Moonlight photography
Hi! As I promised, I continue with night photography, and in this post we’ll talk about photographing the moon.
To start with, let’s define what kind of equipment you’ll need for your moonlight photography. So, make sure that you have:
-
a 35mm camera that will allow you to manually set very long exposure times;
-
a tripod;
-
a stopwatch to record exposure lengths for moon photography shoots;
-
lenses with which you are already comfortable;
-
a notebook, a pen and a flashlight for recording exposure times.
From the very beginning, I should mention that no matter how good your digital camera is, you won’t be able to take high quality images without some knowledge of the phase of the moon. It’s important, because it influences the type of equipment you’ll need for your nighttime photography.
The best times for moonlight photography is either when the moon is full, or the two days before and after the full moon. Also, remember that there are lots of factors that may influence the amount of light and thus may change necessary exposure time. Take the following into account, when you consider the time: the degree of available moonlight, any other light sources, clouds, rain and light reflective surfaces.
So, as you see it’s difficult to define general exposure time for your moonlight photography, thus experimentation is a must. The time may differ from 8 seconds to 10 hours on one shot! That’s why, it’s recommended when photographing the moon to record your exposure time, weather conditions and the phase of the moon. It will come at handy in future when you decide to repeat your experiments.
It’s a good idea to try on different exposure lengths so you’ll feel your camera. Also, you’d better choose longer focal length lens, as the longer lens you use, the better images you’ll take.
And the last, remember that any landscape photography encourages creativity and experimentation. Don’t afraid of inventing interesting compositions and bringing some “extras” and move locations. Probably you won’t get perfect images at you first attempt, but you’ll get some experience, that will definitely help you next time.
Technorati Tags: moonlight photography, photographing the Lunar Eclipse, nighttime photography, landscape photography, digital camera
Loading ...