Sir Topham Hatt Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 I took some photos of the moon last night but when I went to take some of the stars to get that streaky look, the moon blasted all the light so ended up with a white photo. Granted, it was the Super Moon but it got me thinking. My knowledge of photography isn't that great but I understand to stop as much light getting through the lens, I need an ND filter? I see prices are all over the place, but would something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112684893080 be good to get me started in the technique? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian Guppy Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Sorry to be the one to say "don't skimp on filters" I goes by the "are you really putting $5 glass in front of a $200 lens?" I did... the amount of ghosting and flarring ended up with the filters working as cup holders. They are a nice starting point, but you start regreting it once you get to its limitations (Which is pretty fast once you see the above) Sir Topham Hatt 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mando Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 isnt doing nighttime astral photography more about ISO speed and long exposure times? I can ask a collegeue for you, she does loads of it with her DSLR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian Guppy Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 17 minutes ago, Mando said: isnt doing nighttime astral photography more about ISO speed and long exposure times? I can ask a collegeue for you, she does loads of it with her DSLR. ahh good on you, the shutterbug gets me everytime... 3 hours ago, Sir Topham Hatt said: I took some photos of the moon last night but when I went to take some of the stars to get that streaky look, the moon blasted all the light so ended up with a white photo. Granted, it was the Super Moon but it got me thinking. I think this is more down to technique rather than the lack of ND filter. Post the photo and exif info so we can help: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 I think this is the photo: Details: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draconian Guppy Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 8 minutes ago, Sir Topham Hatt said: I think this is the photo: Details: 13 minute exposure! at those sort of exposures any light (even a cellphone) Can cause a blowout, where you in a pitch black area? Why don't you give it a try at 60s, then double, etc. so you can control the results . Also, ISO should be at the lowest value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neufuse Veteran Posted February 1, 2018 Veteran Share Posted February 1, 2018 (edited) yeah your ISO is way too high and exposure time is way to high for night time photography to give you good results, and you want to focus on infinity if you want to get a clear star shot HDR is another idea... then you can bracket photos and merge them into one shot to get detail other exposure ranges may leave out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmc15john Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 Don't get a ND to shoot the moon. It's not that bright. Your aperture is to fast. F/4.5. Shoot at a high aperture, F/11 for example. That will let in less light just like an ND filter would. Though if you're just interested in shooting the moon you don't need to do a long exposure. A full moon provides you with more than enough light. Draconian Guppy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra.Xtreme Posted February 1, 2018 Share Posted February 1, 2018 (edited) I'm not too knowledgeable about the camera aspect, but the moon orbits around the Earth at a pretty high pace, so a long exposure time is likely to be a big blur unless you have some sort of motorized tripod that tracks it. When I'm looking through my telescope at something, I have to lock the object in it's orbital speed, otherwise it swoops out of lens frame really quickly. I would think that even a 60 second exposure would be long enough to make stars look like streaks. The moon will be way worse. There's so much light coming from the moon that I would think that a super short exposure would be fine. Contrast would be tough on a full moon, so you might have to do some sort of HDR method and stack multiple photos. Draconian Guppy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Topham Hatt Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 Hi Sorry, we're confusing the two issues or star trail shots and moon shots I accidentally got a nice star trail shot before and left the exposure on for at least 10 mins. The difference is that I was camping, and there was no super moon. I can't find the photo now but I guess there was a fair bit different with the F settings and ISO. I seem to have lost a good number of photos recently Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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