I would love to try to get the eclipse tonight, weather permitting. I have a tripod,70-300 lens, remote but what I don't have is the know how. What setting to use . ISO, shutter speed, f/stop. Can any of you give me some tips. It is supposed to rain but have my fingers crossed it will hold off.

BRACKET

I tried some moon shots several months ago and I was using a 70-300mm lens on a tripod. First, set your camera on manual focus so it doesn't grind away attempting to figure out what to focus on. It's easy, manually put it on infinity

If it's really bright out - clear sky and full moon, than sunny 16 is going to be close. It's not likely to be that bright for you tonight - after all, it's an eclipse

Take some shots of the moon while waiting for the action to start; look at your histogram. You do NOT want blown highlights because that means the moon is simply a featureless white blob. When your histogram tells you what appears to be an OK exposure, take lots of shots. Some at that setting and then some 1 or 2 stops on either side.

Good luck - I have had unsatisfactory results more often than good results
Plus -- 300mm doesn't get you as close as you might think.

Rusty

Rusty, what is sunny 16. I don't have that one my canon xt

Sunny 16 goes way, way back to the days of simple film cameras that did not have light meters. When you bought a roll of film there was a paper foldout inside that suggested exposures to use depending on whether it was sunny, cloudy, overcast, etc.

Sunny 16 says that if it is a bright sunny day, and you are using film with an ISO speed of, let's say 100, then you can set your shutter speed at 1/100th of a second and your aperture to f/16 and you should get an acceptable image. If you were using Kodachrome then you would set your speed to whatever setting you have closest to "64" (the ISO rating of Kodachrome II).

When I was last trying my moon shots it was really bright out. My ISO setting was 200 so, for my initial test shots I started out at 1/200th, f/16. Then I fiddled around with EV compensation until the histogram looked right. Sunny 16 was NOT the correct setting, just a starting point for me to use.

Light meters sure make things easier

Rusty

Ok, now another camera question. I have a Sony Cybershot DSC-HW that has this lens: 36-432mm equivalent (12x optical) F2.8-3.7 and these shutter speeds: "1/4 - 1/2000 sec. (Auto), 1 - 1/2000 sec. (Program Auto), 30 sec – 1/1000 sec. (Shutter Priority, Manual). Shutter speeds of 1/2000th are only available at apertures of F5.6 and higher."

I've got a tripod, and I can set the camera to manual mode. After that, I haven't a clue where I should start with settings (I haven't started reading the Two Peas in a Bucket Photography Course yet). I looked at my camera this morning to see what setting it happened to be on when I took the picture of the moon that I posted last night. It was on Aperture Priority, and I had set the film speed up to 400, I think. I'm pretty sure I did the one push white balance setting. I could see the features on the moon....amazing since I didn't know what I was doing. So, knowing the little I've told you about my camera, can someone give me a clue as to how to set the F numbers?

PS - I know you didn't take me on to raise, and I promise to learn more on my own about the mechanics of picture taking......this is just for tonight so I can try to get a decent picture.

Sunny, you and I are in the same boat here. But this section is about photography so ask away. We will either get answers or not.
Rusty, thank you for explaining that to me. So far all my moon shots that I have tried look like blobs in the sky but I keep trying

looking for some info on this found these

http://www.mreclipse.com/LEphoto/LEphoto.html

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.co ... nar-e.html

http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/l ... ipse3.html

Thanks, Suzi. I'm still pretty much confused, but here's how I have my camera set at the moment: Manual Focus (scary), F8.0, 30 sec., ISO 400. I'll try it there and see what I get. If it looks awful, I'll try something else. Good thing no one is testing us on this.

good luck to you, it is clouding over here so don't think I am going to get a chance

It might do the same here.........didn't even think about that. We're supposed to have freezing rain sometime tonight. Where are you, anyway, if you don't mind me asking?