Moon/Cloud Photos

Canon 40D, Sigma 70-300mm lens... managed to get these one cold night in October. When I first went out it was just the full moon but some clouds were slowly rolling in. I sat outside and waited for them and about froze my tush off to do it so hopefully they're good! LOL

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I like number one. Gives me a feeling of actually being above the clouds instead of under them. Did you shoot any with the moon properly exposed? Would make an interesting composite in PS.

Thank you. I'm a newbie at this and some of the technical stuff still confuses me. I don't have a light meter... I used the meter within the camera. I metered for the moon within the camera on the 2nd shot (the first shot was metered for the clouds). All of the shots I got the moon looks blown out like this. Can you offer some advice on how to meter it better than what I did? I would love to see more details in the moon but I couldn't figure out how to get that so ANYTHING you can advise would be great! (sorry if I sound stupid to some of you pros, but I really WANT to learn and that's why I'm here... trying to learn more than what I'm learning in school. )

Let's start with the "Sunny 16 Rule."

"S16R" basically says to get a proper exposure of an object in direct sunlight, set your shutter speed to the equivalent of your ISO (ie ISO 100, then set 1/100 sec shutter speed, ISO 400 = 1/500 [nearest equivalent], etc...) and your aperture to f/16.

So, the moon is an object lit by direct sunlight right? See where I'm going with this?

Some subsricbe to what I've seen called the "Moonie 11 Rule" which simply suggests you use f/11 in place of f/16 for a full moon (just open up one stop.)

Unfortunately, because of the extreme contrast ratio between a bright moon and really dark clouds, you'll find that getting both properly exposed in one frame is going to be nearly impossible. So, you could shoot one frame of the moon at f/11-16 then open up to, say, f/8 and shoot again, then f/4 and shoot again then combine good moon with good clouds in a program like photoshop.

Keep pluggin' away .. Keep asking questions .. and always be open to experimentation!

Good Luck

Oh, one other quick thing. If you look closely, you'll notice that the moon in your first shot is sorta, kinda oblongish? That's because it's moving across the sky so if you use a long-ish exposure, the moon gets blurry.

I think they are great, mysterious. I also live in Alabama. I need to get out more at night and check out the moon.

LOL

Teeny

Thanks so much for the comments! I do know the sunny 16 rule... well, let's say I've heard of it several times and have it written down for reference because I can't ever remember it!

One of the problems I ran into while shooting these, I HAD to have the ISO at 1600 because it wouldn't even meter with anything less, and the shutter speed had to be slow (I cannot recall what I shot it at and the original is on my other computer so I can't look it up right now) because of the aperture limitations on my lens in order to get a proper exposure. I actually have the shutter/aperture/iso conflict a lot and it gets frustrating sometimes.

And the 1st photo with the moon off to the left, I couldn't even get a focusing point to capture that far off to the left so I just shot for the clouds. I did find out after shooting these that you can "move" the focusing points, but I have yet to learn how to do that. But I really appreciate the technical feedback flyingphoto.

Teeny... THANKS so much! I got a whole series of photos that night... someone mentioned a composite and I have thought about that because I got shots from before the clouds rolled in until you could hardly see the moon anymore so it would make for an interesting "story". Maybe one of these days I'll get some time to play with these particular photos some and can do that. I'm in North Alabama... how 'bout you?

Here's some specs if anyone's interested

Photo 1
f/5
1/6
1600
focal length: 190mm

Photo 2
f/5
0.5
1600
focal length: 70mm

Your camera will also help you. In a picture like this set your camera to shutter priority. Take several pictures each time at a higher speed. To get features on the moon you will probably want to get down to 1/250

Wow. That picture is really AWESOME. Makes me want to take mine down and leave yours there. But that's what I WANT to do! I love all that detail in the moon. I really wanted that in these photos but I didn't know how to capture it... well, still don't know that I know how to capture it. Will have to wait for the next full moon to try it out.
Larry you said to take several pictures at one time... do you mean like shoot a burst sequence or just take a few, one right after the other? I'm not sure I'm really understanding exactly what you mean and I REALLY want to get it right when I try it again. Thanks SOOO much for the tips!

f8ed4photography wrote in post #4465880
Wow. That picture is really AWESOME. Makes me want to take mine down and leave yours there. But that's what I WANT to do! I love all that detail in the moon. I really wanted that in these photos but I didn't know how to capture it... well, still don't know that I know how to capture it. Will have to wait for the next full moon to try it out.
Larry you said to take several pictures at one time... do you mean like shoot a burst sequence or just take a few, one right after the other? I'm not sure I'm really understanding exactly what you mean and I REALLY want to get it right when I try it again. Thanks SOOO much for the tips!

The picture wasnt meant to make you jealous, it was to show you what can be done. If you want to be jealous of quality, look at other peoples pictures.

As to the how to. I take the pictures sequentially. There is a method in the 40D to implement bracketing automatically. That will enable you to press once, and get three frames exposed with a fixed sequence of exposures. Easiest tip there is to read the instruction manual.

Dont wait for the next full moon. Go out on any night that there is a moon, and practice. The really good part about digital photography is that film, once you own it, is cheap.

Those are great, I like #1 best because I find the wire in #2 a little distracting.

Its facinating taking pics of the moon - the cloud texture is very nice, but your moons turn out like mine

I have never heard of the sunny 16 rule or the moonie 11 rule so i will have to try a little more with those so thanks for the tip

Cheers

Andy

Bignerd wrote in post #4469443
The picture wasnt meant to make you jealous, it was to show you what can be done. If you want to be jealous of quality, look at other peoples pictures.

As to the how to. I take the pictures sequentially. There is a method in the 40D to implement bracketing automatically. That will enable you to press once, and get three frames exposed with a fixed sequence of exposures. Easiest tip there is to read the instruction manual.

Dont wait for the next full moon. Go out on any night that there is a moon, and practice. The really good part about digital photography is that film, once you own it, is cheap.

No, no. I wasn't jealous. Much. But THAT is the kind of texture I want to learn how to get in my moon pictures. And I did learn about bracketing in my photog class so I know what you mean when you say bracketing, however, I didn't know you could set the camera up to do that so I will definately have to get my manual out and look that one up. Thanks for the tips!

Thanks Alby and Andy. I do want to try and clone out the line in the 2nd one. I've been really bogged down with end of semester stuff at school so have had very little time to "play" with my pictures. 1 is my favorite out of all that I took that night. I had heard of the sunny 16 rule but the moonie 11 was new to me. Sometimes it's hard remembering everything. I decided the other day I need to get a notebook to jot all of these little tips and hints into. Thanks for the comments all.