“I have a date with the moon, at nine outside the city” these the words of a happy swing song of the thirties interpreted by the Trio Lescano and that I suggest you to listen.
Moon inspired poets, singers and lovers from all over the world and from every time being so close and so distant at the same time. Often it’s with us when we get out from our routine and we travel. All of us have tried that feeling of quietness when we are on a beach at night around a bonfire with a full moon at sunset brightening the sea creating that striking reflection on the water.
But when it comes to take a photo of it the disappointment is just behind the corner. We are in one of those situations where the machine’s automatism is not able to recognise the right situation. So, sometime happens to see someone taking a photo to the moon with the flash on. Trust me, it is something terrible 🙂
So how to do it? The technique is not that difficult but it is not that easy either and it requires some necessary tool. You shall have possibly a reflex in order to have also full control on the camera and mounting a powerful enough zoom. In addition, a tripod will be necessary to make this date with the moon productive.
Without these tools the moon will be probably confined in a white and out-of-focus disk on a photo.
Moon is a good runner and goes fast, faster than what we can imagine and it is also very bright. The solar light that is reflected on the moon surface is so strong that creates a deep contrast with the surrounding evening gloom or the night obscurity.
But no panic, you steadily place your tripod, you place your camera on it mounting a zoom with a focal length of at least 200 mm. It is better to have a remote control in order to avoid any micro movement effect. If you don’t have one you could use the self-timer. Set up the manual focus in the case the automatic one would not work.
About the parameters you shall set your camera with a stop around f9 and ISO 200, the shutter must be faster than 1/125 seconds.
With these settings you should do a good job, you can of course adjust the settings to what you really would like to obtain. Would you like to have a “postcard photo” such as a palm with the moon in an evening bay? Here we face another technical problem that I will explain in a new post.
I can now wish you a nice date with the moon that, as the song says, “I’m sure won’t miss it”.
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