LENS CAPTURE

Vol. 1 No. 25

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Photographing our closest celestial body, the Moon, presents some challenges. You have probably attempted this in the past and wound up with a blown-out blob in the sky. Devoid of any detail.

The key thing to remember is the moon is illuminated by the Sun - the brightest object in our sky. You can photograph the moon using the trusted "Sunny 16" rule which states on a sunny day, set your aperture to f/16 and your shutter to 1/ISO speed. So to get shadow detail in your image you could set you camera, on a tripod of course, to ISO 100 (the lower the ISO the better to reduce noise), your aperture to f/16, and your shutter to 1/100 seconds. Do not expect to find detail in any other objects in the frame such as foreground elements (trees, buildings, etc.). These objects will be totally underexposed and lost in the shadows.

So how do you add interest in your moonscape images?

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The best way to accomplish this type of photograph is through the use of double-exposure. The image above, again, taken on a tripod, consists of two different exposures. The first capture was exposed for the Moon. The second image was taken to provide some detail in the sky, notice the cloud streak, and the park setting in the foreground. Depending on your camera model, you might be able to accomplish this type of photograph right in your camera. Otherwise, you will need to combine them later in post-production using tools like Adobe Elements or Photoshop.

Adding foreground elements when shooting moonscapes definitely makes the scene more interesting. Another useful tip is knowing when the Moon rises and where it will be in the sky. A very useful website is Time and Date.com's Moonrise and Moonset Calculator. Just select your location and it will present you with the when (times) and the azimuth, or where in the sky to see the moon. The Moon is usually largest just after moonrise and just before moonset.

One last tip. When photographing the Moon, if you wait till it is full, it will usually look somewhat flat. Capturing the Moon while crescent or, in the images above, in the last phase before a full Moon called "Waxing Gibbous," will show more dimension or shadowing.


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