How to photograph the moon

Look at this amazing photo. Have you wished you knew how to photograph the moon like this?

Or has photographing the moon for you resulted more in a photo like this one? These photography tips can help.

One of the common photo mistakes that occurs is with exposure.

Many people use auto-exposure or a Night Scene mode on their digital camera.

Most of the time this results in an over-exposed photo of the moon. The camera's meter will see the darkness of the scene and give the image more exposure. Since the moon is so much brighter than the dark sky, it gets over-exposed.

The second cause of disappointment is usually a blurry image. If the shutter speed isn't fast enough, the blurriness is caused by camera movement. A tripod is a must to get a super sharp, detailed photo like the one at the top of the page.

Remember that because of the earth's rotation, all of those celestial objects in the sky move.

A powerful zoom lens is required if you want the moon to be larger than just a very small element in your photograph.

Two good techniques to use are to do the photography just after moonrise and look for a pleasing composition that includes something else of interest.

You can get great shots by looking for bodies of water to capture reflections of the light from your subject.

In this picture, labeled "Ocean Reflections," even though we did have an over-exposure, the sparkling reflections in the water and on the sand make it an interesting photo.

Another tip is to watch for interesting cloud conditions.

In the "Smokey Clouds" photograph, the composition rule of thirds was used.

The biggest advantage of digital photography is that you can see your results adjust your exposure or composition to make it a better photograph.

Shoot with your camera set on manual exposure when you do your photography of the moon and you get complete control of your photograph.

Just like other kinds of nature photography, knowing how to photograph the moon involves understanding your camera settings and using good composition technique. You can't just aim your camera at the moon and press the shutter button.

If you need more photography tips on good composition with your photos of the moon, please feel free to go back and visit: Photographing the Moon.

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