Friday, October 7, 2011

280/85

I have previously made several ill faded attempts to capture a shot of the moon. After doing some web reading, I was ready to take on this challenge again. Last evening, with the moon being 78% full and in it’s Waxing Gibbous phase, I planted my tripod in the sands of the bay, set my camera on the steady and tried as I had before.

I found the first common mistake shared by many was to assume, because it is dark, crank up the ISO. There is no need to as the intended target is a brightly glowing object and secondly you must have a very fast shutter speed. Heck, the moon is moving and from what I witnessed at a rather quick pace.

For my settings; ISO 200, 1/250, f/10, @ 300mm, and I think this goes without saying no flash. I shot in RAW, so I could make fine post processing adjustments if necessary.



I was happy with myself for reading up, prior to shooting, as it did save me the time and trouble of doing lots of fine tuning in processing. I adjusted the whites, lights, and the blacks, dark, cropped and framed.

While I am fairly pleased with the shot, I do plan on trying again when the winds are still. Last night they were strong enough to move the tripod causing a bit of shake and motion resulting in some blur.

Go see what other photographers learned over @ Courtney's.  She has lots of wonderful and informative photography tips.

And why not web hop over to Ashley's to check out some awesome editing tips.

15 comments:

Ashley Sisk said...

That crop made a nice difference - lovely work.

Seraphinas Phantasie said...

A wonderful photo from the half moon. Beautiful !

Cedar said...

Very nicely done!

Gina Kleinworth said...

Oh how I have a deep love for the moon- nicely done

Gretchen said...

Nice capture of the moon! I'm going to have to go out and give it a try one of these nights using your notes... =)

Michelle R said...

Awesome job on this!! I love shooting the moon! :)

Melinda said...

Great job! Beautiful detail!

Anonymous said...

Great job with the moon shot! I love how you can see all the details.

Mira Crisp said...

Trish, this is a nice capture! Great job. :)

Courtney said...

Beautiful capture! Well done!

Jennifer Thompson said...

Very nice capture.
I need to attempt another moon shot, thanks for the tips!

Unknown said...

Very nice! Your edit looks great!

Unknown said...

Lovely SOOC and edit. The crop really brings a great focus to the moon. I just recently learned how to shoot the moon and I was really proud of the accomplishment. I am sure you are too :o)! Thank you for sharing!

Janell said...

great job! I still can't quite get shooting the moon right.

Anonymous said...

Great shot! Love all of the detail.