Shooting the moon

As a photographer i look for beautiful things all around me to shoot.I am sometime looking so hard to find something lovely to shoot that i miss cracking opportunity's.Sometimes slowing down and opening your mind is key.You don't have to look that hard to find a beautiful picture.For example, Look up ! Space. It fascinates us from such a young age watching sci fi films etc .Well it did with me anyway.Night scapes can be so beautiful.But sometimes difficult to shoot without blowing the highlights .Even in all that darkness the moon is bloody bright.
A little while ago i was messing around shooting the moon and the settings i was using i was getting some fantastic results.I found that using a tripod is a MUST.Also a shutter release switch is best although you can get away with using the cameras self timer.But i found the release switch better.I was using a sigma 70-300 mm macro lens on a Canon EOS 1000D body.The settings i found best was Manual with ISO 100 for low noise and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec and an aperture of around f11 focal length of 300 mm.I also switched the macro function on to sharpen up the shot to get more detail in.I also cropped the image in,To get just that bit closer in.

Both these shots where taken on different evenings.But I was quite pleased with my results as my previous attempts at shooting the moon were quite poor.Either too dark or highlights really blown.But if you too are new to photography and want to try taking some great shots at the moon try my settings and see what you can come up with .Just remember Use a tri pod otherwise you will balls it up.And try to use a lens of 300 mm or more or use a better camera with a better crop factor.Good luck and happy snapping.