Shoot The Moon
 

Okay, I'm no DP but I should be able to handle this myself. Every time I point my XLH1 skyward, the moon gets blown out, appearing like a big glowing ball, I can see no texture or detail. What kind of filters/techniques do I need to do this?

Remember that the moon is really reflecting sunlight so it is very bright blue source. Throw in the ND and try a daylight white balance.

Brad, you have seen my various lunar shots, right?

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=68960

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=67201

The trick is to expose properly. Due to the brightness of the moon, it is not a night shot but rather a day shot. Try an aperture of f/5.6 to f/8.0, and a shutter speed to match, best results at 1/100th to 1/250th.

The moon's albedo (reflectance) is close to 18% in other words it's a great big gray card in the sky illuminated by sunlight. Thus an exposure measured for a gray card in daylight should be about right for the moon at night. Try turning on your zebra bars at 70 IRE. Set the exposure to just extinguish the zebra pattern and then reduce 1 stop. This should be about right but confirm by zooming in as far as possible, using the FOCUS magnifier and looking for detail. A monitor hooked up to the camera is, of course, the best way of getting it just as you like it.

If you are looking to get shots where the moon is registering some detail and you also want some landscape in the shot, your best bet is to shoot in the magic hour when the moon is rising. Stop down and you will be able to get a decent shot of both landscape and moon.

Failing that, an ND grad filter can help somewhat.

Study up, all you moon-shooters. Full moon tonight!