Monday, Jan. 9, the day of this writing, is the day of the Wolf Moon-January’s full moon. There is something magical about winter full moon photos, so I encourage everyone to take their best shot tonight.
Of course, any night shot is better when there is more than just a moon in the dark sky, so if you can include some ground elements, such as reflections in the water, or tree branches, all the better. But at the very least you would want to work on good exposure, and the Sunny16 rule will get you started on the right foot.
According to Wikipedia, the basic rule is, “On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed [or ISO setting] for a subject in direct sunlight.”[1] For example:
- On a sunny day and with ISO 100 film / setting in the camera, one sets the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second (on some cameras 1/125 second is the available setting nearest to 1/100 second).
- On a sunny day with ISO 200 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250.
- On a sunny day with ISO 400 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.
I can hear you scratching your head, asking yourself “How does this apply to full moon photography? The sky is dark, not sunny!” Well yes, that is true. But the moon is visible because of the sun’s reflection on it, so a proper exposure of the moon, when lit by the sun, would require the application of the Sunny16 Rule. Try it-you’ll see. Then post your results on the Cameras, Computers, Cyberspace Flickr page.
Here are two of my recent moon shots-not full moons, I know, but I wanted to illustrate how having some texture-the tree branches-in the foreground, along with a light sky near the ground helps show off the moon better. And by the way, these are taken without a tripod–the shutter speed was fast enough at 125. I’ll post my Wolf Moon shots after I get them tonight!
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