3, and obviously just handheld as it's a little blurry. I still like the picture, though, as a reminder of my visit to beautiful Budapest.

[Bynx]

You have a lot more control over the exposure of your pics than you think.

[Hot Sot]

Here is my first try at the moon. Wrat do you think?

[Idnas71]

You have a lot more control over the exposure of your pics than you think.

OMG... how did you do that? lol! Can you send me two 8x10's, please?

Just kidding... but only half-way. I'd certainly pay you for the service.

[mjmuscato]

Rooz, was that moon shot taken with your nikon? I have seen it before I think and I admire the detail. This is the best I have gotten with My S5. I would love to be able to capture as much detail as that with my S5, I don't know if that's even possible.

I'll be happy if I can get to the detail you've got here. Looks like a good starting spot. I was stuck on the idiotic notion that since I was taking a night shot I needed a long exposure; sometimes you just need a good whack upside the head to get those synapses to fire correctly and start that whole "thinking" thing.

[sparkie1263]

First try at winter moon. What do you think??

[Graystar]

Look here to see what kind of moon shot you can get with a 1000mm focal length.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=26427808
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Toyota Auris

[Squirt]

You are actually taking a photograph of sunlight being reflected by the surface of the moon. You basic ball park setting would be 1/(ISO) for a shutter speed and an aperture of F/16, a basic well lit setting for full sun. If you are using ISO 200 your exposure would be 1/200 of a second using F/16 if you are shootting close to a full frame image of the moon.