Moon Shots

[Brian]

I have been inspired by some cracking photos that have been posted on this forum recently, of the Moon in various phases, and thought I'd have a go at it myself. As I don't have a DSLR, just a point and shoot Nikon P520, I wasn't expecting too much, but was pleasantly surprised with the result. I used a tripod and pretty much full zoom (1000mm) and after many experimental settings, came up with this photo. 

Taken at ISO 100, f7.4 at 1/125th.  I realise that full moon is not the best time, due to the angle of the sun, but I have a few questions that you might be able to answer.

1. How to get more detail on the moon's face? I seem to have got it round the edges, where the sun is at a more advantageous angle.

2. Not in datlight, but when doing these shots, what I saw on the camera screen was much brighter than the result on the computer. Is this normal?

3. Am I trying to get a Mini Minor to do the job of a Ferrari? ( I've seen Minis do some amazing things)

The photo I present is cropped and is about 5 or 6 times the original.

I look forward to your comments and will not be hurt by adverse comments.

Brian

[Terry]

Hi Brian a great effort. For moon shots as you say the full moon is not the best for detail. Better when its waxing or waning as you get better shadow detail especially along the terminator (The light dark boarder). The other problem is the atmospherics even when it appears that its crystal clear there can be high atmosphere haze that effects what astronomers call the  "seeing". As I said in another post people don't realise how bright the moon can be. When I was heavily into astronomy looking at the moon I used a polarising eye piece for viewing it to cut down the brightness to make viewing comfortable. 

[Guest]

thats a lovely shot well captured

[Terry]

Hi Brian, hope you don't mind but couldn't resist having a bit of a play with your image. There is a lot of detail there that just needs bringing out

 

[Brian]

Thanks Terry, that looks a lot better, how did you do that? Was it Photoshop? If so, can you remember what you did?(I have PS, lightroom and Elements )

Do you think I could have got more from the camera; maybe a little less exposure?

I now have an ElCheapo polarising lens on order from Hong Kong or somewhere.

I would love to hear anybody's views.

I'll have a go in Elements first.

 

10 minutes later!

Do you think I've over done it?

[Terry]

Hi Brian, in PSE7 I adjusted the brightness and contrast, added a duplicate layer and applied a black/white graduation set to overlay. Reduced the intensity to about 70% then applied the burn tool to the shadow areas set at 7%. I think you might have gone a tad over the top with the sharpening but a good effort.

[Brian]

Thanks Terry.

By coincidence, watching the Day/Night match against the Poms, the camera man, obviously bored, focussed on the moon. I don't think it was much better than my first effort!

It looks like we might get beaten. It had to happen sooner or later.

[ChrisLumix]

I have been inspired by some cracking photos that have been posted on this forum recently, of the Moon in various phases, and thought I'd have a go at it myself. As I don't have a DSLR, just a point and shoot Nikon P520, I wasn't expecting too much, but was pleasantly surprised with the result. I used a tripod and pretty much full zoom (1000mm) and after many experimental settings, came up with this photo. 

Taken at ISO 100, f7.4 at 1/125th.  I realise that full moon is not the best time, due to the angle of the sun, but I have a few questions that you might be able to answer.

1. How to get more detail on the moon's face? I seem to have got it round the edges, where the sun is at a more advantageous angle.

2. Not in datlight, but when doing these shots, what I saw on the camera screen was much brighter than the result on the computer. Is this normal?

3. Am I trying to get a Mini Minor to do the job of a Ferrari? ( I've seen Minis do some amazing things)

The photo I present is cropped and is about 5 or 6 times the original.

I look forward to your comments and will not be hurt by adverse comments.

Brian

 

I think you need to boost the contrast of your shot quite a bit? Then the detail will be more evident. (ETA: Terry already did this!)

 

It's quite normal to see a brighter picture on your LCD screen than when you finally see it on the computer. I've learned not to judge a picture until it's uploaded to the computer.

 

Your camera will do a fine job - but one thing to try (if it will let you zoom that far) is to spot meter off the moon itself, then lock exposure after maybe applying a +1/3 or +2/3 EV to it. If you can't zoom that far, and the moon is small in your viewfinder, apply around -2 EV as the camera's metering will try to lighten the black sky and massively over-expose the moon. 

[Kobione]

Terrific effort, Brian - something I haven't even got round to trying - as yet

[NannyFerret]

You had a good picture to start with, and now the detail has been brought out with editing, it shows a lot more of the craters etc.   Nice one!