Night time shots :(

[Janet1949]

Ive totally lost the plot this week.. Jim just loves anything to do with astrology, especially moon shots showing the craters etc: soooooo, when he heard we were having the Lunar Eclipse the other morning he wanted (EXPECTED) me to get a really good shot with my NEW D90, 'afterall, you do have this new camera'... what a mess up, and boy did he get frustrated with me, changing the settings all the time, (well I was trying to get the shot) but sadly, I didnt..... So, last night we had the full moon, 'here we go again, I was thinking'.. probably did a little better, but still not a good shot..

Can someone/anyone, give me a heads up on night time moon photography..
at first my thinking was, (using Manual mode and remote control)......
f5.3 (because I need all the light I can get)
ISO 800 (that should bump up the light coming in)
then moved the shutter speed to where the exposure line was in the middle..
these settings wouldnt even fire the camera, so try every other setting I could think of..
then I tried
f16 (maybe a fast speed will get things more in focus)
this showed the shutter speed as 2".5, arh this looks like it might work, but getting too much glare from the moon...
because Jim was getting REALLY frustrated with me by this stage, I turned the dial to 'Auto' mode, but that didnt work either..

SO, my question is.. at night, should I be using a small or large aperture...

I am going to book some classes with my local Camera House.. I feel soooo inadequate now...

[esther_a]

The problem with moon shots is that the camera tries to expose for the whole scene and overexposes the moon. You need to look at what the camera says and then go to manual and underexpose. You also need a tripod, then you don't have to worry about the shutter speed. The high ISO introduces noise, so go for a lower ISO. Your tripod will give you the stability you need for a longer exposure.
Katrina Kennedy has instructions on "How to shoot the moon". Just google that and you'll find it
My photo (http://www.designerdigitals.com/digi...p?photo=152048) was 1/60 sec, f5.6, ISO 100 and 500mm focal length (borrowed a friend's big zoom!).
If you don't have a tripod you can set the camera up on something stable and set it to shoot with a delay so you can press the button and take your hand off before the shutter opens.

[carollee]

I have used Katrina's settings with great success and hand holding the camera too, and my lens I used went up to 200mm focal length.

[Janet1949]

Thanks Esther and Carol... guess what... I went to Katrina's 'How to shoot the moon' and used her settings and took a MUCH better pic of the moon tonight.. I didnt have ISO100 but used ISO 200 instead... Im so happy at the moment...

OMG Esther... your shot is AMAZING... 500mm zoom WOW! (My longest focal length was 105mm measly in comparison)