Catching the Moon

I have taken pictures of the moon before but it was a trial and error to get the right exposure - got there in the end but it was not a quick process.

Last night was a super blue blood moon - sounds impressive. What it actually means is that the second full moon of the month combined with when the moon is at the closest and a lunar eclipse (which we didn’t get in th UK). It did look spectacular and it made an ideal opportunity to test out an easy way to set up your camera. 

It started with a discussion at the camera club I have joined (another new year resolution and

more about in a later blog) about a new lens and the shots the person had taken of the moon

with it. He used The Funny 11 settings.

Not one I had come across before but which you can see is fairly straight forward to remember. 

So I decided to give it a go at 100, 200 and 400 ISO and hence at 1/100s, 1/200s and 1/400s shutter speeds respectively. 

You can see the results - straight out of the camera other than cropping to remove the mass of sky (working with a 300mm so not enough reach) and compressing for web viewing. 

My verdict - it works perfectly and no need for a tripod!

This is definitely a tip I will be using in the future and so simple to remember that I won’t have to trawl the memory banks to dial the settings in!