I have been a photographer for about 8 or 9 years now. I am a self-proclaimed amateur, but sometimes I get some really good shots. I missed out on the film era. Well, I missed out as a serious shooter that is. I have had cameras for years, but before I got into digital, I had only used little 35mm point and shoot cameras. Sure, I remember the 110 and the Polaroid, but I never shot seriously back then.
Over the last few years, I have gotten pretty serious in my shooting. I even started a Meetup group in the area to help others with their passion for photography. I wont claim to be a great photographer, but I think I do OK. But sometimes, I run into areas that I am just not good at. Tonight was a good example.
The weather had been wonky all day. It was very windy, rainy and gloomy. Around 5pm it even spit some icy precipitation. I assume it was sleet. After the storm, the sun came out and the weather got a little better. It was still only in the 40s, but it wasn’t as windy as it had been earlier in the day. The sun was setting and it was a beauty, so I decided to go out on the back deck and grab a few pics. They came out pretty well, even though there’s only a small area between the trees to see the sunset.

I came back in and got right to editing the pics I had taken. I even posted one on Facebook. A friend commented on one of the pics and asked if I had seen the moon. No, I hadn’t. I went to the window and looked out, only to see a beautiful moon. I grabbed the camera and the tripod and back outside I went. This is where the trouble started.
I got the camera set up on the tripod with the 70-300mm lens on it and set it on manual focus. I set my f-stops and shutter speed and looks through the viewfinder. A little blurry. A little adjustment on the lens and it was nice and clear. I took a bunch of shots and came inside to process. Crap. They are all blurry. What the…

It wasn’t crisp. It was not sharp. What did I do? So, I looked up some info on the net and bounced it off some people I really respect over at Movie Photo Forums. I took the advice and tried it again. The results this time were a little better but still not quite what I had hoped for. Here is what I got. Please keep in mind that this is a 100% crop.

Here is the same shot with a little bit of Photoshop tweaking.

I like this one a little better, but it still isn’t good enough. I guess I need a much more powerful lens and a lot more practice. Do you have tips for shooting the moon? Settings you would like to share? I would love to know what works for you.
See ya soon!