Background and the moon, What settings?

Hi all
Back before I bought my Canon T3i I saw the most beautiful seen, I left my house not even thinking about photography and when I took a left onto the main road there it was, the full moon was off to the right of the road over the trees, the road and trees on the left were lit by the moon and the trees on the right side of the road were in silhouette from the light behind them.

I would so love to have a picture of what I saw that night but don't have a clue as to what settings to use in Manual mode, I have the kit lense that came with the T3i not sure which one of them I should use either, I have watched numerous Youtube videos and can't seem to find one that makes it crystal clear for me, some say long exposures others say the moon is so bright that you don't have to use long exposures, some of the videos are more rants and raves, music in the background and other distractions that I can't think straight. So would somebody Please give me some simple settings to try?

Thanks
Don

The moon is in full sunlight, so only needs a short exposure to capture it correctly, typically 1/125 at f/8 or f/11 with 100 ISO. The problem with that setting is that it will leave your moonlit street scene severely under exposed. You can either expose for the street scene, which will leave the moon as a bright white blob in the sky, or you can try taking two images on a tripod, one exposed for the street and the other for the moon, and combine the two in post.

Don, it depends on where you want the details to be visible. There is probably no setting where you can see detail on the moon and detail in the landscape. But you can get great pictures still.

For detail on the moon, stop down to f/8, use your highest zoom, and you can shoot fast enough to hold it by hand. Try about 1/200 sec but experiment between 1/500 and 1/100 sec to get an exposure you like. You'll be able to see stuff on the moon and the landscape will be dark but you might get some cool effects like the silhouette of trees and hills. The moon will be pretty small in the picture unless you can zoom out to at least 300 mm, and your kit lens probably stops at 55 mm.

For moonlit landscape, you'll need a tripod. Here's a shot of my house under a full moon (not in the picture) taken with a T2i and a 17 mm lens. But it was a full 15 seconds at ISO 1600 and f/4. This is pretty extreme in that it actually looks like sunlight except for the stars in the sky. Focusing was a bit of a challenge because the autofocus couldn't lock on anything under just moonlight, so I used a laser pointer on the house and focused manually.

This sounds complicated but it's not. Just experiment with exposures but you probably do need a tripod if you want any foreground detail. It's really hard to predict what you'll get and, if you try a bunch of different settings, you might be surprised by getting a great shot.

Sorarse wrote in post #15286471
or you can try taking two images on a tripod, one exposed for the street and the other for the moon, and combine the two in post.

^^ That's your best bet.

You might also try shooting the moon during daylight. It sometimes rises before the sun sets and you can capture it and the scene without too much trouble. In December you may find the moon rising early.

Here's a link to a moon/sun set/rise tables.

http://www.timeanddate​.com/worldclock/moonri​se.html

Thanks a bunch will be trying the suggestions, I'm liking the picture, will have to try that to, Thanks again
Don

The only thing I'll add to what others have said is I've found the best time is sunset when the ambient light is enough you can see the foreground and still expose the moon correctly so it does not look like a bright blob.
Some images here: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=949159
taken with my T1i using the 15-85 lens on tripod, PP done in Aperture 3.1

mtbdudex wrote in post #15290136
The only thing I'll add to what others have said is I've found the best time is sunset when the ambient light is enough you can see the foreground and still expose the moon correctly so it does not look like a bright blob.
Some images here: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=949159
taken with my T1i using the 15-85 lens on tripod, PP done in Aperture 3.1

Yes, That picture matches what I am looking to do, will try it and see what happens, Thanks to all for your help, sure makes it a lot easier for somebody new to all of the digital photography stuff.
Thanks
Don

I've gotta admit, I didn't realize you could get both exposed together so well but doing it at twilight makes sense. Thanks for the tip mtbdudex.