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Lunar Eclipse Photography

If you want nice pictures of the eclipsed moon, you will need an equatorial mount to guide the camera along the motion of the moon, compensating for Earth rotation. You need this since typical exposures during a total lunar eclipse can be up to a few minutes, and the moon and stars move appreciably during that time (the moon moves approximately 14.5 degrees per hour, and the stars 15 degrees per hour).
Also, you will need a long telephoto lens, a 500mm to 1000mm lens or telescope being a good choice. The longer the telephoto lens, the more need there is for the guiding equipment mentioned above.
As for ISO setting, I’d recommend you, 800 or 1600 ISO for a total eclipse, and 100 ISO for the partial/penumbral eclipse phases. If you use film I’d recommend you slide film. For the partial phases, you don’t need a star or moon guiding unit. However, you will need to guide the camera if you use a long telephoto lens during the total eclipse. Also, the setup of the camera should be very rugged, or the exposures will be blurred due to wind or tremor from the camera shutter.
The most difficult part of lunar eclipse photography is to determine the correct exposure during the total eclipse, since the moon can vary widely in brightness, depending on how much clouds and dust in Earth’s atmosphere block the sunlight. The brightness of a total lunar eclipse is given by the so-called Danjon scale :

  • L=0 moon almost invisible
  • L=1 dark brown eclipse, lunar features very hard to see
  • L=2 orange/brown color with dark central part of umbra; border of umbra may be brighter and blueish
  • L=3 bright red/orange eclipse, with darker central part of umbra, very bright border
  • L=4 very bright orange eclipse

Unless there has been a major volcanic eruption recently, expect L=2 to L=3 and adjust your camera settings accordingly beforehand. You can then change only if necessary. Keep in mind that if the moon dips deep into the umbral shadow, the moon will get much darker when it is near the center. Also, the shadow may not be as dark along every part of its border.
Now for the exposure guide : there is an extensive table below which lists the recommended exposure times for various phases of the moon and stages of a lunar eclipse. This guide is just that (a guide) and will get you the right results to within about one f-stop or so. You should definitely bracket your exposures (making several exposures differing in f-stop or shutter speed around the recommended value) for every exposure you deem important.


Page "Lunar Eclipses" |  This is page "Lunar Eclipse Photography"
ISO f-stop
100 2.8 4 5.6 8 11 16 22
200 4 5.6 8 11 16 22 32
400 5.6 8 11 16 22 32 44
800 8 11 16 22 32 44 64
1600 11 16 22 32 44 64 88
3200 16 22 32 44 64 88 128
 
Moon Phase Exposure Time (second if not specified)
Earthshine 1 min 2 min 4 min 8 min 15 min 30 min 60 min
Crescent 1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30 1/15 1/8
First/last quarter 1/1000 1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30 1/15
Gibbous 1/2000 1/1000 1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30
Full 1/4000 1/2000 1/1000 1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60
Partial eclipse (magnitude)
- 0.50
- 0.30
- 0.20
- 0.10
- 0.05

1/2000
1/1000
1/500
1/250
1/125

1/1000
1/500
1/250
1/125
1/60

1/500
1/250
1/125
1/60
1/30

1/250
1/125
1/60
1/30
1/15

1/125
1/60
1/30
1/15
1/8

1/60
1/30
1/15
1/8
1/4

1/30
1/15
1/8
1/4
1/2
Total eclipse (Danjon scale)
- L=4
- L=3
- L=2
- L=1
- L=0

1/2
2
8
30
2 min

1
4
15
1 min
4 min

2
8
30
2 min
8 min

4
15
1 min
4 min
15 min

8
30
2 min
8 min
30 min

15
1 min
4 min
15 min
1 hr

30
2 min
8 min
30 min
2 hr

How to use the table : choose an ISO speed and aperture number (the aperture is usually limited by your lens, if you are using a long telephoto lens or telescope). Then with the column number of that ISO and f-stop number, go straight right into the second table at the intersection of the previous column number with the line of the subject you want to photograph to get the suggested exposure time.
Note that, except for Earthshine, exposure times longer than about 4 minutes are really not practical, since you don’t have unlimited amounts of time before the event ends. Also note that Earthshine and the various moon phases have nothing to do with lunar eclipse photography but occur in the table for completeness.

The partial eclipse is worth some additional notes. It is a misconception to think that you need to expose the photo according to the amount of surface area of the moon still sunlit. In the narrow penumbral zone the moon varies several stops in brightness, so you have to choose the exposure time for the part of the penumbral zone which you want properly exposed. The magnitude of the partial eclipse (the fraction of the diameter of the moon still outside the umbra) is listed in the table, along with the exposure time.

This time exposure calculator is there to help you choose your camera settings.

Page "Lunar Eclipses" |  This is page "Lunar Eclipse Photography"

Last page update on September 14, 2007.
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