I suggest using the spot metering mode. Place the spot indicator in the viewfinder on the brightest area of the moon's disk. Set the exposure to 1-2/3 to 2 stops above the indicated exposure. This way you will get good detail in the darker maria. Remember that the Moon and the Earth are moving, so use as high a shutter speed as possible.
--P
If you want to shoot only the moon, Mark is right - your subject is brightly lit by the sun. If you want to include other things in your image, it gets trickier. The darker it is, the better the moon looks, but the harder it is to get a good exposure on other elements, unless they are artificially lit, or unless you want silhouettes.
Chimp your image and adjust your settings (or bracket) to get to get just the right exposure. Remember, if you are shooting near sunrise or sunset, conditions are changing. You may not even be aware of the haze near the horizon, until your subject slowly vanishes before it reaches the position you wanted it to be in.
The moon is a moving subject. At 300mm, an exposure longer than about 2 seconds is going to show blur. An exposure longer than about 5 seconds probably will be too blurry to use. At longer focal lengths, you need to use proportionately shorter exposure times.
You may be surprised to see the full circle of a crescent moon in the image even if you don't see it with the naked eye.
The nearer the horizon the moon is the more atmosphere it has to shine through and the dimmer it gets. It will show better if it is dark. It seems never to be dark enough for a sliver crescent of a full moon near the horizon because the sun is near the horizon too. A sliver crescent may not be visible at moonrise. You may not see it until it is well above the horizon. You won't have much time to get your shot before it fades at sunrise.
In the attached image, I wanted to get the moon below the bridge, but it simply vanished before it got that low. This is a 1 second exposure at 600 mm
Discussion
4 repliesDoes anyone have any advice for a beginner?
Brian Murphy
--P
Chimp your image and adjust your settings (or bracket) to get to get just the right exposure. Remember, if you are shooting near sunrise or sunset, conditions are changing. You may not even be aware of the haze near the horizon, until your subject slowly vanishes before it reaches the position you wanted it to be in.
The moon is a moving subject. At 300mm, an exposure longer than about 2 seconds is going to show blur. An exposure longer than about 5 seconds probably will be too blurry to use. At longer focal lengths, you need to use proportionately shorter exposure times.
You may be surprised to see the full circle of a crescent moon in the image even if you don't see it with the naked eye.
The nearer the horizon the moon is the more atmosphere it has to shine through and the dimmer it gets. It will show better if it is dark. It seems never to be dark enough for a sliver crescent of a full moon near the horizon because the sun is near the horizon too. A sliver crescent may not be visible at moonrise. You may not see it until it is well above the horizon. You won't have much time to get your shot before it fades at sunrise.
In the attached image, I wanted to get the moon below the bridge, but it simply vanished before it got that low. This is a 1 second exposure at 600 mm