How can I improve this shot? The "constructive criticism" thread ;)

Your exposure was the killer...1 second is far far too long for the moon. ; Basically, think of the moon as a normal daylight exposure - it is after all fully illuminated by the sun! ; So with ISO100 and a middling aperture of F8 or so, you should be comfortably in the 1/100-1/250 region or faster.

Best approach for me is to use spot metering, and meter directly off the surface of the moon. ; If you don't have spot metering, then try setting the aperture smaller, F8-11 at least, in manual mode. ; Then set the shutter speed to say 1/500, and check your results. ; If you need a bit more light, slow the shutter 1 or 2 stops and try again. ; If too bright, move it up a step.

 

Thanks Justin, I'll try that the next time I am out.

 

Yeah I think Justin answered it... ;

 

moon shots are also governed by the "Sunny 16" rule... ; 1/ISO at f/16 for starters. ; It is, in fact, sunlight. ; Give it a shot!

 

Thanks for the help Roger.

 

Where were you standing? ; Could you have moved a little farther to your left?

 

I would think that if you were a bit more to your left, and as long as you were wanting to keep the overhead in the image, maybe even over by the entrance to Innoventions.

 

Agreed - I think it might work a bit better if you moved to the left when taking the shot - that way the right side of the globe would be 'framed' by the curved arc of the center purple flag/post thing. ; That would let the mesh looking material diagonally bisect the globe, and with it being framed on the right roughly following that same curve, would give it better geometric composition.

It's a very cool idea, but looks hard to get just right!