Learning how to photograph the moon has long been one of the greatest joys of a photographer's journey in learning. For centuries the moon has captivated people, given direction and provided hours of enjoyment and wonderment. Being the brightest object in the night sky, it's something photographers of all levels can shoot, however, it does take planning and preparation to accomplish.
If you have previously attempted to photograph the Moon and it came out too small or looked like a plain white spot, don’t be overly frustrated! Every photographer has to go through similar difficulties when shooting the moon for the first time. This sub-genre of astrophotography can be very challenging and frustrating.
Shooting the moon is an amazing learning experience, especially if you are willing to experiment a little. You can learn various useful techniques along the way – reducing camera shake in low-light conditions, manually setting your camera, using the looney 11 rule, stacking photographs in Photoshop and even incorporating the moon into other photos.
Download your free moon photography cheat sheet. Click here.
Attention: Grab your free cheat sheet for Moon photography! Click Here
The moon is bright, but it isn't bright enough to simply snap a photo if you're looking to see much detail in the moon. To achieve a nicely exposed photo, one where the moon doesn't appear flat nor like an out of place object, we need to consider this. To accomplish a great moon shot, let's first look at the basic gear you'll need.
The Best Camera Gear
Tripod
A secure base and workstation for your camera is essential to capturing the moon and avoiding camera shake. While you may be able to get away with hand holding your camera, your best results will, without a doubt, come from mounting your camera on a tripod. (See our article on how to choose a tripod for some good tips).
Long Zoom Lens
In order to help fill the frame and properly show off the moon, the longer your zoom lens the better. You don't necessarily need the fastest lens, because you'll be on a tripod, but it's best to use anything 200mm or longer. If you don't have a lens that long, you might want to consider using shorter lenses but incorporating foreground elements to the shot (more on that below).
Shutter Release Cable
Or a wireless remote if it's an option for your camera model. This is not an essential piece, but it's nice to have and helps avoid camera shake. If you don't have one you can cheat and use the self-timer function on your camera.
Camera
While almost any camera will work, point and shoots rarely produce top quality photos of the moon, mostly due to the small size of the sensor and it overheating during longer exposures resulting in digital noise. A DSLR is preferred here with a long lens on it. Mirrorless cameras are also suitable. Camera with smaller sensors make it tough.
Shareable Moon Images for Pinterest
The Best Camera Settings For Photographing The Moon
No preset or auto function of your camera will be able to properly meter the moon, so ideally you should consider shooting in full manual mode. At the very least, choose Aperture Priority mode. Also, your geographical location and current phase of the moon will have an effect on what your settings will be and you will need to adjust for the season of year and clarity of the sky.
ISO
Digital cameras should be set to 100 or lower, film shooters should shoot film of 100 ISO or slower to eliminate noise and grain.
Aperture
Because you're after crisp, clean shots, shooting at f/11 to f/16, depending on your lens, will be the best place to start. Research your lens' sweet spot to find the sharpest aperture.
Shutter speed
The variables are many and include those mentioned earlier, such as the phase the moon is in, geographical location and desired shot, but on a clear night starting at about 1/60th to 1/125th should be a great starting point.
Attention: Grab your free cheat sheet for Moon photography! Click Here
What Is The Looney 11 Rule?
There is a “rule of thumb” that is easy to memorize and should get you close to a good exposure of the face of the moon – the “looney 11 rule.” This rule is a method of estimating correct exposures without a light meter. For daylight photography, there is a similar rule called the sunny 16 rule.
The looney 11 rule is a very simple guideline intended to give the photographer a baseline to start from when shooting the moon at night.
The Rule: For astronomical photos of the Moon's surface, set aperture to f/11 and shutter speed to the reciprocal of the ISO setting.
For example: f/11 at ISO 100 and 1/100th second shutter speed.
Another example: f/11 at ISO 200 and 1/200 second shutter speed.
The looney 11 rule is worth keeping in mind for getting good exposures when you photograph the moon.
Moon Photography – Choosing A Location
A word about where you choose to shoot. Picking a spot to shoot the moon is one of the most important factors in achieving a quality shot.
Ideally, if you want to showcase the moon itself you will want to avoid any other ambient light, including street lights and traffic. This may require you to go off on a remote road or into a public park after hours – your backyard may not be the best location for these types of shots.
On the contrary, if you are trying to include a city skyline under your moon shot, you'll need to find a lookout that allows for the twinkling lights below and do further test shots to nail the exposure properly for both the foreground and the moon (bracket your exposures).
The Best Mobile Apps To Choose Location And Time For Shooting The Moon
Photopills is an excellent iOS app which can be used to determine the position and phase of the moon as well as the position and elevation of the Milky Way.
For Android users, an equally great photography planning app alternative is The Photographer's Ephemeris.
If you want to explore more apps, check out the following ones:
- SunSurveyor – The interface of this app focuses on visualization rather than raw data, which can be extremely useful.
- DeluxeMoon – This app visually defines the amount of light the moon will be reflecting in the sky. It also helps you check whether the chosen time of your photo shoot corresponds to the moon’s cycles.
- PhotoPills – This night photography app is known for its constant upgrades and very useful functions. It is a great find for all astrophotographers. When it comes to the moon photography in specific, it lets you see rise and set times, calendar, phases and Supermoon dates.
Composition And Technical Tips
The composition is just as important when you are taking shots of the moon as for any other type of photography and you have some decisions to make. For starters, the decision to shoot just the moon or to incorporate elements such as landscape foreground into the shot. Knowing how to photograph the moon with foreground requires a few different concerns.
Bear in mind that a compelling and sharp image of a lonesome moon is great, but once you’ve seen one – you’ve seen them all! It's important to master the perfect close-up of the moon, but you should also try to get creative by placing the moon within a more challenging composition. Your shots don't have to be boring and predictable!
For instance, you can try framing the moon behind trees and buildings, or reflecting it off the surface of a lake or sea! Placing other objects in the foreground gives the moon context and scale that it lacks on its own. It can be really useful if you can think of the moon as a single element which should be incorporated along with other compositional elements.
Steps To Photographing Just The Moon
Time needed: 5 minutes.
How to Photograph Just the Moon:
- Select a long lens
Use a long lens (> 200mm) and zoom in as far as you can
- Set the ISO
Set the camera to ISO 100
- Choose aperture
f/11 to f/16 (find the sweet spot for sharpness)
- Choose shutter speed
Shutter speed around 1/60th to 1/125th
- Set the focus
Manual focus set to infinity
How To Shoot The Moon With Foreground
When you photograph the moon with foreground included, you will probably notice that you end up with the moon as a totally white blob with no detail. It is very difficult to expose both the foreground and the moon correctly in the same shot. For that reason, most of the photographs of the moon with a foreground that you see are actually composite images. There is a useful, if somewhat dated, tutorial on creating moon composites here.
- Use whichever lens allows you to get your composition (probably slightly wider)
- ISO 100
- f/11 to f/16
- Bracket exposures to +2 and -2 (this may take some experimentation)
- Create a composite of images in Photoshop.
Post-Processing
Post-processing your photos is really straightforward and in most cases, an auto white balance will do you just fine, however, photographs of the moon also make stunning black and white images. So consider how you want the outcome to look – have a play around in Lightroom and see what looks best – color or black & white?
If you have photographed just the moon, when you import into Lightroom, you are probably going to want to concern yourself mainly with the contrast and clarity sliders. These should get you close to a finished product without too many problems.
If you have included elements of the foreground in your moon image, then you will probably have bracketed your shots and will, therefore, have some work to do in Photoshop. There is a good tutorial on creating composite images of your moon photographs here.
While there is no specific workflow you have to stick to in case of the moon photography, there are a couple of things you should bear in mind.
Make sure to shoot raw and adjust color temperature in Lightroom properly. The color temperature used for the moon photography is tricky and it takes a little playing around until you get it right.
Once you’re satisfied with your choice of color temperature (white balance), you can proceed to adjusting saturation and vibrance. The moon photographs often look too desaturated and you can make them much more vibrant in post-processing.
If you shoot with a low enough ISO, you can increase saturation without adding much noise. Even if you set your saturation slider at 100 and vibrance slider at let's say 80, you might end up with a noiseless image if you used the lowest possible ISO. This is a very useful trick for the moon photography! If your image looks really bad after altering saturation and vibrance, it’s likely because your ISO was too high or your color temperature isn’t correct.
If you want to take it even further and print your moon photos, then you might like to look at our article on the best photo printer to use for the task!
How To Photograph The Moon – Top Takeaway Tips And Ideas:
- Play with composition aside from shooting the moon on its own
- Get low and shoot through the rising stalks in a cornfield (for example) and create a composite
- Catch the reflection of the moon in the ocean while on the beach
- For extra-sharp detail, wait until the moon is at its highest
- Use a tripod
- Use manual focus
- Use low ISO to avoid noise
- Research the sweet spot of your lens
- Allow time to set up – you don't want to be moving once the moon is in position to shoot
Other Great Moon Photography Resources Online:
Here are a few links that you should definitely take a look at that don't repeat too much of what we have already covered. If you are serious about getting better at shooting the moon, they area good start.
Tools And Apps For Moon Photography:
As inspiration, here are 10 great examples of moon photography!
A gorgeous Golden Color captured here with some impressive detail
Shooting with monochrome in mind can produce some beautiful results. A lovely finish here with tremendous detail – almost looks like fine art. I personally like the absolute central composition here, it works really well.
Add some foreground elements to really enhance your composition.
Foreground elements again show some beautiful results, this time using the moon's bright reflection on the ocean. Rivers, lakes (even large puddles) could achieve alternative “reflection shots.”
Another black and white example, however, this time with a slightly different composition technique – this time, using some negative space and applying some techniques from the rule of thirds, makes the moon really stand out!
More foreground usage can be seen here, this time a cityscape shot of the moon. It's almost as if the moon and colorful lights are competing against each other for outstanding beauty! The long exposure has provided not only detail of the moon but a smoothened silky feel to the water.
A foreground element used again, however, this time it's in the form of a silhouette. This photograph of the moon shows it hiding from the viewer, creating a somewhat mysterious feel?
Lastly, we have a crescent shape captured here.
A dramatic shadow falls across the moon, which from a distance looks as though only a quarter is ever present.
Don't forget to check out our other collection of inspiring moon photos.
Moving Beyond Moon Photographs With Other Night Sky Photography Resources
Shooting the moon is only one part of night sky photography. You can take it a lot further with astrophotography, star trails and perfect star shots too. Here are some other articles on Light Stalking where you might like to start. Attention: Grab your free cheat sheet for Moon photography! Click Here!
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