The moon is one of the celestial bodies that haunt us the most. Eternalizing it in a photograph is something that has occurred to all of us –and surely, we have all tried–, but most of us fail. Compared to the unusual beauty of the moon, our attempt at photography does nothing but reduce it to a kind of diffuse and inappreciable lighthouse.
But take a perfect picture of the moonwhere it looks clear and its details are appreciated, it is possible: even with the cell phone.
It is not as easy as taking other photographs, let’s say, more «earthly». But the results are extremely satisfactory. Also, knowing how to photograph the moon with your cell phone will help you to portray it in its best moments: those where it is dressed in red –the blood moon– or intense blue –the supermoon–, or simply when it is buoyant in the full moon; phenomena that occur several times a year and of which which some still await us in this 2018included the longest eclipse of the century.
But let’s start with these hacks to photograph our fascinating satellite with our cell phone.
What you have to know
Cell phones are not made to take astral photos (not even the latest generation iPhone). The lens is too big, the zoom it causes too much noise and the shutter has little chance to modify the light input.
However, if you plan your shot well, you can take a photo that does justice to the natural beauty of the moon.
1. Planning the shot
You should know that the best time to photograph the moon is when it is just rising on the horizon; This will prevent it from being too bright. At the same time, the brightness of the image should be reduced, as well as the exposure level to -1 or 1- EV. The photograph will not be shaken –which usually happens in dark photos– as the moon will give enough light to avoid that.
Be sure to focus on the moon and hold the phone firmly. This will give you, at the very least, an image in which you can see some surface detail.
Adjuncts
You can also get some accessories for your cell phone. There are, for example, camera lenses that really turn your cell phone into a professional camera. They are small and very practical, as you can see in the following video:
There are also tripods for cell phones, which can be used to keep the camera steady and no longer worry about ruining the photo with your own hand. Great, isn’t it? In addition, this way you can make incredible time lapse.
A great hack: use a telescope
You just have to make sure that no light leaks between the telescope and the camera, for which you can use your left hand while taking the picture with your right. If you’re out somewhere with little light pollution, the shot may turn out even better. And the best thing is that this way you don’t necessarily have to stick to the fact that the moon is barely rising over the horizon, but you can photograph it at any time of the night with good results.
2.Apps
There are several apps that can be very helpful in your mission to take the perfect photograph of the moon with your cell phone:
PhotoPills (available for both iphone as for Android) will give you many tools that will make planning and taking pictures of the moon easier. Likewise, it will be useful for other stellar photographs, since it allows you to visualize any star and gives you information on everything you need to know about them (best times, phases, astronomical events). It can even help you plan and calculate parameters so that, with a tripod, you capture a phenomenal time lapse.
Manual (for iPhone) and Camera FV-5 (for Android) allow you change more aspects of settings of your camera than the factory applications.
Night Camera Lite (for iPhone) and Night Camera (for Android) will allow you to take best night photos.
Other apps amazing is Hydra (although it is only available for iphone). It will help you to reduce the «noise», to increase the resolution and, therefore, to be able to use the zoom without worrying that I spoiled your photograph.
3. Edition
Finally, you can edit your best moon photos without much hassle using applications like Lightroom. Almost all of them will do well to do a color balance, to avoid that one color dominates – for example, red, when trying to take an eclipse.
So you will have the best photo of the moon, ready to show it off on Instagram or any social network.
* Images: 1) RideApart; 2) Burrito Justice; 3) Getty Images; 4) DMTrends
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