Shooting the Moon

Today's Photo - The Moon


















Since there isn't much happening with the planning for my trailer or trip, I decided to do a page on photography.

Many of us has seen beautiful moons in our travels, but have been disappointed in the results when trying to photograph it.

Overexposed Moon

This is what you will often end up with if your camera is set to program or automatic exposure.  The problem is the moon is very bright while the background is very dark, The camera "averages" them together & the result is an over exposed moon.  

The solution is to use manual exposure.  Almost all cameras can have their aperture & shutter speed set to manual.  The next time you want to take a photograph of the moon, try this:

1. Set your ISO to the lowest value possible.  Typically, this will be 100.
2. Set your aperture to f: 16.
3. Use the "Sunny 16" rule to determine your shutter speed.  The Sunny 16 rule is used to estimate exposure for bright sunlight.  According to the rule, when the aperture is f: 16, the correct shutter speed will be the ISO of the camera.  Although you are shooting your photograph in the dark, the light coming from the moon is reflected sunlight - it is quite bright. So, if your ISO is 100, choose the shutter speed as close to 100th of a second as possible.
4. Although a tripod will help, if your shutter speed is over 100th of a second & you are reasonably steady, and don't have a real long focal length lens (over 200mm or say 15X) you can probably get away with a hand held shot.
5. Even with a tripod, if your exposure ends up longer than a couple of seconds, the moon will move far enough during that time to blur the image.  To make long exposures you will need a astronomical mount that is capable of tracking. 
6. You don't need to wait for a full moon - you will often have more interesting images when you can view the terminator of the moon because it accents the mountains & valleys.

Moon, Showing Terminator

So, the next time you have a clear night, get out your camera & "Shoot the Moon!"

Please let me know if you are interested in more hints & helps for photography - I won't always have something to blog about dealing with my trip!

Traveling For Photographs

Today's Photo - The Mabry Mill on the Blue Ridge Parkway, VA.

In case you haven't figured it out by now, a big reason for my travels is to take photographs. I love photographing water, particularly waterfalls, landscape in general, and, at least on my last trip, grist mills. Although there is plenty here in Oswego county to photograph, I often get the urge to see some variation in altitude. Although the highest point in the county is 1550', that is at the Tug Hill Plateau. Most of the county is only a little above Lake Ontario level at around 244'. Compared to Colorado, where there are 53 mountains over 14,000' high, we are kinda flat! Of course, Colorado doesn't have Lake Ontario. I have friends that live in Leadville, CO (at 10,000') & have offered to give them half the lake for one 14er. Seems like a good deal for both of us!

Of course what we call mountains don't quite compare to those of the Rockies, but there are some beautiful variations in altitude in the Adirondacks. My plan is to visit as many interesting places to take pictures as possible.

More the next time!