Shoot the Moon

Well, last night was the full lunar eclipse. We won't get another one until March 2007. Given this semi-rare opportunity, Wayne and I decided we'd go down to the park where there's a bit less light and see what kind of shots we could come up with. After a rough start trying to figure out why Wayne's camera wouldn't auto focus, we began shooting. I shot with a Canon 75-300 IS lens for most of the night. It was an interesting experience. Once the moon goes red, your shutter speeds jump into the 1 to 4 second range. At that speed, the movement of the moon becomes a real issue. Shots don't come out quite as clear. A faster lense or a camera with more noise free high ISO speeds is a must. Unfortunately I had neither, so I didn't get the shots I hoped for. I really had no idea what shooting an eclipse would be like, and I think I got my expectations a bit too high. As a result, I was quite disappointed with the shots I got, though after looking around they seem very similar to what most everyone else got. Regardless, I wasn't satisfied with how my shots look at full size, and I wasn't about to let 2 hours of shooting go to waste, so I shrunk them down to 25% and made the following composition (click it for a larger view):



I've got about 2.5 years now to get prepared for the next one. Plenty of time to afford a larger, faster lens....or even a telescope.