Taken tonight from outside my backdoor.
Many photographers have an aversion to astrophotography because they think it's hard. Some of it is. I have minutes long exposures of star fields taken with a tracking set up piggy backed on my telescope. Lots of work goes into that. Before, during, and after the exposure.
But some subjects are surprisingly easy to image. Take the Moon, Earth's satellite. Long exposures with sophisticated tracking mounts are not needed. Just a good telephoto lens. 300mm will do nicely. 500mm does very well. If you have a shorter lens (like the 200mm this pic was done with), you can crop in the finishing program (ACDSee, Photoshop, etc...).
Shoot in RAW, to maximize the image file. The exposure is the really easy part. Set your camera for full manual. For a full Moon, use the Sunny 16 Rule. The Moon is, after all, a subject lit by direct sunlight (think about that). So at an ISO of 400, the starting exposure would be 1/400th at f/16. Bracket up and down a couple of stops. For not quite full Moons, adjust your exposure for more light. This photo was 1/200th at f/8. I used a monopod to help steady.
Don't take my word for it, go try it yourself!
Great pic, Steve!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'll be taking out my telescope for some Harvest Moon pics this Fall. Cooler air means sharper astro pics.
ReplyDeleteIt is the coolest pic ever!!
ReplyDeleteI'll be doing some more Moon shots this week. A few days before Full Moon is a good time for it, because you get the large lit area while still having some shadow relief for interesting depth modeling.
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