Photographing the Moonrise or Moonset

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
How to Photograph a Moonrise or Moonset

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Conditions:

1. Best shot when the moon is close to being a full moon.

2. Look up on a program that shows you the moon phase. There are lots that do. I have a simple one I can use on my phone, but I also use a program called TPE that is available for your computer and smart phones.


3. The key is to be shooting the moon rising or setting at the same time as the sun is setting or rising.


Technique:

1. Typically you will be using a longer lens and not a wide angle lens for this. The point of the shooting the Moonrise or Moonset is to be getting enough detail of the moon, and that's done when it's larger in the frame of your image and not just a small spec in the sky. Usually a 70-200mm lens is great for this.

2. The point of shooting the moon while the sun is up is that the sun then provides enough ambient light so that the moon won't get blown out.


3. You want to time your shooting so that for the Moonrise (which obviously is to the east) as the moon rises above the horizon, you want the sun to be setting in the west. So for Moonrises, you will be looking for compositions where you can be facing the east.


4. For Moonsets, it's the opposite. You want to find compositions where you are facing to the west. So you want the sun to have just risen in the east in the morning just as the moon is setting and lowering itself below the horizon in the west.


Conclusion:

It's pretty easy to do, it really comes back down to timing.
 

xpatUSA

Active Member
May I mention camera settings?

It has been said by AI:
The brightness of the full moon near the horizon, when it is rising or setting, typically measures about 10 Ev (Exposure Value) at ISO 100. This Ev measurement assumes a clear atmosphere and no additional factors such as haze or pollution.
Now suppose f/5.6 is your favorite f/number for moonshots and you are set to 100 ISO:

Since Ev=log2((N^2)/t) then 2^10=(N^2/t)=1024. So t = (5.6^2)/1024 = about 1/30 sec **

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value

If you shoot at other than 100 ISO, add log2(ratio) to the Ev before doing the above calculation, for example 400 ISO over 100 is 4 which is 2 EV to add, hence 2^12, not 2^10.

Or do the calc for 100 ISO and divide the shutter time by 4.

Or dig out your old battery-less Sekonic, set the EV to 10, then take your pick of the aperture/shutter combinations shown around the edge. Easy-peasy.

** which could get you a mid-gray moon all other things being equal - so your shot could need some positive EC in theory. Actually, the Sekonic can do that!
 
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xpatUSA

Active Member
..... Or dig out your old battery-less Sekonic, set the EV to 10, then take your pick of the aperture/shutter combinations shown around the edge. Easy-peasy.
For example:




Observe that, if you wanted to use the oft-quoted f/11, you can see at-a-glance that the speed is an off-putting 1/8 sec (because the moon moves).
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
May I mention camera settings?

It has been said by AI:


Now suppose f/5.6 is your favorite f/number for moonshots and you are set to 100 ISO:

Since Ev=log2((N^2)/t) then 2^10=(N^2/t)=1024. So t = (5.6^2)/1024 = about 1/30 sec **

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value

If you shoot at other than 100 ISO, add log2(ratio) to the Ev before doing the above calculation, for example 400 ISO over 100 is 4 which is 2 EV to add, hence 2^12, not 2^10.

Or do the calc for 100 ISO and divide the shutter time by 4.

Or dig out your old battery-less Sekonic, set the EV to 10, then take your pick of the aperture/shutter combinations shown around the edge. Easy-peasy.

** which could get you a mid-gray moon all other things being equal - so your shot could need some positive EC in theory. Actually, the Sekonic can do that!
I think my brain blew up reading this. :)

You lost me on this. Maybe because it's Sunday and my Brain is taking a day of rest? o_O

Maybe I keep it too simple, but in an image like this, I would most likely shoot at f/11 or f/13. I also would probably be shooting at ISO 400. And then let the shutter be what it's going to be as long as it's not less then 1/30th of a sec. But the shutter speed depends on the focal length. As you mentioned the moon movement, that does need to be taken into consideration, but the shutter speed to keep the moon sharp is based on the focal length. So the wider you shoot, the slower you can go. The longer and tighter you shoot, the faster your shutter speed needs to be.
 

xpatUSA

Active Member
You lost me on this. Maybe because it's Sunday and my Brain is taking a day of rest? o_O

Maybe I keep it too simple, but in an image like this, I would most likely shoot at f/11 or f/13. I also would probably be shooting at ISO 400. And then let the shutter be what it's going to be as long as it's not less then 1/30th of a sec. But the shutter speed depends on the focal length. As you mentioned the moon movement, that does need to be taken into consideration, but the shutter speed to keep the moon sharp is based on the focal length. So the wider you shoot, the slower you can go. The longer and tighter you shoot, the faster your shutter speed needs to be.
Sorry about TMI!

So back to the rising or setting full moon and camera settings a la https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value :

f/11 at 400 ISO and say 1/30 sec comes to about 14 EV, so the moon in your parts is 4 EV brighter than AI says it is ... and f/13 is 6 EV brighter.

After posting, I did a little research and observed a considerable variance in recommended exposure setting for the moon in spite of the wealth of scientific information on it's brightness - I even saw f/16 mentioned on one site!

I doubt that my post will influence many astrophotographers and I haven't shot the moon in ages. My best effort so far (pardon the extras):

 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Sorry about TMI!

So back to the rising or setting full moon and camera settings a la https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value :

f/11 at 400 ISO and say 1/30 sec comes to about 14 EV, so the moon in your parts is 4 EV brighter than AI says it is ... and f/13 is 6 EV brighter.

After posting, I did a little research and observed a considerable variance in recommended exposure setting for the moon in spite of the wealth of scientific information on it's brightness - I even saw f/16 mentioned on one site!

I doubt that my post will influence many astrophotographers and I haven't shot the moon in ages. My best effort so far (pardon the extras):

First off, I like your creative moon image! I need to do those once in a while.

I think there is probably a lot of variance in recommended settings because there is more then 1 way to skin the cat here. I have seen lots of people shoot moonrise and moonset but with bracketed focusing which throws a whole new set of variables.

And thanks for highlighting that I did miss on providing exposure suggestions in this, I was focused mainly on the timing aspect and not on the camera settings aspect. I need to correct that.
 

xpatUSA

Active Member
First off, I like your creative moon image! I need to do those once in a while.
Thanks! The super-moon layer was captured originally by a 4.7 MP Sigma SD15 and a 200mm lens. Quite a lucky shot but still needed a ton of work in post!

I think there is probably a lot of variance in recommended settings because there is more than one way to skin the cat here. I have seen lots of people shoot moonrise and moonset but with bracketed focusing which throws a whole new set of variables.
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Interesting thought ... focus-bracketing something that far away. I guess modern lenses can do that (no hard stop at exactly infinity).
 
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