p.1 #1 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
Went through the effort of shooting the lunar eclipse tonight from the rooftop of my condo in downtown San Diego... which meant a good deal of light pollution and a bit of cloudiness from the night time marine layer. Also realizing the limitations of only have a 70-200 and 2.0tc for astrophotography after having to see my 300 earlier this year to finance the move out here.
Even so, I put some effort into it and was able to salvage 4 photos with minimal motion blur/shake from the tripod and did a median blend to reduce noise.
Would love to see the photos from some of y'all's kits in better lit situations!
p.1 #4 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
riokid wrote:
I am about 100 miles north of you.
I took a few shots with all the stray lights in the neighborhood and quick moving clouds.
Maybe next time, I will go up the mountains
I was just talking to a couple of friends about doing a better job planning for the next lunar event and heading up into the mountains for it as well as renting a 500mm. Nice photo!
p.1 #5 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
We had great conditions in Netherlands for this blood moon, clear sky and I could snap pictures from the convenience of my home (out the roof window, unheated area so no strong thermals and still not too cold). I got my best shots ever from a blood moon simply by resting the 80D plus 100-400 and TCIII on the window sill (proved far more solid than my tripod ...).
Unfortunately I can't post them because I would have to delete over 4000 Flickr images first ;-(
I missed the last part of the eclipse because I needed to get some sleep, woke up when the moon was setting just behind a large water tower (with the eclipse almost finished) which could have provided for a very impressive picture. Too bad for missing that one but I'm happy with what I got.
p.1 #6 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
Hey guys here is one from the heart of the Netherlands. 5DsR + 100-400ii + 1.4xiii @560mm, ISO 5000 f/8 0.8s. Original crop 3386x2257, web size 1200x800.
This was my first moon eclipse and I made some mistakes I could have foreseen, but I was too sleepy or stupid or whatever
- I left IS on all the time while obviously the camera was on a tripod
- I started off with the lens @300mm instead of 400mm, found out just before the total eclipse moment to shift towards 400mm
- I never thought about not being able to adjust focus around total eclipse time. It was way too dark. When I shifted from 300mm to 400mm I had to turn the zoom ring and take shots in order to find the right focus spot.
p.1 #7 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
rabbitmountain wrote:
Hey guys here is one from the heart of the Netherlands. 5DsR + 100-400ii + 1.4xiii @560mm, ISO 5000 f/8 0.8s. Original crop 3386x2257, web size 1200x800.
This was my first moon eclipse and I made some mistakes I could have foreseen, but I was too sleepy or stupid or whatever
- I left IS on all the time while obviously the camera was on a tripod
- I started off with the lens @300mm@ instead of 400mm, found out just before the total eclipse moment to shift towards 400mm
- I never thought about not being able to adjust focus around total eclipse time. It was way too dark. When I shifted from 300mm to 400mm I had to turn the zoom ring and take shots in order to find the right focus spot.
Nice for a first attempt, my first eclipse pictures (around 45 years ago) with small telescope and very simple film camera were all blanks I didn't understand yet at the time that you needed a large aperture telescope and very sensitive film. But soon after that I purchased a much bigger telescope and SLR camera and things improved gradually.
My bloodmoon images with 80D and same lens/TC are a step above yours in IQ, so I think you still have some room for improvement, given that 5Ds and 80D have roughly similar pixel density. I also didn't plan perfectly as I kept ISO at 1600 during the maximum eclipse which meant shutter speed of 1 second; 1 second is really too long and produces obvious star trails, 3200 ISO and 0.5 sec would probably have been better choice (but I really don't like ISO 3200 quality on the 80D ...).
Did you focus manually in Liveview? I have found PDAF and Liveview AF to be unreliable for this kind of subject ...
p.1 #8 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
technic wrote:
Nice for a first attempt, my first eclipse pictures (around 45 years ago) with small telescope and very simple film camera were all blanks I didn't understand yet at the time that you needed a large aperture telescope and very sensitive film. But soon after that I purchased a much bigger telescope and SLR camera and things improved gradually.
My bloodmoon images with 80D and same lens/TC are a step above yours in IQ, so I think you still have some room for improvement, given that 5Ds and 80D have roughly similar pixel density. I also didn't plan perfectly as I kept ISO at 1600 during the maximum eclipse which meant shutter speed of 1 second; 1 second is really too long and produces obvious star trails, 3200 ISO and 0.5 sec would probably have been better choice (but I really don't like ISO 3200 quality on the 80D ...).
Did you focus manually in Liveview? I have found PDAF and Liveview AF to be unreliable for this kind of subject ......Show more →
Thanks! Indeed I hope to do better next time Looking forward to your images!
1s @ ISO1600 @f/8 I tried, but that leaves underexposed images, by about 1,5 stops. So in post I need to up that to ISO4000-5000 anyway. The 80D and 5DsR have similar pixel density but the 80D has a different (newer) tech sensor. Still the exposure should be roughly the same so I don't quite get how to get to 1s - f/8 - 1/1600. I may have had atmospheric conditions that took away some light, I'm no expert on that stuff. This is all just fun and playing with gear for me. But I am eager to learn.
Then of course there is the matter of how much boost do you give to exposure, as the moon is actually very dark when viewing with bare eyes. If I want to show in a picture what I see through my binoculars the moon would be a whole lot (2 stops) darker.
About AF: I used LV AF (no DPAF on the 5DsR). Then in the mess I created and needing to go from 300mm to 400mm I focused blindly and took shots in between to find the right spot. In general for this type of shots I can't think of a better way to find perfect focus than LV and focus manually.
p.1 #9 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
From my location in San Diego, it clouded up badly right before totality. You'd think you would have a good chance to see it in this location, but not this time. A few hours earlier, the ISS buzzed by. Tomorrow morning will be a conjuction (it's a word, but the spell checker doesn't like it) of Venus and Jupiter. I've been watching them sneak up on each other. Quite a busy time in the sky down here.
p.1 #10 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
rabbitmountain wrote:
Thanks! Indeed I hope to do better next time Looking forward to your images!
1s @ ISO1600 @f/8 I tried, but that leaves underexposed images, by about 1,5 stops. So in post I need to up that to ISO4000-5000 anyway. The 80D and 5DsR have similar pixel density but the 80D has a different (newer) tech sensor. Still the exposure should be roughly the same so I don't quite get how to get to 1s - f/8 - 1/1600. I may have had atmospheric conditions that took away some light, I'm no expert on that stuff. This is all just fun and playing with gear for me. But I am eager to learn.
Then of course there is the matter of how much boost do you give to exposure, as the moon is actually very dark when viewing with bare eyes. If I want to show in a picture what I see through my binoculars the moon would be a whole lot (2 stops) darker.
About AF: I used LV AF (no DPAF on the 5DsR). Then in the mess I created and needing to go from 300mm to 400mm I focused blindly and took shots in between to find the right spot. In general for this type of shots I can't think of a better way to find perfect focus than LV and focus manually.
I forgot to mention that during the maximum eclipse I removed the TC in order to get decent exposure at 1600 ISO f/5.6. The TC normally provides a bit of extra resolution for moonshots, but in these conditions the main value is being able to focus more accurately and check for camera vibration, thermals etc. My images were not fully exposed but close (probably minus 1/3 stop, to make sure I don't blow out highlights). I guess that explains most of the difference; the rest could be due to different sensors and various firmware/PP settings. Anyway, it's very helpful to know the right exposure settings for the next occasion (although by that time we might have very different sensors again ...).
Yes, it's tricky how to PP such images. The moon is indeed dark to the eyes but most images you see online have a huge boost that looks spectacular but is "unnatural" (except maybe when compared to very bright binoculars). I'm not able to post images at the moment due to the changes at Flickr, might take some weeks to rearrange things.
p.1 #11 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
1joel1 wrote:
From my location in San Diego, it clouded up badly right before totality. You'd think you would have a good chance to see it in this location, but not this time. A few hours earlier, the ISS buzzed by. Tomorrow morning will be a conjuction (it's a word, but the spell checker doesn't like it) of Venus and Jupiter. I've been watching them sneak up on each other. Quite a busy time in the sky down here.
Joel
I am switching back to sleeping at nights tonight so there may be a chance I’ll be awake that early, will keep an eye to the sky.
Next time there is a lunar event I am thinking it might be worth hiking up Cowels mountain to get some photos above the marine layer at night... it’s an easy enough trail with a headlamp.
p.1 #12 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
Good idea. I'm up early for work so I see a lot of stuff while walking the dog. Not long ago, you could also spot Mercury with the others about an hour before sunrise. Hit me up if you want company.
p.1 #18 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
I drove 100 miles to no cloud cover, froze my --- off, and shot over 400 photos. I hope some of them are acceptable (have not really looked at them yet). I have a new found respect for people who shoot these type of photos as this was a hugely difficult for me. And then there are the people people with flash lights "hey, what are talking a photo of?" Really? I standing in the dark with a long lens pointed at the moon. I was nice and didn't say anything sarcastic.
p.1 #19 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
All hand-held. Next time I will use a tripod as the moon was almost directly overhead and resulted in too much shake on my part (which was not helped by the 17F degrees in Southern Indiana.
p.1 #20 · Lunar Eclipse Photos (AKA Super Blood Wolf Moon)
Please stop calling a lunar eclipse, a blood moon. All lunar eclipses turn the Moon reddish. The term is made-up and based on events that ended in 2015.
I didn't understand yet at the time that you needed a large aperture telescope and very sensitive film. But soon after that I purchased a much bigger telescope and SLR camera and things improved gradually.
