The August Moon

by Bruce | Aug 11, 2014 | Photography

August Moon

I have tried to make a decent photograph of the Moon for over fifty years. Now that might seem to be an exaggeration of sorts, but I can tell you that is how long it took me to finally get it almost right,

By a decent photograph I mean in-focus, not over or under exposed too much and not obscured by a haze. Well, tonight I was finally able to make a tick mark on My Bucket List as is shown by the above photo. It is still not as crisp as I would like it or as I have seen in other photographers work.

The humidity was 74% and the air was heavy. I don’t know if that was a reason for my less than perfectly sharp focus. I do believe the sharpness that I did meet was in part due to the TriggerTrap app. It was the first time I used it for this type of shot since I purchased it. Definitely a very useful and easy to use app.

August Moon Equipment

Equipment and settings:

• Nikon D90 set on manual, ISO 200, Aperture set at F11, Shutter Speed at 125, and manual focus as well.
• The lens is a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-300 1:4.5-5.6 G ED also set to manual focus, VR set to off. The lens was zoomed in at 300mm.
• Apple iPhone with the TriggerTrap app, using the Timelapse option. TriggerTrap to Nikon D90 dongle.
• A heavyweight SLIK tripod to further reduce any vibration.