I would give you the moon...
In chatting with DolphinDancer about adding the moon to other scenes, I offered to write some helpful thoughts for her. I’ve written it here for ANYONE who has tried to get nice shots of the moon for use in mixed photos, but have been frustrated.
I would give you the moon... belongs to the following groups:
AW Welcome Center, Collaboral Damage, Country Bumpkin, Hard Science Rocks and Rivers and StreamsFor anyone who likes to mix photos, the addition of the moon into a landscape scene is like adding a gem to a hand. However, you need to talk nicely to your camera so it will give you the details that we can see.
To start:
You MUST have the camera set on something solid. A tripod is wonderful because it allows you to aim the camera easily, but a beanbag at the edge of a table/fencepost/windowsill will work just fine. Trying to hand-hold your camera when using your maximum zoom will likely give you frustrating results.
Your camera settings
—> If your camera doesn’t offer you the “A”, “S”, and “M” settings, you can zip to the bottom where I’ll try to help you improve your chances.
A) Of course you will use your longest and strongest zoom.
B) You can’t use your “auto” setting for this shot because your camera sees a very dark scene out there. “Auto” gives you a completely overexposed moon… don’t ya jus’ hate it when the camera doesn’t know what you WANT?!! So, if your comfort zone is to have your camera set on “auto”, let me guide you to something new.
Let’s go with your “A” setting; this is “aperature priority”, which allows you to set the aperature.
1. Set your aperature wide open to get all the light possible.
This is your smallest number, likely something in the range of 2-ish to 5-ish. This is perfect for shooting the moon because depth of field is not a concern, and it has the benefit of giving the sharpest details.
2. Using the “A” setting, you won’t need to worry about the shutter speed; your camera will take care of that. The shutter speed is not a concern because, although the moon DOES move, it’s slow enough to ignore in this situation.
*C) To get the right exposure
1. If your camera allows you set the “Metering Mode”, choose “Spot”.
– this tells your camera to take its reading only from the center of the viewfinder, therefore it will read the light of the moon’s surface. PERFECT!
2. You might need to lie to your camera, tell it to underexpose.
– If your camera does NOT allow you to set the Metering Mode, you will have to find a way to tell your camera that there’s lots of light in this scene because there IS lots of light in the part that you want to turn out right. Try your “portrait” setting because it should set your aperature wide open …in fact, why not try every one of your settings?? Film is cheap with digital cameras, right? :) Who knows what neat things you will discover?
D) Tips to reduce/eliminate camera shake
– the tripod or beanbag is the biggest step toward perfect clarity
– if your camera offers a delay in the shutter, use it. A 2-second delay works great, but you MUST break contact with the camera and the tripod so you are not causing ANY vibration.
– a remote or cable shutter release is also perfect.
– if you have to push the button by hand, do it gently, NOT quickly… squeeze instead of poke :)
_
If you have questions or encounter problems that I have not addressed here, PLEASE post a comment because you can be certain that other people will wonder about the same thing. Let me and/or other people try to solve the problem.
Cheers,
Happy mooning!!!
Ted
Diane Schuster
Hey Ted, thanks for the tutorial. I have been wanting to experiment with setting other than auto. I have read a lot on these other settings. The articles can be confusing. However what did we all do before auto. I used 35mm before program mode and auto even existed, but I think that when some of us, me included, moved to digital, especially point and shoot, we forgot how to experiment. Thanks for the encouragement and the reminder that since we don’t pay for film or development of our work, anymore, we can experiment all we want.
ccwri
Thanks so much Ted!!!!!!!!!