Last night was a total lunar eclipse. A total what, you say? A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the earth falls between the sun and the moon completely obscuring any light from the sun casting a shadow over its surface instead, creating a brilliant red glow instead of the usual white orb. There are many resources available to explain this phenomenon but seeing it happen before you was very impressive and a reminder of our place on this planet and how teeny-tiny we really are on a galactic scale…!

I caught wind of it happening a few days before-hand so on the night, camera bag in hand and dog on the lead, I set out at 10.30pm in search of a suitable open space to get a clear shot of this spectacle as it unfolded. I was probably as much a sight as the unfolding show above; a desperate-to-run-around Saluki hopping about on the end of a lead just about being held by a camera-laden, tripod wielding me clinging on to the other. I found my spot, in quite good time too actually(!), and set up my camera and various paraphernalia carefully to prepare to capture the eclipse. I had succeeded (sort of) to control my canine companion, though despite my attempts Archie failed to really grasp the significance of the moment…I did try!

Taking images of the moon on most normal nights requires little more than a decent focal length lens (I wanted a reasonably sized captured image rather than just a minute white blob in the sky!) and a tripod to keep it steady, other bits like a remote release – whilst not essential – really do help keep camera vibrations down to a minimum. I use a zoom lens with maximal reach of 400mm which is acceptable but a bit longer would be even better! Shutter speed with a full moon can be pretty high, relatively, at around 1/125 to 1/250 remembering that the light of a full moon is the reflected light from the sun bouncing back for us it see on earth, the lack of atmosphere ‘over there’ means there is very little interference as it heads our way. The challenge with a Lunar Eclipse is that (and there’s a clue in the name) its much much darker than a full moon, it is after all in the shadow of the earth. So, in order to achieve an acceptable image you have to do one of three things, increase the sensitivity to light of your camera (increase the ISO), decrease your shutter speed or increase your lens aperture.

The moon is not a static object, this should be obvious in as much as the sun travels from east to west through the day the moon follows a similar path, although it does vary giving us the full-to-new moon cycles, tide fluctuations and so on…This movement is important to remember, yet can be often overlooked when photographing the moon, and particularly with a long focal length lens which will exaggerate any movement and result in a blurry image. Any exposure with near or over 1 second shutter speed will result in a poor image so other settings would have to be adjusted to achieve the desired result I have a number of shots that are hideously fuzzy. At first I had no idea why. I was pulling my hair out looking in the preview lcd, I couldn’t get why they were fuzzy, was it my tripod? was my Auto-Focus/Image Stabilizer playing up causing unwanted shake? [it was turned off though so couldn't be that - and yes its worse with it on!] I already had lowered my tripod to the shortest it could be for extra stability and yet I still got poo shots. Always blaming the equipment but I’d made quite an oversight I’m kicking myself over now.

There are the 3 things you should think about in digital photography in order to achieve the correct exposures (imagine a triangle approach), set one and fiddle the other two. When shooting in regular situations the easiest option is set the ISO and then allow changes in aperture/shutter speed, fair enough but don’t forget it is to your advantage to always remember ISO is your 3rd choice to help getting the correct exposure. Its there, why not use it? Digital noise tends to be less of an issue with modern cameras and advances in technology meaning detail can be preserved when setting the sensor to greater sensitivities to light, for example I found myself flipping it about the other week as daylight dwindled during a shoot..

So to briefly give you the run down here’s what to think about…
1) Higher iso = more often than not this means a bit of noise can creep in, the shutter speed you use will need to be long-ish regardless because of the subject but higher iso will cut this time down.
2) Aperture = the moon is a long way away, lets face it, so will be in your ‘infinity’ range setting (trust me it will) so it doesn’t matter too much what aperture you chose but to ensure a sharp ‘safe’ shot I’d recommend f/4 to f/8. Thing is though most of our long range zooms are f/5.6 minimum, so that sort of limits us to just that. no point splashing out in a mega telephoto with a wide aperture; but if you have one anyway…!
3) Shutter speed = very much part of the iso this one (lets assume in your triangle you set the aperture) so shutter speed gets altered to what you need to get a decent exposure…play about between the two.

In summary I found I got the best result with a shutter of less than 1 second – this meant adjusting the iso to match. I just about got away with it at 200 but [with hind sight] 400 would have made shutter speed a better half second or less and still retained detail at an acceptable level. Next time folks remember the simple facts, its moving so you need a higher shutter speed (= higher iso), steady tripod, mirror lockup, remote release and patience. Don’t rush things. Get there early and prepare. I got it almost right apart from the crucial ‘moving object’ part, still – you live and learn.