Beginner Astronomy – Part V – Lunar Photography and the Lunar Eclipse For most subjects in the night sky, you need a wide open aperture, a high ISO, and a (relatively) long exposure time. This combination, however, will wash the moon out completely. If you’ve got a good tripod, you’ll get a white circle on a black background, with maybe a few stars in the background. If you’ve got an inferior tripod, or if the night is windy, you’ll get a white blob on a black background. So why is it so hard to get a good photo of the moon? The main reason it’s so hard go get proper exposure on the moon is the fact that, despite it being night time, you’re trying to take a photo of something that is in broad daylight. Because the bright side of the moon is actually the daytime side, you need to use daytime exposure settings. When I got my first good shot of the moon, I used the following settings: ISO 800, f/5.6, and 1/500 second. If you don’t know much about your camera settings, and want to take photos of the eclipse on Monday night, may I starting with the first video below, and experimenting a bit. Just remember that as the eclipse progresses, you’ll need to change your settings to compensate for the reduced light level. The first eclipse of 2014 begins at 9:53pm (Pacific Time) on April 14th and, weather permitting, will be visible from Vancouver. We here at VTC encourage everyone to get out and do some observing, or photography, or at the very least, to just look up to see this uncommon display. The 3 Basics of Exposure & Photography bit.ly/1oTRZLZ NASA Eclipse details 1.usa.gov/1gFQ8mB NASA – What Happens During a Lunar Eclipse bit.ly/1qHxVbo Photo of the Moon, by Yours Truly bit.ly/1qogn5J
Posted on: Fri, 11 Apr 2014 17:17:44 +0000
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