Shoot the Moon!

[moose135]

In case you haven't heard, we will be having a total lunar eclipse Wednesday night. It will begin around 8:45pm, and will be in total eclipse starting around 10pm for nearly an hour. Weather permitting (and right now it's not looking great) several of us will be out shooting it.

To get warmed up, here are some of my Moon shots:

Full Moon from January:
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/246069318_p2WwU-L.jpg

Tonight's Moon:
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/256629182_FgQEJ-L.jpg

Some fun with PhotoShop:
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/246070628_gWzfA-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/246074433_rC7zN-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/256629604_WtLEZ-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/256629856_GxViL-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/256629155_kLEoG-L.jpg

If anyone is interested in joining us, let me know.

[pgengler]

The weather forecast for tomorrow night doesn't look so good; cloudy until at least midnight. Hopefully they'll be wrong and we'll have clear skies, though.

[cancidas]

pardon my ignornace but why is a lunar eclips so significant for shooting? too bad that i've got plans after class tommorow night or i would have joined you guys.

i've tried taking a few shots of the moon last time i was out in cali shooting at night but i wasn't able to figure out a good setting for the camera. my shots came out either bright a blurry or just dark and barely noticable.

[moose135]

pardon my ignorance but why is a lunar eclipse so significant for shooting? too bad that i've got plans after class tomorrow night or i would have joined you guys.
I don't know that it's really significant, just out of the ordinary. I think it's going to be about two years before we get another one, and you can get some interesting looking shots of the Moon during an eclipse. I haven't shot one in about 25 years, with my old Yashica SLR (those slides are around somewhere).



i've tried taking a few shots of the moon last time i was out in cali shooting at night but i wasn't able to figure out a good setting for the camera. my shots came out either bright a blurry or just dark and barely noticeable.
The problem most people make when trying to shoot the Moon is forgetting that it's reflecting sunlight, just like other objects you would be shooting during the day. You need to adjust your exposure accordingly, as the meter can be fooled into taking an average exposure reading the bright Moon against a dark sky.

Here's a great site with an exposure calculator for shooting the Moon.
http://www.shaystephens.com/moon_calc.php

[PHL Approach]

pardon my ignornace but why is a lunar eclips so significant for shooting?

http://www.astro.ir/AstronomicalGallery ... ar3,07.htm (http://www.astro.ir/AstronomicalGallery/TotalLunarEclipse-Mar3,07.htm)

[moose135]

http://www.astro.ir/AstronomicalGallery/TotalLunarEclipse-Mar3,07.htm

That's a stunning set of photos. I hope the weather holds, I would love to get something like that!

[GrummanFan]

Not to add any more pressure, but the next time we will see a Full Lunar eclipse is December 21st, 2010. So don't mess this one up, assuming the weather doesn't take care of that part for you. :D

[lijk604]

Right now it's 50/50

TAFs
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Updated 1525 UTC 20 Feb - 08
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[stuart schechter]

The calc tells me that at F/8.0 I should be shoot around 1/320th. Should be good to go.

[flyboy 28]

Pretty clear right now. Too bad I can't find my CF card! :evil:

[stuart schechter]

Shoot to your laptop or something! DANG*#$%^&%@ Clouds!

[Iberia A340-600]

Certainly not as detailed or great as Moose's shots of the moon but I figured I'd give it a go at taking a shot of the eclipse. I was shooting with a tripod at iso 800 and F/5.6. I was having a lot of trouble focusing on the moon even with manual.

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k170/swfshots/moon.jpg

I took this shot of the moon last year which came out rather sharp, much to my surprise:

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u44/JFKApril/moon.jpg

[Derf]

Here is my attempt at using my red gell on my flash, you can clearly see where I dialed it up to full power :lol: Joking!!!
http://derf.smugmug.com/photos/257038521_nuGn7-L.jpg

[Speedbird1]

Well it happened again and for the third time. Cloud cover here in NYC ruined the lunar eclipse for us. It's kind of amusing that whenever a celestial event occurs, NYC has a cloud cover. The last 2 total lunar eclipses were also ruined by cloud cover. Oh well, there's always 2010. Of course, rubbing salt into the wound, tonight will probably be clear.

[lijk604]

Well it happened again and for the third time. Cloud cover here in NYC ruined the lunar eclipse for us. It's kind of amusing that whenever a celestial event occurs, NYC has a cloud cover. The last 2 total lunar eclipses were also ruined by cloud cover. Oh well, there's always 2010. Of course, rubbing salt into the wound, tonight will probably be clear.

ahhh did you see Fred's post just above yours????

[PhilDernerJr]

FYI; Speedbird's post was merged into this thread from another one, so he might not have seen Fred's post.

[moose135]

Totally blew this one :cry: I have some decent shots of the start and end of the eclipse, but just a disaster of the full eclipse with those nice colors. Between focusing issues, some camera shake (I was out at the beach in Bayville, and had a strong wind off the Sound) and probably just some user error, I didn't much usable shots of the full eclipse. At least I know for next time :wink:

Early in the eclipse:
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/257210959_aftF9-L.jpg

Probably the best of the full eclipse:
http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/257210982_4j2R7-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/257210994_cuVdH-L.jpg

http://moose135.smugmug.com/photos/257211057_THZRg-L.jpg

[GrummanFan]

I'll put together my "time lapse" sequence later, but for now, I'll focus on the big picture...

http://dfalk.smugmug.com/photos/257241855_53fxT-L.jpg

[Wagz]

Well the cloud deck broke wide open just as the eclipse was beginning down here in Philly. I then spent the better part of the next 3 hours laying on the ground in 25º temperatures taking photos. Here's my montage of the night's events. The ending is a bit sparse because I was sick of laying around outisde in the freezing cold.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4333/eclipsemontagery4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[pgengler]

Some nice shots here! I had originally planned on joining up with the North Jersey Astronomy Group out in Livingston, NJ, since they were holding a viewing with telescopes and all that (and probably less light pollution than Hoboken), but with the poor weather forecast I decided I'd just stay at home, rather than drive out there for nothing. When the time came around, I decided to be a sissy about it and stayed inside; fortunately my windows face the right way and the moon was high enough that I was able to look and see it at a couple of points during the evening.

In retrospect, since the next one isn't until Dec. 2010, I probably should have sucked it up and shot it!