How to photograph a lunar eclipse

[Peterj]

Jan 20/21 there will be a total lunar eclipse viewable in North & South America.

Many of you know the specifics of photographing our Moon, but it's quite different during a lunar eclipse. Here's a link to a rework of my presentation "Photographing a Lunar Eclipse"

[pontiac1940]

Peter
Thanks for the heads up on the upcoming lunar eclipse and also for the info links. Marked my calendar and will take photos if A) it is clear and B) not too cold. I am lucky because photos can be taken in the park across the road and since the whole event takes a few hours I can go out every 15 or 30 minutes and then come in to warm up. Shall see. 

The moon at near-full eclipse is very dull as you've noted..it's nothing like photographing a regular moon...EVs hugely different. 

This is a partial eclipse in Feb 2008.
 

[Bailey]

Hi Pete,

Nice presentation.

For me, photographing the moon during an eclipse is very similar to photographing it at other times. The only difference is that the exposure at totality is ~10-12 stops (give or take a bit) longer than when the moon is fully exposed to the sun.

It could be very easy for someone to "over-science" photographing an eclipse. If using a short focal length then it's pretty straight forward because you won't be capturing much, if any, detail of the moon's surface.

For anyone interested, this is the general process I use to photograph the moon at any time and specifically during last year's Super Moon Eclipse on 31 January 2018.

The Moon - Melbourne, 19 June 2018
(Enlargement is clearer)

The image on the right displays the exposure settings I used to photograph the moon. The settings for a full moon will be similar.

To capture detail of the lunar surface you obviously need a long focal length. I used my Tamron 150-600mm at 600mm (960 35mm equivalent.)

This is the final composite image I created of the lunar eclipse on 31 January 2018 as seen from Melbourne.

(The background is something I created in PSE.)

1.  Mount the camera on a sturdy tripod or something solid where the camera is not easily moved.

2. Set exposure settings to something similar to my previous photo in this thread as a starting point. I set White balance to Auto

3. Turn on Liveview (view image on the LCD screen) which also has the benefit of locking up the camera's mirror. If you prefer to use the view finder and your camera has the option to lock up the mirror (on Canon it's in custom functions) then I highly recommend using it. Locking up the mirror removes one potential source of camera shake.  (also, using liveview on the swivel lcd screen is much better for my neck when the camera is pointed skywards )

4.  Point the camera at the moon with the lens at the short end (makes it easier to find the moon) and then zoom in to your preferred focal length.

5.  Using the zoom button on the camera for the LCD screen, I zoom the LCD screen to maximum to help accurate focusing. 

6.  I then use  back button focus  to focus on the moon.  The auto focus on my camera works really well.  If you have trouble auto-focusing the moon, then your only other option is manual focus.  If you prefer to not use BBF, then I would recommend switching your lens to manual focus after auto focusing using the shutter button to lock in the focus.  You don't want the camera to refocus every time you half press the shutter button.  BBF takes the focusing function off the shutter button.

7.  I then use a cable remote shutter release to take the shot.  If you don't have a remote shutter release, then you can use the timer function or whatever other means your camera has.  Pressing the shutter button manually could cause some camera-shake (blurring), especially if zoomed in close.     

8. Voila!! Hopefully you now have a nice photo of the moon

The only difference in the above process when photographing an eclipse is that as the moon slowly gets darker I increase the exposure (longer shutter speed and/or ISO) to compensate. At totality your lens should be wide open (max. aperture, smallest F number.)

As mentioned earlier, there will be a whopping ~10-12 stops longer exposure at totality compared to the full moon before the eclipse starts.

Hope this helps someone

[Fauxtoto]

Thank you Peterj for sharing your interest and presentation. A good resource, well written; I also like the stories you integrated. My wife had to change her camera last year. We opted for Panasonic FZ300, which I believe you have (compact long zoom 25 - 600 mm equivalent). I might borrow it from her one of these days to try some of your suggestions.

You probably know the reference below. The source is a commercial App, Photopills. Nevertheless, the information seems interesting and reliable.

Lunar eclipse guide  (including a free ebook)

Other night sky related matters 

They also have good materiel on the depth of field.