Moon Photography: Why Your Moon Photos Look White and Blurry
Moon photography is deceptively difficult. The moon looks bright, it's a familiar subject, and yet most first attempts come out either a white blob or a small grey dot. The problem is that the moon is actually a sunlit rock in the middle of a black sky — your camera's meter gets confused by the extreme contrast. Two settings fixes this completely.
⚙ Recommended settings
Mode
M / Manual
ISO
ISO 100–400
Aperture
f/8 to f/11
Shutter speed
1/250s to 1/500s (Looney 11 rule: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100s as starting point)
White balance
Daylight (5200K) — the moon is lit by sunlight
Focus mode
MF — use live view at 10x, focus on the lunar limb
◈ Composition tips
Use a telephoto lens of 300mm or longer for a moon that fills a significant portion of the frame — anything shorter produces a tiny disc that needs heavy cropping.
For 'moon in landscape' shots (the moon appearing large behind a skyline or mountain), use the telephoto compression effect: shoot at 400–800mm from a great distance, with a foreground element 5–20km away.
Capture the lunar terminator — the line between the lit and unlit portions of the moon. This is where shadows are deepest and lunar terrain is most dramatic. The full moon is actually less interesting than a 3/4 or half moon for surface detail.
Shoot multiple frames and stack them — even at 1/500s at 500mm, atmospheric turbulence blurs fine lunar detail. Capture 30–50 frames and stack the sharpest ones in Registax or AutoStakkert to recover resolution.
Pro tip
Use the Looney 11 Rule as your starting exposure: ISO 100, f/11, 1/100s. This is a reliable baseline for a full moon. For a crescent or quarter moon, open up 1–2 stops because less of the surface is lit. Adjust from there in 1/3-stop increments until you have detail in the bright regions without blowing out the highlights.
⚠ Common mistakes to avoid
Using evaluative/matrix metering for the moon — your camera sees a small bright circle in a black sky and overexposes it to a featureless white disc. Use spot metering on the moon or start with the Looney 11 rule and adjust manually.
Shooting at too slow a shutter speed — the moon moves faster than you think. At 500mm, it moves noticeably in 2 seconds. Keep your shutter at 1/250s or faster.
Shooting the full moon for surface detail — the full moon is lit straight-on with no shadows, washing out all surface texture. For craters and mountains, shoot the first or last quarter moon when the terminator creates dramatic shadows.
◻ Useful equipment
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