Expert: Allen Rogers - 5/5/2004

Question
Dear Allen,

I have been trying to photograph moon with a 300 mm lens. I am doing it from a tripod using a 400 speed film. Whatever I do (be the exposure time and aperture long or short) I am always getting just a light curcle with no distinctive features or moon structure. What am I doing wrong? Do I need a polarizing filter or some other kind of magic?
 Thanks,
         Sebastian


Answer
Sebastian to shoot the moon you use the "sunny 16" rule of light. That means you use an aperture of 16 and shutter speed of 1 over your film speed. In your case I'd shoot it at f16 and 1/250 and 1/500 unless you have 1/400 speed. For better results I'd suggest going down to maybe f8 and 1/1250 (or close to that). Experiment using the sunny 16 rule. (use f16 and then open the lens up more and speed up the shutter by the same number of changes)

Another consideration is your lab may not process your film properly. If so tell them what you're doing.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Allen