Photographing the moon with the correct exposure for the moon, and what your landscape subject is, is one that is a bit difficult to get right. You will either have to have the moon correctly exposed, or your subject such as a lighthouse, etc correctly exposed. You really can’t have it spot on for both, which is why you see photographs of a perfectly exposed lighthouse, with a perfectly exposed moon, and that is a telltale sign that it is a Photoshop. You will see that the baseline settings for the full moon are typically 1/250 of a second, F8 with the ISO somewhere around 400. Those are just suggestions, and I like to experiment myself, mainly because the light is never the same for every full moon rise, and every single camera will react differently. The F8 and ISO can pretty much stay the same if you’re apprehensive, but the time of exposure is what you really want to concentrate on for correct exposure of the moon. One very important thing to mention is using a tripod. I cannot state enough just how important it is to have your camera steady, with the IS (Image Stabilization) turned off. Then, to trigger the shutter at this point you do not want to touch the camera by pressing the shutter, as it will defeat the purpose of the tripod, so you will need a remote trigger, (just a simple wired shutter release that can be purchased on Amazon or Ebay) or, you can use the camera’s built-in timer. Just keep in mind that when you use the timer, there is no way to accommodate having it released at the same time, as say, a lighthouse lantern flash. Sometimes, a lighthouse will have a very frequent flash such as Minot’s Ledge Light in Scituate, and that becomes easier, as it’s more likely to have a better chance of flashing at the same time as your camera. Easier still, is a lighthouse such as East Quoddy up on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, which has a lantern that is always “on”, and never flashes. There are lighthouses however, that rarely flash, and you ideally almost have to have a shutter release. I myself prefer a wired shutter release mainly because I feel like there is more that can go wrong with a wireless one. I have purchased wireless releases, and they seem to not last very long. I have included an image of New London Ledge Lighthouse, shot from last July, as an example of a decent exposure of the moon, but not so good of the subject, in this case being the lighthouse. It is possible to somewhat “fix” those issues of under or overexposing of the moon or subject, but trust me when I say that it is much easier to get it right while shooting the image during your shoot. I hope I have given at least a little insight on how to photograph the full moon. And honestly, if you did have any questions, or you are super apprehensive, I don’t mind at all answering any questions from anyone. Keep an eye out for the next full moon which will be the Full Worm Moon on March 1st, so named for the time of year when the temperature begins to warm, the earth softens and earthworms begin to reappear, followed by the birds. Namaste.
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