Foreign photographers teach you how to shoot the moon.

Lead: The moon can control tides and affect people's mood. But for photographers, the moon is a subject hanging in the sky, and the shooting skills of the moon scene are also a branch of landscape photography. I have experienced 20 years of shooting experience, and I would like to share some tips here, which may be helpful to lunar photographers.

First, know the moon.

The moon is the closest celestial body to us, and its changes are regular. There are great differences in methods between shooting the moon and shooting the scenery under the moonlight, or shooting the moon and the scenery together. According to the position of the moon in the orbit, we need different skills to shoot the most visual works.

Blue Moon

Blue moon at sea

Full moon: The full moon is the moon that often appears in everyone's cognition, a bright big disk. Often because the position is too high from the horizon, it is difficult to shoot the desired picture! Are there any exceptions? When the sun goes down, a full moon may rise from the other side of the horizon. This is a special sight, usually only once a month.

The waning moon: after the full moon, it is called the waning moon, indicating its? No longer complete? . At this stage, the moon will become rarer and even darker. People often call it half moon because the moon looks half bright and half dark.

New Moon: This is the time when the moon has the lowest brightness and the smallest area. This is the best time to shoot starlight! Without the interference of moonlight, the stars will look brighter.

Full moon: as opposed to the waning moon. The new moon is followed by the full moon. At this time, the moon will gradually brighten and tend to the full moon until the full moon.

Blue Moon: When there are four full moons in a season, the third full moon is called blue moon. If there are two full moons in the same month, the second full moon is also called blue moon. The blue moon appears every two to three years.

Autumn harvest: especially the full moon around the autumnal equinox. The moon looks orange because of the atmosphere.

Second, the shooting skills of the moon

1. Determine the shooting time and place in advance.

For astrophotography, the choice of shooting time and place is the most important. If you want to shoot a full moon, you should get ready the night before the full moon and wait for the right place. Because although it is estimated that this day is a full moon, I don't know whether it is early morning or night. It is good that the observatory can give accurate time. If it is not absolutely accurate, we need to take measures ourselves to ensure that we will not miss that moment.

In addition, in fact, it is best to start looking for the shooting location and angle one or two days in advance, take some pictures of the moon and write down the parameters used. Some problems won't be discovered until you actually press the shutter. When shooting, you can make preparations in advance to improve the success rate of shooting. When observing on the spot, we should pay attention to the surrounding buildings, environmental light pollution and other factors.

When the moon rises and becomes round, we often encounter unexpected situations. On a shooting trip to Nepal, when I arrived at the shooting location, the sun had set for 40 minutes and the moon was too bright. Finally, I had to use a medium gray gradient filter to change the light ratio of the picture to shoot.

In fact, I should check the time when the moon rises here as soon as possible. Some mobile apps such as LightTrac can help us do this, but it is best to step on it in advance.

Change the light ratio of the picture with a filter

By changing the light ratio of the picture with a filter, the details of the moon and mountains can be recorded at the same time.

Step 2 add foreground to photos

Predict the position of the moon in advance and design the prospect for it.

Even if the moon is small, it can be obvious.

The moon always faces the earth on the same side, so it is the same to just shoot the moon with a telephoto. So the prospect in moonlight becomes very important. I always like to shoot when the moon rises and sets, because shooting at a low angle is easier to increase the prospect. Using some mobile apps, such as starwalk, can help us determine the orbit of the moon at this time and predict the position of the moon, so that we can adjust the shooting position in advance and design the composition.

Different from other kinds of photography, the foreground of celestial photography does not need to be too close, and basically everything on the ground can be regarded as the foreground. There are many possibilities for the composition of the moon in the picture, and sometimes the moon can be photographed as a distant point with a wide-angle lens. The moon is actually very bright, and the clear and empty sky can highlight the moon.

3. Select the appropriate focus part

The most useful lens for shooting the moon is a long zoom lens. No matter how big the moon is in your eyes, in fact, you will find that the moon is still very small in the focal length commonly used in cameras. A long zoom lens can adjust it to the same angle as you. At least from 100mm, we can see the true face of the moon in the lens with the focal length of100 mm-400 mm. The telephoto lens also changes the visual relationship between the moon and the ground scenery, which will bring shocking visual effects to the picture.

The effect of the moon in 36 mm lens

Under the lens of 400 mm, the moon looks very big.

Step 4 measure the moon correctly

The moon rises above, and there is not much light on the ground.

The luminosity of the moon is related to its profit and loss period and prospect. Spot metering can ensure the accuracy of metering to the greatest extent, but it also depends on whether the foreground is too bright or too dark.

If the sky is still bright at the beginning of sunset, it is easy to measure light, but as the moon rises, the environment becomes darker and the moon looks brighter, but the camera always can't detect light. At this time, the prospect and the exposure of the moon and starry sky should be taken into account. In fact, when the sun just sets, controlling the light ratio is the best way. If you miss it, you can change the light ratio in other ways.

5. Post-processing

Many photos of the moon need to be post-processed on the computer to repair the bright moon and dark ground scenery. Tools such as digital-analog gradient mirror and adjusting brush can be easily adjusted. But in fact, preparing in advance to avoid shooting mistakes will get a better picture. A small mistake in front, post-processing will take a long time, it is really not worth it.

Be prepared in advance in order to take better pictures.

6. Synthesize what you have learned.

Combine what you have learned.

The picture above is a photo of Michael Riffle, which is the best example I have ever seen. He used ephemeris to predict the position where the moon would appear behind Seattle, and found a shooting location on the opposite beach. Among them, he also made a small guess about the position where the moon appeared, and he also carefully measured the foreground several times before the moon came out to ensure its exposure effect. Finally, he took this photo. The position of the moon is still a little off (life will not be perfect, right), but he is like a master, holding everything in his hand. Post-editing doesn't need much. Spectacular lighting and composition are perfect enough.