At one time or another, many
photographers have aimed their
camera at the moon in an effort to
capture its mysterious beauty.
Photographing the moon presents a
challenge, however, because more
than a few things need to be taken
into consideration when planning a
photograph of the moon.
You will need to consider:
the moon’s phase (full, half,
crescent, etc.) / the date
the moon’s height in the sky / the
time of day or night
the direction of the rising and
setting of the moon if you want
the moon close to the horizon to
include objects or landscape in
the frame
the weather
NASA’s Complete Sun and Moon Data
for One Day
is a free online tool that provides
information on the sun and moon for
a given date and location. This tool
is great for photographers because it
quickly and easily helps to find an
ideal time for lunar photography.
In addition to the planning and
patience that is required for moon
photography, a bit of skill is needed
to appropriately compose and expose
the photograph.
Composition and Exposure
When composing a photograph of the
moon, you first need to decide
whether you want to just shoot the
moon itself or the moon with
surrounding objects and/or
landscape.
The Moon Itself
If your goal is to capture the detailed
surface of the moon, you will want to
zoom in quite a bit. For this, you will
need a telephoto lens to fill the frame
with the moon as much as possible
so that you can avoid cropping later.
A tripod is usually necessary for
longer lenses because they have a
greater chance of causing blurry
photos due to camera shake.
The Moon with Objects and/or
Landscape
In pictures in which the moon is the
main focus, it is better to
underexpose the foreground than to
overexpose the moon. Use your
camera’s spot metering setting to
expose for the moon. Also consider
bracketing if you are not sure of the
best combination of settings.
Just after sunset and when the moon
is close to the area of the horizon
that the sun has set are excellent
conditions for landscape shots that
include the moon. The sky and
landscape are still somewhat
illuminated by the sun and the moon
