Planet Earth's Only Natural Satellite Is Almost Fully Illuminated By the Sun

Waxing Gibbous Moon With Solar Illumination 98%;

Tucson, Arizona;

September 19 , 2021;

8:01 PM Mountain Time

 

The moon was still fairly low in the sky and it did look impressive.

 

For this series, my camera focal length, was 247.0 millimeters.

 

I shot a number of photos set at each of 5 exposure times:

t = 1/400 second, t = 1/500 second, t = 1/650 second, t = 1/800 second, and t = 1/1000 second.

 

Then I picked the best one at each setting. To my eye, there is some variation in image sharpness, shot-to-shot, because I am hand holding the camera. (Yes. I should really use my tripod! )

Also focus at the beginning of each set using the Canon PowerShot SFX HS camera's autofocus mode. It's usually very good, but to be safe, I shoot a few sets at each exposure time setting.

 

In this example, I picked one of the best photos from the t = 1/500 second set. I usually pick the those that occur just before the image movement changes direction in the viewfinder.

 

In all cases I reject images with large changes of position frame-to-frame., and I try too use images within a center area of the frame because lenses tend to be sharpest there.

 

I generally use a focal length of 247 millimeters which is the maximum focal length for this lens. It's quick and easy to use that. I really should really back off slightly from the maximum to improve the photo image quality.

 

 

Done