Moonlight can be helpful in capturing some interesting shots when the weather is clear at night. The light is not much, but if you have good control of the manual settings of your camera, you will be able to deal with moonlight perfectly. For the people who want to know how to capture the best shots in moonlight, this is a moonlight photography guide in which we will explain all the settings and ideas to capture amazing shots.
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To help you with capturing your best moonlight shots with your camera, you might want to understand the basic settings on any digital or DSLR camera. We will share a set of common settings that are necessary to produce valuable nighttime images with moonlight.
What is the No. 1 rule for moon photography?
My No. 1 rule for mood photography is to be patient and wait for the best conditions. This means understanding the lunar phases and knowing when the moon will be at its brightest and clearest.
Quick Camera Settings for Moonlight Photography
Image Stabilization – On
Aperture – f/4 – f/12 (Based on your preference)
ISO – 100 – 800
Shutter speed – 1/15 – 1/200
Auto Focus – Off
Flash – Off
White balance – Auto
Image Format – RAW
Mode Preference – Manual or M or B
Mirror Up or MUP – On
Focal length – 24mm to 200mm
Contrast Parameter – 0
Exposure Value – 0
Required Camera Equipment For Moon Photography
We will start by sharing some information about which equipment is necessary for getting perfect moonlight photographs. You’ll need to adapt to the low-light conditions while still striving for sharp, clear photos because you’ll be photographing the brilliant moon in the gloomy sky. This necessitates the use of the following tools:
- Long zoom lens: A long zoom lens will assist fill the frame and highlighting the moon’s intricacies.
- Tripod Stand: Using a tripod will assist in eliminating camera shake when you are taking nighttime photos, resulting in crisp, clear photographs.
- Shutter release cable: This cable will also help to eliminate camera wobble. You might also utilize the self-timer on your camera, which would produce well-stabilized results.
Best Moonlight Photography Settings
Aperture
Aperture will help you get a clear image to show the sharpness when you capture something at night. Try taking your shots with an aperture of f/11 or lower to achieve the best images. It varies depending on the lens. This will ensure that you obtain the broadest possible shot and that all of the moon’s details are sharply captured. If your lens takes clearer photographs at a given aperture, you can go somewhat higher than this.
Shutter Speed
Shutter speed will work to help you get some still images of the moon in the moonlight at night. You can set your shutter speed to anywhere between 1/100 and 1/125 to achieve an excellent exposure to the brightness and features of the moon. This will work with the ISO and aperture settings you’ve chosen to optimize the amount of detail seen on the moon.
Focus
It is not advisable for you to use Autofocus in capturing moonlight photographs. Automatic focus may make it more difficult to produce clear shots, and you will lose a lot of control over the image. Maintain manual focus on your camera. This allows you to easily modify how the camera focuses. You won’t need to worry about quick focus shifts because the moon is stationary.
ISO
You don’t have to be concerned about being able to view other elements of the surroundings because the moon is your exclusive focus. Set the ISO on your digital camera to 100. This will enable your camera to capture the moon’s dazzling brightness and features while also darkening the night sky. If you wish to capture additional scenery, you can shift the ISO to a bit high value.
White Balance
For shooting the moon, the Daylight White Balance setting is definitely your best bet. This option is mostly up to you, depending on the type of colors you want to use in your shot. Your white balance won’t matter as much if you shoot in RAW. Alternatively, try using the auto white balance setting.
How to Get the Best Moon Photography Shots
Wait Till The Moon Rises
You should be able to shoot the moon in this position for approximately an hour when it reaches its greatest peak at midnight. When the moon is at the apex of its nightly course, it beams brightest. This normally happens about midnight and the moon sets around 6 a.m. It will then begin to deteriorate. Keep in mind that the brightness of the moon is determined by its phase.
The peak of a full moon is substantially brighter than the crescent phase. You will get the benefit of moonlight in such circumstances.
Understand The Phases of the Moon
The partially lighted moon displays its beautiful pattern of craters and their shadows as it waxes toward a full moon or wanes after one. But most people’s attention is drawn to the magnificent full moon. Unfortunately, lunar images of the full moon are the most uninteresting. You get a rather low-contrast white disc above because the entire disc of the moon is lighted.
Photographically, the night before or following the genuine full moon is ideal for capturing a “full moon.”
Arrive Earlier For The Shot
Although it may not appear so at first, getting completely set up to capture the moon may take a few minutes. After that, you’ll need to set up your equipment before composing your photographs. If you’re attempting to capture the moon at a precise spot with your camera and tripod, this might take your time. You just have to wait for the moon to give the best light possible.
Make Best Use of Moon’s Position
The moon’s location in the sky is something to think about. This is due to the fact that when the moon is lower on the horizon, the light it reflects must travel longer distances through the Earth’s atmosphere. If you’re just photographing the moon when it’s high above the horizon, you’ll have a greater chance of getting a sharp shot. Of course, if the moon appears in your landscape shot, its location, regardless of its distance above the horizon, is crucial to the photograph.
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Make Use Of A Long Lens
A long lens having focal length of about 200mm or greater is recommended if you want the moon to fill the frame and reveal all of its detail. Always using a lens that can catch something that far away with clarity is essential for getting stunning moon photographs. If you simply want to use the lens for moon photos, the speed of the lens isn’t as important. Short lenses can still be used to photograph the moon, but the result will be a considerably smaller moon with more of the surrounding environment visible.
Capture Moonlight With Clouds
Do not be deterred from photographing the moon on evenings with scattered clouds or thin overcast layers. A lot of photographers like clear evenings. Cloudy clouds can sometimes part or are pierced by the moon, providing excellent picture opportunities. You just have to wait for the time it takes for the moon to get covered behind the clouds and click your best shot.
Shoot In Raw Mode
It is suggested that you photograph your moon images in RAW format if you wish to color balance them afterward. Because these photographs are not compressed like JPEGs, they will take up more capacity, so carry extra memory cards if possible. This is especially significant with moon images since you can correct issues like lighting and color, which are two of the most critical aspects of a good moon photograph. It will also make color correction much easier.
Shot Metering
When you tilt your camera upwards to capture the moon, the camera will expose your image using the inky darkness of space, depending on the metering method you choose. Because it doesn’t matter whether the blackness of deep space remains black in your frame, you just want to expose yourself to the moon. As a result, it’s better to utilize spot metering to tell the camera to just expose the brightest part of the picture.
Invest In A Tripod
A tripod is a must-have item for moonlight photography because it works best to reduce shakes in low light. Set a brief timer on your camera to shoot the shot after you’ve hit the button to boost the chances of clean photographs that you want to capture for the moonlight. This will ensure that the act of hitting the button has no effect on your image. This eliminates camera shaking and helps you to snap photographs with greater detail.
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Add Some Foreground
When photographing the moon in the foreground, you will most likely observe that the moon appears as a completely white blob with no detail. If you want to include more of the surroundings as well as the moon in your photograph, consider blending two images together. Because it’s difficult to acquire the right exposure for both the moon and the land or nearby countryside, shooting many shots with varying exposures for each one will yield a much cleaner image.
Note: Exposing both the foreground and the moon accurately in the same photo is quite challenging. So you will have to look for a cityscape or landscape where you can combine these things together.
- Aperture f/11 to f/16
- Use any lens you need to complete your composition (probably slightly wider)
- ISO 100
- +2 and -2 exposure brackets
- Edit photo at the end
Set Dynamic Range
It will be challenging to fully expose the moon while yet retaining some landscape detail. The moon may be the brightest thing in the picture while photographing at night. If you include the landscape in your photograph, it will be much, much darker than the moon. Although digital cameras’ dynamic range is improving all the time, many lunar photographers still employ composite shots or leave the moon completely white to display the foreground.
This is why silhouetted landscapes are so common in photographs with a lot of contrast and sharpness on the moon. You can capture such a shot and see how the result turns out for you.
Additional Tips For The Moonlight Photography
Choose the Aperture Priority setting at the very least. Because your camera’s preset or auto functions will not be able to accurately meter the moon, you might consider shooting in full manual mode. Also, the season of the year and the visibility of the sky will affect your settings, as will your physical position and existing moon phase. You will need to benefit from these.
- Manual focusing is preferable to autofocus.
- Use the mirror lock-up option on a DSLR camera to avoid camera shaking caused by mirror slap.
- Shooting raw allows you to capture as many details as possible from the moon and change the white balance in post-production.
- Focus on one live view to acquire a strong focus.
- When the camera is mounted on the tripod, turn off image stabilization.