22 Tips for Photographing a Lunar Eclipse

Before you venture out to photograph your first lunar eclipse, you should get some practice taking photos of the moon. If lunar photography is varsity-level stuff, lunar eclipse photography is all pro. There are some unique challenges to the art, and great ways to get creative results, but the basics of lunar photography apply. Unlike solar eclipse photography, you do not need gear to protect your cameras, lenses, or eyes. However, like solar eclipse photography, having the right accessories may help you get the best images.

If you are new to lunar photography and you missed the link above, or did not get the hint, pause here and head to this link with some tips for photographing the moon.

It should be known that you can take a "casual" and successful photo of a lunar eclipse with just about any camera, including your smartphone. But, if you want the know-how to grab a truly epic keeper, keep reading.

One personal note before we dive in: I have photographed several lunar eclipses and, as you will see in the illustrations (read the captions) for this article, I have not always gotten the best results. Honestly, I learn more about how to do it better every time, and I am going to pass those lessons on to you here. And, if you keep reading I will tell you why, the next time I am lucky enough to see a lunar eclipse, I am going to nail it!

Photographs © Todd Vorenkamp

3 Varieties of Lunar Eclipse

The Earth orbits the sun, and the moon orbits the Earth every 27.32 Earth days (the phase cycle is 29.53 Earth days). A solar eclipse occurs when our moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun in its orbit. A lunar eclipse is the opposite; the moon passes through the Earth's shadow as it orbits the planet on the opposite side of the sun. Because the moon's orbit is offset from Earth (5º), we do not get a lunar eclipse during every full moon. It is this same tilted orbit that keeps solar eclipses rare, as well.

Depending on what portion of the Earth's shadow the moon passes through determines the type of lunar eclipse we experience. If the moon passes through the penumbral (partial) region of the shadow, we get a penumbral lunar eclipse. Sometimes, the effects of the darkening of the full moon during a penumbral eclipse are so slight that you might not notice the eclipse. If part of the moon, but not all, passes through the umbral (inner) shadow, you get a partial lunar eclipse. And, finally, when the entire moon passes into the umbral shadow, we witness a total lunar eclipse.

And, opposite from the solar eclipse that happens only during the new moon phase, the lunar eclipse only happens on full moon nights.

Why is the total lunar eclipse moon a red moon?

During totality, the monochromatic moon will appear red because our own atmosphere acts like a colored photographic filter by bending red sunlight into the Earth's shadow and filtering out blue light. This is called Rayleigh scattering and is the same phenomenon that causes the deep red sunrises and sunsets that get all the Instagram likes. Also—fun fact—the next time a young someone asks you, "Why is the sky blue?" you can answer: Rayleigh scattering.

How bright is a lunar eclipse?

Not all lunar eclipses are created equal. Due to atmospherics (humidity, clouds, dust, volcanic ash, pollution, etc.) and the moon's relative size and position within the Earth's shadow during the eclipse, you can get an eclipse that varies in its red hue and you can also witness blue banding at the edge of the eclipse. French astronomer André-Louis Danjon created the Danjon Scale, with five values total lunar eclipse of brightness:

• L=0 — Darkest. Moon nearly invisible.
• L=1 — Dark red/brown eclipse. Lunar details are difficult to make out.
• L=2 — Orange/brown color with darker center. Possible bluish color at shadow's edge.
• L=3 — Bright red/orange moon. Darker center and very bright border.
• L=4 — Brightest. A very bright orange eclipse.

Why is lunar eclipse photography more difficult than "standard" lunar photography?

In the first paragraph above, I mentioned that photographing the moon is beyond varsity-level stuff when compared to the exercise of lunar eclipse photography. Why is this the case? Simply, it is the lack of light. Look toward the bottom of the exposure chart above. During a dark total eclipse, your shutter speed for an image might be a minute or more—a recipe for a blurry disaster of a darkened moon.

Once the moon starts to enter the Earth's shadow, it reflects less sunlight to the point where, to get a decent exposure, you must open your aperture all the way, cranking up your ISO, and slowing your shutter speeds. The open aperture leads to a lack of sharpness, the high ISO gives you digital noise, and the slower shutter speeds, with the Earth spinning below and the moon moving at approximately 2,290 miles per hour in the sky above, creates motion blur in your image.

So, how do we combat these enemies of good lunar photography?

A lens is rarely sharpest at its widest aperture, so, when the light goes dim, it will be helpful if you are starting with wide-aperture glass. A lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.8 will usually be sharper at f/4 or f/5.6 than a lens that has a maximum aperture of f/4 or f/5.6. Starting with big glass can help maintain sharpness when it gets not-so-bright.

With high-ISO digital noise, technology is the best way to battle this. Newer cameras have much better high-ISO noise performance than older digital cameras. Know your camera's tolerable high-ISO limits and try not to go past those settings. Also, temperature matters. The warmer the ambient temperature, the more digital noise can build up. Winter lunar eclipses will be better than summer ones when it comes to digital noise—but maybe not the comfort of the spectators!

Although the distance is great, so is the relative speed of the moon. I have found that 1/125 of a second is the floor when taking telephoto lunar shots. Anything longer, and you run the risk of getting (sometimes subtle) motion blur. Once you hit this limit, you can open your aperture to allow more light in, or dial up your ISO to increase the sensor gain. Sometimes neither of these two options is desirable, so your next best option is to be photographing the event from a tracking rig that automatically pans at the same speed as the moon. I recommend trackers like the iOptron SkyGuider Pro EQ, iOptron SkyTracker Pro, Vixen Optics Polarie Star Tracker, or the Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Mini EQ camera tracking mount head.

4 Basic Varieties of Lunar Eclipse Photography and Tips

There are four basic types of lunar photography:

1. Telephoto—A close-up view of the lunar eclipse where the eclipsed moon dominates the frame.
2. Wide-Angle—A wide view of the night sky that may or may not include terrestrial scenery in the frame.
3. Star Trail—A wide view of the night sky with a long exposure that allows the stars to trail in the frame.
4. Multiple Exposures—Capturing different phases of the eclipse to later combine into a single image.

General Tips

1. Tripods are required. A good tripod is mandatory.
2. Use mirror lockup on an SLR.
3. Use a wired or wireless cable release, threaded release, or trigger the shutter with your smart device.
4. Bring fully charged batteries. A lunar eclipse takes hours to progress and the cold(er) temps of the nighttime air drain batteries fast. Bring extra batteries and keep them warm.
5. If you are going to be shooting a lot (not required for an eclipse), make sure you have enough memory cards. Lunar eclipses always happen at night, when B&H Photo is closed.
6. Most autofocus systems will have no issues locking onto the full moon. However, once that moon goes dark, the focus might lose its lock. Before that happens, switch over to manual focus and don't touch that focus ring!
7. Be patient. Unlike the relatively short-derationed solar eclipse that creates a frantic minute or two of photographic craziness, the lunar eclipse is a much slower event, giving the photographer time to experiment with settings to get the best result.
8. Bracket your exposures. If you're shooting digitally, each photo is free. Bracket, bracket, and bracket some more. Try different apertures, ISO settings, and shutter speeds to maximize your results. Later, take notes on what works best for you so you won't need to do as much experimenting the next time.

Tips for Telephoto or Telescopes

1. Choose your focal length. It goes without saying, but the longer the focal length, the larger the moon will be in the frame. And, the longer the focal length, the more you need to be concerned with camera shake. Prevent this with a sturdy tripod and remote release.

2. As you can see from the exposure chart above, on the darkest eclipses, the shutter speeds drop to very long exposures and the moon is going to start getting motion blur. This is where a tracking mount like I mentioned above might make all the difference.
3. Speaking of exposures, use your camera's spot meter and place it on the lunar surface. There is no need to make the camera try to balance an exposure between the black of space and the "relatively" bright moon.
4. Bracketing is most critical here, especially during the partial phases of the eclipse. The start of the lunar eclipse resembles a waning or waxing moon, but once the shadow starts to close over the entire moon, you are left with a very (relatively) bright sunlit section of the moon and what looks almost like "Earthshine" over the rest of the moon. So, be ready to adjust exposure and metering to get the results you seek.

Tips for Wide-Angle Shooting

1. Planning required. Unlike just pointing a telephoto lens at the moon, if you want to shoot a wide-angle photo of the lunar eclipse with an interesting foreground, you will need to do some pre-planning to ensure the eclipsed moon is in the frame when you want to capture the image.
2. Each day/night, the moon is about 50 minutes late to the position it was near the previous night, so, if the eclipse starts on Saturday at 0000 hrs, check the sky at 2310 hrs the night before to see about where it will be in the sky.
3. If it is cloudy the night (or nights) before, use a celestial observing app or a photo planning app to do your armchair calculations.
4. When choosing a foreground, make sure it adds something to the image as far as aesthetics and/or by serving to provide location context.

Tips for Lunar Eclipse Star Trails

1. Planning is required here as well—more than the wide-angle planning. Why? Because you are going to have both the stars and the moon moving through the frame. You wouldn't want the Earth to spin the moon off the edge of your image, so do some planning to ensure this will not happen by giving the moon room inside the frame.
2. Plan the start and end points of your exposure to capture the period of the eclipse that you wish to get on the single frame. Also, consider the length of star trails you want to see. Generally, shorter trails aren't as cool as longer ones!

Tips for Multiple Exposures/Composite Images

1. Decide if your image is going to contain a foreground or just be a sequence of moon photos. If you have a foreground planned, refer to the tips for the Wide-Angle and Star Trail images. If you are just stitching together shots of the moon, use the telephoto tips.
2. Use the total duration of the lunar eclipse to figure out the interval of your images or shoot at a set interval (1, 2, 6, etc. minutes between shots) and then choose the number of moons and interval after the event. The latter option is your best for partly cloudy skies that may block the eclipse at the exact moment of one of your pre-planned interval shots.
3. If you do shoot at a relatively short interval, you will have the option of creating a time-lapse sequence after the show.
4. Be ready to adjust exposure throughout the event. For consistency, you may want to let the darker moon get darker in the frame so that your mosaic of moons shows a visually accurate portrayal of the event.

What questions or tips do you have for lunar eclipse photography? Let us know in the Comments section, below.

Thanks for reading and, thanks in advance for not being overly critical of my lunar eclipse photos.

Here is my $0.02 on sharpness of solar, astronomical, and lunar images:

The sun is a mean distance of approximately 93 million miles away and the moon is a mean distance of 238,855 miles away. Neither the moon’s cratered surface nor the sun’s explosive surface make them perfectly smooth spheres.

When I pixel-split my solar images, be it the ones captured with a sharp Nikon 300mm f/4, a sharp Leica APO-Televid 77 spotting scope, or any other optic, regardless of whether I am using a glass or metal-type solar filter, the sun is only, at its best, "kind of" sharp.

The same applies to images of the moon. I get sharp images, but never as sharp as I really, really want to get.

This got me thinking.

When you photograph something outside of our atmosphere, there is a fair amount of air between you and the subject. The thickness of Earth’s atmosphere is approximately 300 miles, with most of the dense air in the lower altitudes (obviously). Light is transmitted from the sun (or stars) or reflected from the moon (and planets) and it travels through the vacuum of space until it reaches earth. Once it arrives in the atmosphere, all your sharpness bets are off.

If you took a photo of a building, mountain, or person miles and miles away, especially on a hazy day, you probably wouldn't really expect a super-sharp image, right? Now, think about an image of something captured on the far side of dozens of miles of air. Sharp? Probably not.

So, if you are wondering what lens or filter is the sharpest to photograph distant things, or if you are wondering why your lunar craters or sunspots are not tack-sharp, even though you spent a ton of money on a super-sharp lens, just be grateful that earth has a protective shield around it that gives us air to breath and protects us from the harshness of outer space. And, also remember that there is a reason they try to put telescopes in dry places at high altitudes—or in orbit above the atmosphere!