Anyways, I've always wanted to take a cool picture of the moon, but honestly never taken the time to figure it out. Tonight I did a test run to get my settings ready for tomorrow and really play with the camera. I live in the "green zone" on the camera for the most part. All auto. I know I could be good if I just dedicated the time, but who has any of that? So, here is my first attempt to get off of auto-pilot.
There was quite a bit of haze in the sky and I had to adjust for that. The haze caused a bit of a halo, but I didn't like the lack of clarity at the slower shutter speed. I hope it's clear tomorrow night. We shall see.
That's a pretty sweet picture if you ask me. My (now deceased) el-cheapo Wal Mart digital camera would never get a pic so crisp or close. Ya done good : )
ReplyDeleteThanks, Craig. I was fairly pleased for a first try. The lens is a 55-250 mm, which I read (just yesterday) is kind of the bare minimum for this. Then I just zoomed with the ole computer. No Photoshop, yet.
Deletelove the pic, buddy! we got up this morning and it is foggy and overcast! i hope it blows by throughout the day - i want to see that gorgeous moon from the hottub tonight! i will take a pic too but i only know two settings on my camera: 1) point and 2) click - bahahahahah! i hope you get a nice pic tonight!
ReplyDeleteyour friend,
kymber
Thanks, kymber. I hope it clears up so you can have a beautiful view. You and that hottub. You got me again. I read: "...gorgeous moon from the hottub tonight! i will take a pic too..." and I was like, uhhhhh. Oh, of the MOON. In the SKY. LOL. Have a great one tonight.
DeleteI tried to shoot the moon, way back in the early 90's. It strained my rifle barrel something awful.
ReplyDeleteHopefully in a safe direction ;), thanks my friend.
DeleteGet away from city lights (of any kind), and use a tripod. That'll help with the haze and the lack of clarity at low shutter speeds. Pretty much anything less than 1/250 shutter speed will benefit greatly from use of a tripod.
ReplyDeleteRabidAlien, we live a pretty fair distance from what could be called city lights. This was a test run taken from in front of the house. There are a few lights down the street, but I was just playing on this one. My plan for the moon I really want to shoot is to go to our lease out in the country that is dark as dark. Trust me, when you're hiking (stumbling) to the blind, you know there aren't any city lights around. This halo was from high, thin cloud cover (what I called a haze) and the light of the moon showing through it which caused a white glare around the moon in the picture. I used a tripod and since I don't have a remote for the shutter (yet) I used the timer. I started at 1/250 and f11, but ended up slowing down the shutter speed and at around f8. I think the clouds dulled the brightness and it was too dark at faster shutter speed. Thanks for the input. I think I'll probably be needing some more as I get out of the box more. I feel pretty ok about the main even tonight.
DeleteKewl! Lucky you, living out in the middle of nowhere! Went camping once with my Dad and another friend down at Big Bend Nat'l Park, and when the sun went down, the sky really came alive! This was quite some time ago...Haley's Comet was cruising past, and really put on a show away from the city lights. I miss that sort of peace and solitude.
ReplyDeleteHaven't really done any low-light photography in a long time, but you can get some cool effects with star wheels and 30-minute exposures (a wireless release is awesome for that, you don't have to worry about the cable bumping the tripod and giving that imperceptible jiggle that always seems to throw a wrinkle in the pic), and if they still made it, infrared film was always one of my favorites to work with (especially B&W). I think Cokin makes an infrared filter for their filter system (www.instructables.com had a writeup on how to modify one of their square filters to fit inside a generic round screw-on filter frame).
Man...I need to go shooting again (photo and ammo!).
Well, it's not going to work out tonight. Too much cloud cover. When we drove out on the property today, though all I could see were things I'd like to get the camera on. The long exposures with the stars is something I kind of want to try in the future as well. It's amazing what kind of pictures you can get when you just play around with the settings a little. Thanks, Rabid.
DeleteNo problem! The best thing about digital cameras is that you can actually play with the settings all you want...for free! No more blasting off a cheap roll of film and getting it developed just to learn how to use the little "P" setting on your camera.
Delete