Shoot for the Moon

When you first get into photography there are many things that you use as your first subjects. Friends and Family are some of the first, pets and flowers are alos very popular with the budding photographer also but as you start to gain more experience and confidence you start to challenge yourself further and one thing that many amateur phortographers choose as their next subject is the moon. What's good about this as a subject is that it doesn't move quickly, it's always there in one form or another and can create some stunnng pictures. So why not give it a crack, the only issue is, can you get close enough to it.

When shooting a subject that is hundreds of thousands of miles away your first challenge is being able to get it to fill as much of the frame as possible. For this you're going to need a large lens, not just a big lens but a huge lens. I'm talking at least a 300mm Lens if you're going to even know it's the moon and not a white spot in the sky. These lenses are expensive, if you're going to choose a big name like Canon Lenses we're talking thousands of dollars. However there are ways around this. Firstly, you can rent lenses at reasonable rates now from many different firms and for about 50 bucks you could hire a large lens for a day/night. Another way is to use what's called a teleconverter. This is basically a magnifying glass you put on the end of your lens which will double the focal length of your lens. So if you have a 200mm zoom lens it will make it a 400mm lens. These can be bought quite cheaply and can also be stacked so you could add a 2x teleconverter onto a 1.4x teleconverter to get even more zoom.

As well as a decent zoom lens you're going to need a sturdy tripod. Now, when we're dealing with zoom lenses of 500mm or more the camera becomes the smaller piece of equipment so the lens is actually the piece which attaches to the tripod and the camera body hangs off the back of it.

As well as the lens and the tripod it may be worth while investing in a remote shutter release in the form of a remote. This will enable you to line up your shot and stand back and take as many photos as you want without small movements from your finger pressing the button.

- Digital SLR Camera

- Large Zoom Lens

- Teleconverter or two (Common sizes are 1.4x and 2x)

- Tripod

- Remote Shutter Release

- Patience

Once you've got your kit and you're set up you've pretty much done all the hard work, now all you need to do is line up your shot, get the moon where you want it and take the picture. Things to bear in mind are that the moon moves faster than you think through the sky so if you're spending a while taking the pictures you may need to re-adjust. Also, take some time setting up your camera to expose the moon correctly as if you leave it up to the camera it may over expose the moon being that the majority of the frame may be pitch black. Have a centre weighted exposure, but play around with the settings until you get enough of the detail of the moon with out washing out the night sky.

If you have any questions, let me know. Now all you need to do is wait fo the next full moon and a clear night. However crescent moons look nice also.