Blood Moon

[eyeguy 54]

tried but not sure what I am doing yet. some with clouds. big cloud bank moved in 15 minutes before total eclipse. 

 

 

[IA4PATS]

I think yours are better than mine. Not sure what I am doing either

[eyeguy 54]

fun learning isnt it.

 

[prov1900]

Both of you guys did a great job at that! Details please...and don't be afraid to dumb it down for me. Trust me, I need it dumb(ed) down. Tripod? Remote? Etc.

[eyeguy 54]

tripod for sure, then I just used the 2 second delay instead of the remote  for fun I set the camera on auto-no flash to see what it would do. I was ok with it so left it that way. close up shots were were cropped a little,  ISO 3200, F 5.6, shutter a little under a second.  

[MN BassFisher]

Nice pictures guys!

[Dbl]

If you are interested I can fill you in on what you want to do and provide a shot or two from last night. Good effort!

[eyeguy 54]

please do.  would love to see your work, it's always so good!  and tips always help us rookies.  

[Dbl]

The thing to remember is shooting the moon (eclipse or not) is like shooting during the day. I always keep my ISO at around 100 to keep noise from showing in the darker backgrounds. My shots were all with the Mark IV and 300/2.8 lens. I shot both RAW and JPEG but only used the RAW files to process. I was able to retain considerably more detail from these shots. All shot in manual mode and manual focus. Depth of field is not an issue when the moon is 226,000 miles away like it was last night.

This shot is just before the start. ISO 100, f 10, shutter speed 1/30 second. I could have opened up my aperture just a bit to raise my shutter speed to reduce any vibration or shake.

Those settings will hold true until you get about 1/2 of the way through an eclipse. Then you have to make a decision. Do I expose for the bright white of the moon or try and bring some of the detail out in the shadow part of the moon. This will give you  bright white crescent but give you some color and detail in the shadows. I did both on the way to the eclipse I exposed for the highlights and as it came out I exposed more for the shadows. This will give you two totally different exposure settings.

Here I am still at my original settings of ISO 100, f10, 1/50s

On the way out. My settings now are ISO 100, f2.8, and 0.6s for the shutter speed. (less than one second)  Two completely different looks.

Shooting the actual eclipse at its peak you will have much longer shutter times and I usually open up my aperture to the widest available mainly to get me the fastest shutter speed I can to reduce camera shake and vibration. I had an issue with that last night due to some wind. I also want a fast shutter speed to reduce the movement of the moon itself, its moving fast up there! It becomes very noticeable when shooting the longer lenses at a distant object. In this case use a remote release that I have when I hook my phone up to my camera. The self timer is good in a pinch but it takes a long time to reduce vibrations after pushing your shutter button.

Pretty much the peak, camera settings are now ISO 100, f2.8 and 2 second shutter speed. I could have raised ISO to get a faster shutter time due to the wind, and I probably should have since I noticed shake in a number of shots. Shooting ISO 800 still would have kept noise to a minimum and kept wind shake way down with a faster shutter speed.

All at once. I hope that helps some. I've done a few of these so it helped get things up and running quickly for me. This one was different in the long length it actually lasted. Plenty of time to get settings dialed in.

And one shot with the clouds as well. Still ISO 100, f2.8 and 2 second exposure. You can actually see the shake from the wind in the little stars. They should be pinpoint sharp instead of have an oblong shape. Needed better bracing! If you zoom into 100% on the moon you can see the shake as well.

[eyeguy 54]

thx dbl and very nice!    I was thinking I should be shooting a much lower ISO but I was lazy last night.  only 18 years to the next super blood moon.   

[ozzie]

great pics guys!!!  Dbl awesome clarity in your pics!!  thanks for sharing

[prov1900]

Thanks guys! And now I'm excited to go out and try it again!

[SHAWSKI]

Wow, thank you dbl for all the great info and awesome pictures. 

My wife and I do the best we can but we made some mistakes. ISO was too high for one.

 

 

Your advice makes great sense. Thanks for those valuable tips.

[Dbl]

I think your shot looks very nice, the colors really pop and you have nice detail. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[SHAWSKI]

Thanks, it's my wife's hobby. I'm just a helper.  lol

 

We will keep trying!