advice please

[alexiad]

97305

I'm new to photography esp. technical stuff. I took some full moon photos and kept getting the "reflected" image of moon as in photo. The moon is the bright one, even though the "reflection" looks more like the moon?
It looks kind of interesting but I'm hoping for some technical advice as to what causes this so I can eliminate in future. Apologies in advance if this is really basic :)

[Wayne]

Ghosting inside your lens or through a window you may have taken the image through?
What lens were you using?

[alexiad]

thanks - no window I was outside.... I think I had the Canon EF-s 55-250mm lens on at the time

[ricktas]

Do you have a filter on the lens. Like a UV filter etc? What happens is the light of the moon hits the front element of the lens, reflects back onto the back of the filter glass and then you end up with this result.

[Warbler]

Cheap UV filter that all salesmen tell newbies they have to have. :D

[alexiad]

thanks all for quick response. It is quite possible I had left the uv filter on...so next time will make sure it's not there and hopefully fixed.

[ricktas]

thanks all for quick response. It is quite possible I had left the uv filter on...so next time will make sure it's not there and hopefully fixed.

Have a think about this. Your filter is distorting and causing this, but it is only really obvious to you when you experience an issue like you did with the moon, but the filter being on there is going to be causing refraction all the time, it may not be as obvious in most cases, but removing it, and not putting it back on, ever, might well be a better choice.

You want to the highest image quality, and perhaps your filter is letting your down, more than you realise.

[Rattus79]

Another point:

Becuase of the huge ammount of black in the frame, it tends to fool your sensor. The moon is really quite bright and usually an approx exposure of 1/125 F8 will be good shooting ISO 100 (these are very approx and will change night to night, location to location)

The faster shutter speed will also help to reduce any ghosting/reflections as they will be darker and hopefully blend into the black BG

[extraball]

I took a ton of photos with the same lens, and UV filter fitted. Never had this happen, but must say it's kinda cool to snap an extra moon!
:lol:

[Mark L]

To follow up on what rick was saying about uv filters http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?63081-My-take-on-the-use-of-UV-filters

[alexiad]

thanks again to all...
I'm really interested in no filter at all??? .... & being a newbie...I guess I was sold on the idea that a lot of bright light (Northen Rivers NSW) would need it...now taking your advice! Damn now wish I used the $ on a lens :)...any ways' looking fwd to more fun with photography and hopefully more great ideas and tips from this community...cheers

[Rattus79]

Well you have a plethora of amazing places to go and point your camera around lismore that's for a
Sure!
I recommend a trip out to terania creek for a start.

[alexiad]

I thought it kinda cool too... esp that the "non moon" looked more real than the actual one!! but wanted to know why in case I didn't want...:)

[Mark L]

thanks again to all...
I'm really interested in no filter at all??? ....

There are some useful filters (that I don't own yet :(), but the uv hasn't gone on my lenses since I went digital.

[alexiad]

yeah...lots of amazing places..happenings... scenes....things...people...& stuff... 'round here...just wishn' & hope to have the time and confidence to go and get it and share with y'all :)

[Bevlea]

97357

97358
agree with the shutter speed too.. I took some full moon shots down inverloch and the first one at 2secs was way too bright... . got the shot I wanted at 1/6 sec (both at F22)
I also ran the second one through Topaz detail

[Warbler]

agree with the shutter speed too.. I took some full moon shots down inverloch and the first one at 2secs was way too bright... . got the shot I wanted at 1/6 sec (both at F22)
I also ran the second one through Topaz detail

There is absolutely no need to be using f22 for a moon picture. F5.6 of F8, depending on your lens, is plenty small enough. Remember dof is determined by three things, aperture, focal length, and distance to your subject. With moon shots, distance to the subject is huge. You could shoot wide open and still get it plenty sharp enough. Better to concentrate on keeping the camera still, and getting your exposure right.

F22 is just going to slow your shutter speed down. The moon actually moves quite quickly across the sky and a fastish shutter speed is desirable.

F11 (because it was an f5.6 lens with a 2xTG attached), 1/250th ISO400, 1000mm

97371

[Warbler]

If you plug in the distance to the moon as around 362,000,000 metres here:

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

You'll find you get an infinite depth of field at pretty much any aperture on a focal length of 1000mm or less. You just need to pick the best aperture for your particular lens and an ISO speed that gives a shutter speed that is manageable like 1/250th. Put the camera on a tripod and use the mirror lock-up and remote shutter release to avoid camera shake.