Tips on Night Sky Photography using Aug 30, 2023 Super Blue Moon

gdlewen

gdlewen

EF3
Joined
May 5, 2019
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202
Location
Owasso, OK
I recently decided to try using my Nikon Z6 for night sky photography. I took this picture during testing and know it can be better--I've done some reading on-line and would change the ISO setting to something lower, for instance. Given the range of interests and experience on the ST Forum, I am pretty sure I can get some help. This picture was taken with the following settings:
  • ISO 51200 AUTO (...heavy sigh...big mistake)
  • 200mm f13 lens (NIKKOR Z 24-200 f4-6.3 VR)
  • 1/2500s exposure time.

DSC_0739b.JPG

Comparison photos to this kind of view using similar exposure parameters will be helpful. (Yes, please make me feel inadequate--it's the only way I will learn. :) I'm sure I can do better.)
 
Looks good to me. Better than what I got.

In this case, camera is a nothing special lower-end Panasonic camcorder.
I just put it on a tripod & left it in 'intelligent auto' mode, zoomed in & after it focused, snapped a few pic's
(I think you can manually set ISO's & stuff on it, but I don't know about that)
 

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Your shot isn't that bad. It is always hard to tell what you are getting on such as small screen when shooting. My reco is to bracket - take a lot of shots at different shutter speeds and apertures (using a lower ISO for sure) and then compare once you download off the camera. The moon is tricky because of the contrast. It can be hard to pull the detail out in the dark without washing out the light parts.
 
James K said:
Looks good to me. Better than what I got.

In this case, camera is a nothing special lower-end Panasonic camcorder.
I just put it on a tripod & left it in 'intelligent auto' mode, zoomed in & after it focused, snapped a few pic's
(I think you can manually set ISO's & stuff on it, but I don't know about that)
Click to expand...
Looking at some of the fine detail it's not so far off what I got--just much lower contrast. It's better than I thought a camcorder would do.
 
Randy Jennings said:
Your shot isn't that bad. It is always hard to tell what you are getting on such as small screen when shooting. My reco is to bracket - take a lot of shots at different shutter speeds and apertures (using a lower ISO for sure) and then compare once you download off the camera. The moon is tricky because of the contrast. It can be hard to pull the detail out in the dark without washing out the light parts.
Click to expand...
I missed out on some of the nice moonrise color early on trying to get focus optimized. With moonrises well after midnight lately, I am looking forward to trying again. At least until "2nd Season" starts up. Thanks for your comments!
 
gdlewen said:
Looking at some of the fine detail it's not so far off what I got--just much lower contrast. It's better than I thought a camcorder would do.
Click to expand...
Yeah, didn't do too bad for a lower-end camera & auto-everything. Seeing it full res on my computer its kinda grainy looking close, but overall I'm satisfied with that was done as a quick sit the tripod/camera on the roof & snap off a little series of shots, then go back inside (fairly soon after moonrise, so it was low in the sky, had to get above trees/houses).
 
I out of curiosity looked at some of the manual settings on my camcorder..
There's nothing labeled ISO but...
Under 'Shutter' it has stuff like 1/60 1/100 in various increments up to 1/4000 (without looking for the manual I'm guessing that means its open for 1/60th etc of a second)

Under 'Iris' it has a range of dB settings & then a range of 'F' settings

(also ofcourse has manual-focus & white-balance options)

I remember in a Jr. High art class I took there was a photography segment where they taught about ISO's & F's ... but that was a really long time ago (and with 35mm film cameras), I don't remember what any of it means now, simply been way too long ago.


Maybe next time, I'll try playing around with some of the settings out of curiosity to see if I can get any better contrast/etc
 
James K said:
I out of curiosity looked at some of the manual settings on my camcorder..
There's nothing labeled ISO but...
Under 'Shutter' it has stuff like 1/60 1/100 in various increments up to 1/4000 (without looking for the manual I'm guessing that means its open for 1/60th etc of a second)

Under 'Iris' it has a range of dB settings & then a range of 'F' settings

(also ofcourse has manual-focus & white-balance options)

I remember in a Jr. High art class I took there was a photography segment where they taught about ISO's & F's ... but that was a really long time ago (and with 35mm film cameras), I don't remember what any of it means now, simply been way too long ago.


Maybe next time, I'll try playing around with some of the settings out of curiosity to see if I can get any better contrast/etc
Click to expand...
I think we have nothing to lose. Skies over Tulsa are clearing tonight—might catch the nearly-new moon. Good luck!
 
gdlewen said:
I think we have nothing to lose. Skies over Tulsa are clearing tonight—might catch the nearly-new moon. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Nearly new moon could make for a cool shot!
I looked out a window for the moon at some point last night but didn't see it (maybe it wasn't up yet at that point, or maybe was behind one of the few small clouds around)

I took this last weekend on a camping trip. (same camera as before & auto mode)
Love the way it turned out because of the way craters show on the top right.
I've never had craters show like that before ... but then again I've only ever tried taking moon photos when its full.
 

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James K said:
Nearly new moon could make for a cool shot!
I looked out a window for the moon at some point last night but didn't see it (maybe it wasn't up yet at that point, or maybe was behind one of the few small clouds around)

I took this last weekend on a camping trip. (same camera as before & auto mode)
Love the way it turned out because of the way craters show on the top right.
I've never had craters show like that before ... but then again I've only ever tried taking moon photos when its full.
Click to expand...
I think you fiddle with the contrast a bit--it looks like there are details made less apparent by the low contrast. And I agree--craters on the limb of the moon with their shadows make for a nice view. So far in Tulsa the moon has been hidden behind clouds or setting ahead of the sun--therefore no visibility. I will keep trying.
 
Yep.. I'll have to play around with the contrast on the computer with that one a bit.

I haven't looked out for the moon the past couple nights If I remember (and its not cloudy) I might try when its around a quarter & a half just to see how either of those would turn out...
 
I
James K said:
Yep.. I'll have to play around with the contrast on the computer with that one a bit.

I haven't looked out for the moon the past couple nights If I remember (and its not cloudy) I might try when its around a quarter & a half just to see how either of those would turn out...
Click to expand...
I tried tonight but had trouble with focus. Or there might have been thin cirrostratus—by the time the sky darkened enough the moon was getting pretty low so the optical depth of the atmosphere was noticeably scattering the light. It’s hard to to say without examining the raw images. There were definitely thermal density fluctuations visible during focusing. Everything suboptimal….
 
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