Photographing The Moon And The Sea

In this detailed tutorial article, we dive deep into the worlds of celestial and topological photography, learning and discovering some really cool ways to make our photographs come alive.

In this article, we are going to focus on two special photographic choices, the moon, and the sea, and figure out how to capture them in a way that is their most realistic portrayal.

We will also be talking about night photography and how to photograph at night and otherwise low light conditions.

And in the end, we will talk briefly about processing images so that your dimly lit images too can be stunning with the right color corrections.

Table of Contents

Shooting the moon.

Figuring out how to photograph the moon has for quite some time been one of the best delights of a photographer’s journey in learning.

For a long time the moon has enthralled individuals, provided guidance and given us visual pleasure and wonderment.

Being the most splendid object in the night sky, it’s something picture takers of all levels can shoot, and is one of the first things photographers learn how to capture.

5 Tips for photographing the Moon.

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As the most brilliant and biggest object in the night sky, the moon is an incredible subject to use as a prologue to astrophotography.

The moon is huge to the point that you can undoubtedly shoot it with an ordinary zooming lens, and it’s additionally brilliant enough that you can use a fast shutter speed that negates the need to have a tracking mount.

The best camera gear for moon photography.

A protected base and workstation for your camera are fundamental to capturing the moon and evading camera shake. While you might probably pull off a decent picture hand holding your camera, your best outcomes will, unquestionably, originate from mounting your camera on a tripod. See our article called – Budget Tripods Under $150 you can find it here.

Long-range lens. So as to help fill the edge and appropriately capture the moon, the more drawn out your long-range lens the better. You don’t really require the quickest lens, since you’ll be on a tripod, yet it’s ideal to utilize anything 200mm or more. In the event that you don’t have a lens that long, you should think about utilizing shorter lenses yet consolidating closer view components to the shot. We have written an article about the best lens for under $200 it also recommends a zoom lens. You can find the article here.

Shutter release cable. Or on the other hand a remote if it’s a possibility for your camera model. This isn’t a required piece, however it’s pleasant to have and keeps away from camera shake. In the event that you don’t have one you can cheat and utilize the self-timer function on your camera.

While practically any camera will work, point and shoots hardly ever produce top quality photographs of the moon, for the most part because of the little size of the sensor and it overheating during longer exposures bringing about digital noise.

A DSLR is favored here with a long lens on it. Mirrorless cameras are additionally reasonable. Camera with littler sensors makes it difficult.

The best camera settings for photographing the moon.

No preset or auto function of your camera will almost certainly appropriately meter the moon, so preferably you ought to think about shooting in full manual mode. In any event, pick Aperture Priority mode. Likewise, your geological area and the current phase of the moon will affect what your settings will be and you should alter for the period of year and clearness of the sky.

Digital cameras ought to be set to 100 or lower, film shooters should shoot film of 100 ISO or slower to wipe out noise and grain.

Since you’re after fresh, clean shots, taking shots at f/11 to f/16, contingent upon your lens, will be the best spot to begin. Research your lens’ sweet spot to locate the sharpest aperture point.

Shutter speed. The factors are numerous and incorporate those referenced before, for example, the stage the moon is in, topographical area and wanted to be shot, however on a crisp evening beginning at around 1/60th to 1/125th ought to be the perfect starting point.

Moon photography – choosing a location.

A word about where you shoot. Picking a spot to shoot the moon is one of the most significant factors in accomplishing a quality shot.

In a perfect world, on the off chance that you need to exhibit the moon itself you will need to dodge some other encompassing light, including road lights and traffic.

This may force you to go off on a remote street or into open park nightfall – your lawn may not be the best area for these sorts of shots.

Despite what might be expected, in the event that you are attempting to incorporate a city horizon under your moon shot, you’ll have to discover a spot that takes into consideration the twinkling lights underneath and do further test shots to nail the presentation appropriately for both the closer view and the moon.

Post-processing moon photographs.

Post-processing your photographs are extremely simple and by and large, an auto white balance will be enough to get your composition just right. However, black and white moon pictures also look stunning and can be attempted.

So think about how you need the result to look – have a play around in Lightroom and see what looks best – color or b/w?

On the off chance that you have shot only the moon when you import into Lightroom, you are likely going to need to concern yourself basically with the contrast and clearness sliders.

These ought to get you a good processed picture without any hiccup.

In the event that you have included components of the foreground in your moon picture, at that point you will likely have sectioned your shots and will, consequently, have some work to do in Photoshop.

Order you copy of lightroom on Amazon here.

Photographing the sea.

One of the most dramatic subjects for your lens is the ocean. It’s quiet, amazing, apparently perpetual, and regularly changing relying upon the lighting.

With each one of those attributes, you need to make sure that your excursion to the ocean with your camera is a satisfactory one which is why in this section, we are going to focus on how to capture the ocean beautifully.

Pick a focal point.

Everybody wants to photo the sea and shoreline, and everybody needs their photographs to look unique.

However, most of them end up looking exactly the same since most of them are doing the exact same thing to set up their photographs.

Which is why it merits calling attention to the significance of picking a decent focal point. Finding a point of focus will shield you from taking the same old boring and flat holiday photo.

The sea is vast and unending which can pose a challenge to photographers since they can be confused about what to focus on. So its very important for you to find a subject first before attempting a sea photo.

Choosing a subject such as a lighthouse will massively transform an otherwise mundane photo since now you have a subject that has character and pops out.

The shoreline is brimming with such intriguing focal points if you glance around.

Choose anything from a castle made with sand to rocks, boats or a lighthouse.

In the event that you go at low tide, your opportunities significantly open up, for example, tide pools and more rocks and shells.

B/W photography.

Nothing adds character to your photo than black and white, and with the drama of the sea, you just can’t go wrong.

I realize a great many people need the “dark blue ocean” or the “turquoise sea,” yet on a cloudy or foggy day, changing over to b/w is only the ticket to a magnificent photograph.

Include an incredible point of focus, as we just talked about, set up your tripod and see what you can capture.

Black and white pictures will in general capture the essence of a day better than colored ones.

While you need to shoot in color, when you are home and transferring your pictures, test drive a portion of the sensational ones in black and white and see for yourself how awesome they turn out.

9 Quick tips for better Black and White photos.

Rule of thirds: what’s on the horizon.

It isn’t unprecedented to have a shoreline photo destroyed by an absence of a fascinating point of focus and right technique.

The classical photograph of the ocean and sky meeting with the skyline is fundamentally down the middle is about as boring as it gets, right? In order to battle that, utilize the skyline as your divider for the standard of thirds.

You need the skyline to utilize its lines to attract the eye to your subject.

Even if this picture isn’t substantially more fascinating, my point is sharing it is that the skyline is separating the picture into the standard of thirds by setting it in the top third of the picture.

Furthermore, the sand begins in the base third.

This consequently draws the watcher’s eye around as opposed to being dormant in the center. The surface in the forefront assists with making it more fascinating, as well.

Mists and fog.

The expression “picture perfect” does not imply that each shoreline photograph must be a consummately bright day. Truth be told, on some occasions it’s quite the opposite.

A clearing storm can add the right touch of clouds that add dramatic effect to our pictures.

Fog can make up for beautiful moody scenes. Rain makes glistening beads on rocks and dispersing rings in pools. Search for the unforeseen in a coastline or ocean view.

Moving waves.

Don’t forget that shutter speed will be a big factor at the beach. The waves create movement that you will either want to freeze or allow blurring.

If it’s a huge, crashing wave, I recommend bumping up the shutter speed to freeze it just as its curl is at its peak.

If the tide is low and the waves are rolling in around rocks with the sun setting behind them, slow down your shutter speed to blur the water’s movement.