BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Photography Photographing the Moon

Many of us were trying to take pictures of the eclipse last night. What camera do you use to take pictures of that sort of thing?

We have a Canon EOS 40D with a 70-200 2.8L IS lens. We were using a Kenko Pro 1.4x teleconverter with that lens. Bob was dialing in on manual because the auto exposure wanted to make it too bright and was washing it out.



When I was using the camera earlier in the eclipse, I didn't know enough to change lenses. So I was using what was on it - a 17-85 EF-S IS lens, on "landscape" mode.



zoomed in on this same photo -

Taken on a Canon Rebel XTi, 28-135mm, F3.5-5.6. Manual mode, manual focus, ISO 400, F5.6, with a cable-released 1.3 sec exposure. Taken in Virginia, when the weather changed and the clouds went away before showtime.

I wish I had a 70-300mm lens for this, but I had to make do with my daily 135mm lens.

Large picture

Moon Only

Lovely! I love eclipses Eclipsii?

When the last large set of shooting stars came by, I tried to do some time exposures to see if I could try to catch them. Only problem is the area I'm in has a LOT of light pollution so I could not keep the aperture open for a long time before everything got washed out. I ended up taking something like 600 pictures between midnight and 5 am. I definitely learned that you don't keep everything exposed for a while before stars turn into streaks -- or the picture turns solid red because of light pollution.

I actually have a LOT of good pictures that I've taken with my setup. I shoot in raw mode only, highest resolution I can (3888 x 2700), and have two 4 gig CF cards on me. My camera is with me at all times in the van, so if I see something that gets my attention, I take it out and take a picture

Great pictures of the moon, Lisa. I would love to have a camera like you have. Guess I have some shopping to do! I also need a camera for close up still life.

Really nice pic. Do u have more?

Welcome, JeniLo!

I have just a few more, they're all online here -

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Such great images of the eclipses (or is it indeed eclipsii?! ) Thanks so much for sharing Lisa and Duane_Va!

Does anyone have some other astrophotography related pictures they'd like to share? I have to guiltily say that I've got some film still stuck in my old manual camera waiting to be processes after taking some trails of a comet shower over the south of England over year or 2 ago!!!

And if you'd like to see some more space related pictures, do check out NASA's Image Gallery, these images are also free to use for educational and information purposes

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For Startrails. Well there is the Hard Way and the Easy Way. Last year I went out and did the hard way. Now I have this little Program (it's free).

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Great pictures Dataman, thanks for sharing! Wonderful lighting of the full moon, shows it off beautifully!

You've got a lovely sensitivity with those close up shots with your new 450D also, certainly continue with your macro work! Love the close up of the ladybug. Do you do much photo editing with your pictures after taking them?

Thanks for sharing the startrails program also, shall be trying it later And yes, star trails are tricky indeed. Plus so much streeting lighting in the sky where I live locally that poses a problem too, not least because those star trails are so hard to see!

Glad you enjoyed. On the Ladybug it's a slight crop (took off some on the right). Secret is Trained Bugs.

Naw...Secret is finding some that are not moving around. I was lucky and found about 50 of them in bush. Got as close as lens would focus and fired off lots of shots. Depth of Field is so small it's scarey. I have lots of BAD shots. I wanted Antenna and Eyes in Focus and good colors.

I tweaked the colors a little so it's more colorful. Used CS3 (Photoshop) to save for Web so it's not so darn BIG (3.32g Jpg). I used RAW so I can play with it more (RAW - Digital Negative). Of course I miss the Dark Room Smell of the Chemicals. Humm.. Maby I can spray bleach and something funky around to get the old smells I remember.


On the Startrails I have played with it. Need to get off my butt and take the pictures. I failed on my Shoot Star pics last year. I need somone to tell me where they will appear in the sky. And a very narrow areas too. Ahaaa I will use my 10-20mm Wide Angle Zoom next time. Maby that is the key?

Glad you enjoyed. Take care everyone.

DM aka SteveD