How to take a photograph of the moon using a Canon T2i DSLR camera

[@Elsamae37]

Followed your tutorial tonight with the Supermoon and got some fabulous pics! First time I ever used my camera in the night. Thanks so much for posting this!!

[@mafajardo]

thank you very much. one of my top ten favorite tutorials without a doubt. I finally got around shooting a good moon pic :)

[@shivercanada]

Just got an SL1, thanks for the info on User style settings, the adjusting sharpness is exactly what I needed for astro photography!

[@andycivil]

I can't test this out right now because it's cloudy, but I believe you. If you can get the exposure right to pull out the surface detail, and the moon is a large enough proportion of the active autofocus area, then sure, it probably does work - and in this case it's easier for you. But I think if I'd instructed autofocus in the video, many more than one person would have reported difficulties with it.

[@cosmosdancer]

Love the straightforward demeanor and info. Thank you!

[@andycivil]

For anyone trying the 'blood moon' tonight, it's going to be darker than a usual moon, so you'll need more light. I don't suggest slowing the shutter too much because the moon is moving and you'll get motion blur. Increase the ISO a little, and choose a slightly wider aperture.

[@marthamericle3093]

I have watched your video over and over. Thank you and maybe someday I will remember the settings when I begin to take pictures of the moon. I have some beautiful shots, thanks to you. Tonight I'm going to try for the crescent moon with Venus on the tip. Wish me luck!

[@andycivil]

Martha Mericle Good luck :) I think the key points are using a manual exposure, and the care taken in focusing. The rather complex process of setting a picture style with maximum sharpness may not be quite so important. And in fact, if you use the RAW and process later, it won't even affect the result, because a picture style - as I discovered later - only affects how the camera processes the RAW into a JPG.

[@dragonflymock8547]

WOW~!!! Thank you SOOOO MUCH for your very easy to follow video. You have such a soothing voice and articulate your thoughts very well. Can't wait to give it a try.

[@dragonflymock8547]

YAY~!! IT WORKED, IT WORKED~!!! Thank you sooooo much for your wonderful, easy to follow guidance. Although I only own a 55-250mm, I was able to get a highly detailed shot of the waning gibbous moon last night. Now that I know how to do it, my next steps are to work at getting the best shot I can and to take a shot of the moon with foreground matter.....thank you again~!!!!! Oh, p.s.....I love you too (as James mentioned below) :) :)

[@LindaLawton]

I got some amazing shots of the eclipse last night. I did have to adjust the settings slightly. But thank you for this video.

[@ERHSAII]

Thank you! I have a t4i, but I know these same rules apply. Tonight, we are having a 'blood' moon, and I want to try my hand at shooting the moon.

[@phreaktor]

I will believe anything you say because you have a British accent.

[@JamieReynolds89]

phreaktor1 you do realise most of of british people don't sound like this guy... he sounds well posh lol

[@NoelWelaFamily]

The subject here is the moon, and as what I have experienced (not just any theory)...when taking moon shots, we all know that we only have one and a clear subject to capture (and to focus to). So leaving the auto focus ON and manually set the AF point to where the moon is on your screen would be the best option. I don't find my camera having any difficulty focusing on the moon using this setup. Auto focus is more convenient and takes best and faster results ;)

[@jerryh1937]

I am interested in using some foreground (trees) to frame the moon. Suggestions for settings to have the foreground appear while keeping the moon in focus? Great tutorial. Exactly what I need to see the Supermoon tonight. Thanks for taking the time to put this tutorial together. I also appreciated the script.

[@missael773]

Awesome thank you for the tutorial. Just got my canon 2000d

[@Clino391]

THANK YOU! this was a great tutorial thank you

[@M10N8M2]

OMG I LOVE YOU!!!! I have never been able to get the Moon before tonight. I love this video. Thank You!

[@enriquewolf9925]

Works 100%!!! I would like this video 100M times if i could!!

[@NoelWelaFamily]

I don't know about Canon but you could have just leave the auto focus ON, so you wouldn't have any problem focusing on the moon (before taking the shot) and concentrate on your composition instead. Some or even most DSLR's do have option to NOT trigger the auto focus (re-focus) when using a remote to trigger the shutter.

[@andycivil]

Yes, the process will be essentially the same, I checked and your camera has the 5x and 10x feature on the LCD. Realistically, you're going to need a lens with at least 200mm zoom; the short kit lens that comes with the T3 (or any canon for that matter) won't give much of a picture at 55mm.

[@ktk0358]

Good and simple! Thanks for this!

[@NoFear4XJs]

Thank you for this. I was able to take awesome pictures from my 4th floor balcony and was really surprised how well they turned out. With a little photo editing of the only brightness I was able to make them look professional :] I have the T2i and use a entry level L series for my zoom lens, EF 70-200mm 1:4 L USM. Can anyone tell me what might be the best F stop for this lens for shooting the moon ? Cheers

[@aggibson74]

You said to put the camera in manual mode and select the sweet spot aperture. What about shutter speed?

[@ravifernando1637]

Thank you very much. Easy to understand. 💐👍

[@IanGregson62]

thank you for helping me out with my new camera

[@4032111]

I am so glad I found your video! However I am not able to take the picture, it all turns out black. I changed all the settings according to your video but it doesn't take any pictures at all. What am I doing wrong?

[@andycivil]

4032111 If it's a T2i or a similar Canon camera, you can get detailed info on a shot you've taken by going to 'play' and viewing the picture, then pressing the "DISP" button to select your level of detail. One of the options will show virtually everything. If you can reply with the important bits, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, then it may be possible to see what was wrong. Also, it may be easier to communicate on a forum I'm on called t2iforum(dot)com - don't worry if your camera isn't exactly a T2i, friendly people will help you anyway :)

[@BeccaP007]

thanks SOOO much! i have the t3i but luckily i have that lens (55-250mm)

[@DiegoAbranReyes]

Thanks so much I have this camera and the pic came out great. W/O tripod but it's still good

[@abdullaalshamsi5556]

nice video. Helped alot and it worked ^^ Thank you so much

[@MartinWebb]

I've tried it and had mixed results. Ended up just using manual focus. Just more reliable that way. And with magic lantern its a breeze.

[@andycivil]

Autofocus works very poorly for extraterrestrial objects because the algorithm detects MORE detail when out of focus than when in focus (because the object seems larger, i.e. a big disc of bokeh). In theory, you could attempt to focus on a terrestrial object which was nevertheless essentially at ∞, but in practice, manual focus is easier and yields better results.

[@anand1ish]

hi, I didn't get how to get 5x digital zoom you said about. I have EOS 700D. The + & - buttons are not working for digital zooming

[@ChangedThingsUp..]

Good Job m8, it helped.

[@andycivil]

It's funny to see the spike in views around now when the moon is full... Diego, on principle I should say to turn the Image Stabilisation ON if you're not using a tripod, but honestly, the shutter speed is fast enough that it probably makes no difference in this case.

[@XTh0mPs0nX]

ever watch that thing, think it was called tales from the crypt? you could totally narrate it haha good video would have helped a lot if i could afford the lens!

[@williamscottsherlockholmes5871]

Thank you for this. Also, it's nice that you spoke slow. :D

[@saicheshire]

Do you narrate any documentaries? You certainly have the voice for it if you don't.

[@matthewbain2506]

were u eating when u took this video?

[@taradunstan]

Thank you so very much. This was so helpful. ♥

[@BMWhips]

Just in time for the red moon tonight! Thanks man U rock!

[@pematamang3528]

Thank you so much I learned something new today

[@andycivil]

I'm sure all the principles, turning IS off, doing manual focus, choosing your aperture, will be exactly the same. The only issue will be finding the equivalent features on your camera! For example, Nikon calls Image Stabilisation "Vibration Control" so you'll have to translate "IS off" into "VC off". If you can't work through the concepts, post back with your Nikon model number, and the aspect you can't map across.

[@shutupburr]

SO HELPFUL! THANK YOU SIR!

[@bub2x2]

Thank you for the good pointers!

[@andycivil]

For me, the moon is partially eclipsed already, and I can't even see the dark part at all. That tells me that taking a picture of the 'blood moon' is going to be a challenge of getting enough light. It may not even be practical with a regular camera/lens. It's sad that I can't practise this! I'll be trying max ISO, max aperture and just slow the shutter until I get something. Here's hoping.

[@navaneethsivakumar8716]

that is still awsome

[@GothicKittyMadness]

Can i do this using a nikon?

[@andycivil]

Hard to answer because you can't use 'auto' yet it depends on the ƒ-stop and ISO. For most cameras, the thing to do is adjust until it looks right on the screen. But if this isn't an option, try one of these as a starting point: ISO100, ƒ11: 1/100. ISO100, ƒ8: 1/200. ISO100, ƒ5.6: 1/400. ISO200, ƒ16: 1/100. ISO200, ƒ11: 1/200. ISO200, ƒ8: 1/400. ISO200, ƒ5.6: 1/800. ISO400, ƒ16: 1/200. ISO400, ƒ11: 1/400. ISO400, ƒ8: 1/800. ISO400, ƒ5.6: 1/1600. Sorry, KZbin joins all my lines together :-(

[@KingTabor]

why not sharpening at editing phase instead of using on-camera, like you did?

[@andycivil]

Quite honestly, I was afraid that if I didn't have the sharpness up to the max, then the camera would do some softening. Also, if the user isn't going to do any post-processing at all, it'll give the best result. I wanted the greatest definition in the JPEGs too, so that the file size trick would get the best focus. Something that I didn't quite grasp when I made this video, is that the picture styles only affect the JPEG. Even if you select monochrome, the RAW still contains the colour, it just starts off with an instruction to remove it! So, if you're going to work with the RAW on your computer, the picture style is pointless anyway. Sorry about that. Just to be totally clear: "picture styles" control how the camera makes a JPEG out of the RAW data.

[@KingTabor]

andycivil I knew that, that´s why all my videos I use a PS like Visioncolor/tech. I dont shoot RAW since my cameras are humbles T3i/EOS-M. But when you increase the camera digital sharpness to the max on a RAW, can it be removed after?

[@icublondie]

I'd tried to take a picture of full moon tonight. I did everything what you said and background is black. Only shows of the moon, but not the clouds. This is my first using this camera and it's T5

[@icublondie]

Would you mind helping me please?

[@andycivil]

+icublondie Yes, the way I did it, that is going to happen. My objective was to capture the detail of the moon itself, rather than take a picture of the night that included the moon as a feature. You can't really do both at the same time: the reason being that the light level is vastly different. The moon is in full sunshine like day, and the night is... well... night! You have a choice, really. You can either shoot for the night - wider aperture and longer exposure until the scene shows up - or you can fake it and blend two photos; for which you'll need Photoshop or Gimp. This is a similar process to "High-dynamic-range_imaging" - check Wikipedia. People don't consider this to be cheating, even though it might feel like it, to paste the detail of the moon on a blown-out night-scene photo. I'll put more in another comment.

[@andycivil]

+icublondie If you want to have the camera automatically take three different exposures of the same scene, you can set up "automatic exposure bracketing". I can only tell you what works on my T2i, hopefully the T5 is similar. In P mode, in the menu, two-spot camera settings, choose AEB and select it. Pull the wheel to the right, and the exposure will split into three. Also set the "Drive Mode" to multiple. When you press and hold the shutter button, it will take three photos, with long, short and normal shutter speeds. One day, I will make a video on how to do this and blend the photos together!

[@icublondie]

+andycivil thank you :)

[@Toxiclevideos]

2:21 or you can just set it to shoot in 5 sec. after pressing the shutter

[@danster1988]

Many thanks u helped me loads

[@andycivil]

Good luck to everyone preparing to shoot the total eclipse of the moon tonight! I haven't done this myself so I don't have any special hints, but there will be less light so a longer exposure will be needed. However, with a longer exposure, you may find that the moon actually moves enough to get 'movement blur', if this happens then choose a wider aperture instead (a smaller f-stop number). All the other aspects of the video remain valid - however I should have mentioned that a "picture style" only affects a JPEG image, so if you're shooting RAW you can omit this setting.

[@lasarousi]

thanks, i only forgot to change the sharpness, too bad my lense is too small.

[@buddah610]

andycivil , I would love to know how to shoot a clear moon, with features but over a tree line or through tree branches. When I set the camera up to capture the bright moon, it turns everything else black! Please help! Thank you!

[@andycivil]

millie williams Yes, I know exactly what you mean; this shot is bland and scientific, if you want a photo that conveys the artistry of the moon, then you need a setting! I think it's unavoidable that you have to merge two photos at different exposures: like "HDR". I will experiment and try to work out a process that's not too hard, if I succeed I'll tag you! Thanks for the suggestion!

[@buddah610]

andycivil Thanks for your response! I have been trying myself but have not been able to succeed. If I get it figured out, I will let YOU know! Thanks for the tag! (in advance)😉😁

[@justjicca8138]

can it take good pictures of the moon and the starz? the t5?

[@andycivil]

All of the cameras in this series are capable of this kind of shot, but as I say in the video, 'auto' probably won't get a good result. Trying to get the moon's detail and also stars in the same shot is unlikely; the moon is very bright because it's in full sunlight (think about it!). Also, getting a good shot of stars is a problem because you need a long exposure and the earth moves - that's why you see 'star trail' photos around.

[@JeffreySykes]

Thanks so much!

[@ankurdebbarma6363]

PLEASE HELP! my one month old canon 600d/rebel t3i wont turn on even with full charged battery

[@andycivil]

Ankur Debbarma If it won't come on at all, that's not good. First, check that all the covers are closed; if the battery cover or the memory card cover are open, then it won't turn on. If it's not that, your only hope is that the CPU has crashed (the on/off switch is just a 'soft' switch, the processor doesn't really stop running). Leave the battery out for at least overnight, so that the internal power capacitor runs flat too; then try again. But honestly I think you're looking at a warranty repair. More helpful people at t2iforum.com

[@ankurdebbarma6363]

andycivil thankyou very much for your concern. will follow your steps

[@abdodyfalcon]

thank you so much

[@zoth1977]

I feel like I'm being hypnotized LOL

[@LuisJaner]

works!!! thanks

[@Trident_Euclid]

Thank you

[@William81Edge10]

I love you . all other videos or answers on this camera suck .. can you tell me how to shoot the meteor shower .. ive already done some good moon shots thanks to you

[@andycivil]

Thanks for the testemonial :) I have a vague idea about how to take a meteor shower, but to be honest, I've never managed to capture any - so I don't really feel empowered to post tips on how to do it ... I'll think about it!

[@sarahmartinez9485]

Great

[@andycivil]

Sorry 'bout that. I vowed to pronounce all my words carefully for the benefit of non-english-speakers and that makes me come out a bit tenacious (menacing?) in the style of Alan Rickman playing Severus Snape. I have to improve my voiceover style.

[@gypsiepunk2274]

I have the same camera but not as many options wth?

[@andycivil]

I'm not sure if this is exactly what's happening to you, but Canon does a sneaky trick to make their cameras easier to use for novices: they don't present too many options if you're in 'auto' mode. For example, if I'm in Auto (the green one) and I push the 'menu' button, there are five icons worth of things to choose from (top left of the screen). But, if I turn it to "P" mode on the dial, when I push the menu button there are NINE icons worth of options. Now, is that what you meant?

[@andycivil]

My goodness... after 130,000 views and six years later, and you're the first person to notice that my instructions are missing "turn the dial to manual". To be fair, I did say that Auto was no good, and you can see it's in Manual mode because of the big fat "M" on the screen... but I SHOULD have said "turn to manual" for sure! I'll have to go back and add a caption if I can work out how to do it. Good catch!!!

[@gypsiepunk2274]

@@andycivil lol I did figure it out :P

[@gypsiepunk2274]

@@andycivil I did get some great full moon photos. Thanks :)

[@chestermanifold9023]

I use a timer on the camera

[@JohnSmith-kn5wt]

Good info. But dude, calm down. Your excitement was way to stressful. I hope I can take my pic tonight if I can relax.

[@محمدعبدالكريم-ل1ب]

Omg tyyyy

[@lvihodet2]

Keep it now we have to put it back how it was

[@andycivil]

Yup - said that at 2:39 :-)

[@tunnis7us]

voice sounds like zefrank making fun of taking pictures :D don't have this camera was looking in general can I take picture of the moon with my 7.2 megapixel camera :D

[@stevensweet9703]

Hello Everyone- I have Launched a community page on Facebook for posting Moon photos go to facebook and search Lunar 101-Moon Book. If you have any photo's to share please do....................Lunar 101

[@WoopeyCakes]

Why does it sound as if he's speaking like the Joker in the dark knight? Always licking his lips haha, Good tutorial though!

[@FFxO]

exorcist

[@dirkdiggler0372]

creepy voice

[@thisishowiseeit8828]

no offence but your voice scares the absolute shit out of me! Great video though.

[@YanithOlivares]

how was the first minute a joke....

[@andycivil]

What I mean by a "joke" is: I tried to take a photo using 'AUTO' and I pretended to be surprised when it didn't work very well. I did this to show why this video was necessary in the first place.

[@nishthalama]

thank you