My moon photos kept looking like garbage no matter what I did

I spent 6 months trying to shoot the moon with my DSLR on just auto settings and getting these blown out white blobs with zero crater detail. Then a guy at the local stargazing meetup in Phoenix asked why I wasn't using manual mode and dropping the ISO to 100 with a fast shutter speed. Has anyone else gone way too long without checking their basic camera settings for night shots?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim69323d ago

@casey_harris same here, bro. Spent way too long on auto getting trash moon shots before I figured it out.

casey_harris23d ago

Used to be one of those "auto mode is fine for everything" types for years. Then I tried a half-moon shot back in 2018 with a Rebel T6, just clicked and got a white circle with a faint smudge. A coworker showed me his moon pics where you could see every single crater and the edges of the mare, all from a similar kit lens. He had it at ISO 100, f/8, and around 1/125 shutter. After that I sat down and learned the exposure triangle properly, shot a crescent moon a week later with actual shadow detail instead of just a bright blob. Night and day difference, honestly feels a little embarrassing how long I missed out on that.

kim81922d ago

Yo man, that crushed moon phase is the worst, once you dial in manual it's a whole new world. Did you mess with the live view zoom to nail focus too?