{"id":49704,"date":"2023-09-27T11:14:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T11:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/27691f2a-5970-49c3-8096-4496a7e08df5"},"modified":"2023-09-27T11:32:34","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T11:32:34","slug":"how-to-photograph-the-harvest-moon","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/how-to-photograph-the-harvest-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"How to photograph the Harvest Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photograph the Harvest Moon with a DSLR camera and telescope in our astophotography guide. <\/p>

By Pete Lawrence\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 27 September 2023 at 11:14 AM<\/p>

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Taking the time to photograph the Harvest Moon is a great exercise, as you’ll be able to capture a bright full Moon in the autumn sky.<\/p>

The sight of a big, bright, almost-full Moon is pretty impressive.<\/p>

When it\u2019s low in the sky, the \u2019Moon Illusion<\/a>\u2019 makes our nearest neighbour look much larger than normal and this is where nature plays a cruel trick on photographers.<\/p>

With the full Moon having just risen and looking enormous, an average camera shot of it will show that it\u2019s actually pretty tiny.<\/p>

To capture any detail in your photograph of the full Harvest Moon, you\u2019ll need at least a 200mm or longer focal length<\/a> lens or telescope.<\/p>

Harvest Moon by Tom Howard, Crawley, Sussex, UK. Equipment: Nikon D7000, TS 65mm quadruplet refractor, AZ4 mount.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

A Harvest Moon presents the perfect opportunity to catch that detail. The easiest way to do this is to use a long focal length lens or telescope with a DSLR fitted.<\/p>

Alternatively, if you have a steady hand, afocal photography (the technique where you point a camera or smartphone down the eyepiece<\/a>) can work surprisingly well.<\/p>

For more info on lunar astrophotography, read our guides on how to photograph the Moon<\/a>, how to photograph the Moon with a smartphone<\/a> or how to use a DSLR camera<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

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Credit: m-gucci \/ Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Photograph the Harvest Moon to capture detail and colour<\/strong><\/h2>

If your lens or telescope\u2019s focal length is long enough, say above 700mm, you can capture plenty of detail on the lunar surface.<\/p>

But if you photograph the Harvest Moon like this, examination of your shots will reveal two issues: the image is virtually monochrome and detail is a little blurry.<\/p>

You may think the Moon is fairly colourless and grey, but you\u2019d be wrong. There\u2019s actually quite a lot of subtle colour on offer.<\/p>

One way to reveal it is to super-saturate your shot.<\/p>

But this needs to be done with care because it can bring out noise and produce artefacts (features that aren\u2019t actually there).<\/p>

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Crich Harvest Moon by Matt Jarvis, Crich, Derbyshire, UK. Equipment: Canon PowerShot SXHS60 bridge camera.<\/figcaption><\/figure>

When you\u2019ve finished the saturation process (outlined in the step-by-step guide below), the result will typically be pretty gaudy.<\/p>

There\u2019s a trick to improve things.<\/p>

Use the saturated colour image to provide the colour information and a sharper luminance image for the tone and detail.<\/p>

If you\u2019re using just a DSLR shot, the luminance component can be provided from your original image of the Moon.<\/p>

Convert to a greyscale image or, if available, use your graphics editor to turn it black and white.<\/p>

Load the saturated colour image into a layer-based graphics editor and make a safety duplicate of the layer.<\/p>

To remove excessive noise, simply apply a reasonably strong Gaussian blur.<\/p>

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Harvest Moon by Sarah and Simon Fisher, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK. Equipment: Canon 600D, Maksutov 127mm telescope<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Photograph the Harvest Moon with a natural look<\/strong><\/h2>

If you want to photograph the Harvest Moon and keep it looking natural, your aim is to produce an image showing relatively smooth areas of colour, free from random splodges of unnatural colour.<\/p>

Don\u2019t worry about losing detail \u2013 that\u2019s what the luminance image is for.<\/p>

It may take a few attempts to get the right amount of blurring, but this is why you\u2019re working on a duplicate layer.<\/p>

If things go wrong, just delete and start again on another duplicate of the original colour saturated version.<\/p>

To restore the missing detail from the image, load the greyscale luminance image as a new layer above the saturated and blurred colour image.<\/p>

Set the greyscale image\u2019s blend mode to luminance and you\u2019ll then have a beautifully detailed image of the Moon showing enhanced colour.<\/p>

If you have access to a monochrome high-frame-rate camera, use this to produce a sharper, highly detailed luminance image via stacking software such as AutoStakkert! or RegiStax<\/a>.<\/p>

For more on this, read our guide on how to stack DSLR images of the Moon<\/a>.<\/p>