looking for tips to shoot the supermoon

Juano

I'm planning to shoot the supermoon this Sunday. I'm looking for tips, moonrise or moonset?
ISO, exposure?

Gear? I'm planning to use a Nikon 70-200 2.8 with and without a 2x teleconverter on a D800.

Thanks!

Stumblebum

Low ISO and long exposure might give more details. Moonrise they say is best when it is most stable and usually less than 25 seconds exposure to avoid blurs. However, the PEAK is probably also interesting and you have find out what time of the night that is. Finally, it would be best to pre-plan the shot in the sense, just moon would probably be nice but if something interesting can be combined with it to put it in the foreground then that would be best. With max zoom at moonrise if you are far enough you can get people or ocean waves or something inside the moon, that would be awesome. I don't have zoom right now, so not even gonna try. My 20 cents. Goodluck.

Juano

Stumblebum wrote: »

Low ISO and long exposure might give more details. Moonrise they say is best when it is most stable and usually less than 25 seconds exposure to avoid blurs. However, the PEAK is probably also interesting and you have find out what time of the night that is. Finally, it would be best to pre-plan the shot in the sense, just moon would probably be nice but if something interesting can be combined with it to put it in the foreground then that would be best. With max zoom at moonrise if you are far enough you can get people or ocean waves or something inside the moon, that would be awesome. I don't have zoom right now, so not even gonna try. My 20 cents. Goodluck.

Thanks for the info. I agree composition is very important, otherwise it is just another moon shot. here's one I took earlier this year. I didn't have the zoom power I have now, and it is heavily cropped.

kdog

Looks like you have the right idea already. Moon seems a bit soft in that shot, probably because the focus was on the tree branches. Exposure is good though, and that's the most important thing. Looking at your EXIF, you're at ISO100, F10, 1/50s. That's pretty typical. With long telephotos you can definitely get motion blur even approaching a 1 second exposure, so don't go too slow. Spot metering on the moon works as long as you're very careful to get the AE spot directly on the center of the moon. Otherwise, keep a close eye on your blinkies to watch for blowouts.

Regarding moonrise versus moonset, I'd let the composition you have in mind drive that more than anything. Oh, and whether you're a night person or a morning person may be a factor as well.

Here's a shot of mine taken last year in SF. ISO400, F7.1, 1/10s, 500mm.



The sky was incredibly hazy on that night and I couldn't even see the moon though the haze until just before I clicked that shot. Very disappointing, but I'm still happy with what I got.

Enjoy!

-joel

Juano

Thanks for the tips, nice shot!

Earache

Hi Cristóbal
Your post reminded me to give this a-go this weekend.
So, this is what I got tonite as a warm-up for tomorrow, or not - depending on conditions. Air was pretty wobbly tonite.

5D MKIII - 100-400 f4-5.6L w/1.4x TC III
560mm @ f11, ISO 400, 1/100 sec.
Heavy Crop
Tripod, IS off, Live view, Auto focus, Silent mode shutter, Remote release

Sky looks fine - smooth and noise-free locally, but picks up some posterization/noise on upload to SM - don't understand or like that.
Maybe someone can comment on cause/cure?

kdog

Eric, that is COOL!! I'm not seeing any posterization, it looks great.

Earache

kdog wrote: »

.....I'm not seeing any posterization

Whew! That's good to know... I wonder why I do... I'll figure it out
Thanks so much for the feedback Joel!

btw - Got lucky, it's a backyard shot.

Juano

I hiked to a spot where I could get an decent shot, climbed to a rock and sat... And sat, no moon whatsoever, a storm instead. Not a single shot!

Earache

Juano wrote: »

I hiked to a spot where I could get an decent shot, climbed to a rock and sat... And sat, no moon whatsoever, a storm instead. Not a single shot!

Dang, Cristóbal - bummer... well, I hope it was a nice hike.
Same thing here - obscured by clouds... :cry