I get frequent Facebook adds for Night Sky filters. Ad says they improve clarity of night sky by eliminating light contamination.
The before and after photos show a real improvement BUT the filters are $$$$ ! Does anyone have experience with these filters that would convince me to spend some of my OBX vacation $'s to get a better moon photo ?

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For the moon? No, I doubt you'll see much advantage. The moon can be tricky. Some will say to use a ND filter, but you're really just cutting out light. You probably really just want use a higher shutter speed. Shoot in raw if you can and you'll be able to fix more in post processing. Also, try shooting when the moon is half or less. A full moon won't give you many crater details because there's no shadows to work with.

Some of these filters might make an improvement, but you really need to know what wave lengths you need to filter out. You can probably get just as good, if not better, results without the filters.

What kind of shots are you looking to get? Landscape with the moon in the background or zoomed moon pictures? I don't use a lot of filters anymore, but when I did a ND and polarized filter were my main go to's.

John

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These are the kind of shots I am trying to improve. Primarily , because I am lazy, I usually shoot in front of the motel where we stay. There is a lot of light from the motel and parking lot . The filter are suppose to remove tungsten light and there by give you a cleaner photo. Given the high cost ( $100-150) of the filters and mixed reviews I have been very reluctant to make the purchase.

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For the moon? No, I doubt you'll see much advantage. The moon can be tricky. Some will say to use a ND filter, but you're really just cutting out light. You probably really just want use a higher shutter speed. Shoot in raw if you can and you'll be able to fix more in post processing. Also, try shooting when the moon is half or less. A full moon won't give you many crater details because there's no shadows to work with.

Some of these filters might make an improvement, but you really need to know what wave lengths you need to filter out. You can probably get just as good, if not better, results without the filters.

What kind of shots are you looking to get? Landscape with the moon in the background or zoomed moon pictures? I don't use a lot of filters anymore, but when I did a ND and polarized filter were my main go to's.

John

Video from my Nikon.... Click to follow link...

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These are the kind of shots I am trying to improve. Primarily , because I am lazy, I usually shoot in front of the motel where we stay. There is a lot of light from the motel and parking lot . The filter are suppose to remove tungsten light and there by give you a cleaner photo. Given the high cost ( $100-150) of the filters and mixed reviews I have been very reluctant to make the purchase.

I think that's actually a pretty good photo. The problem I see with it is the noise. Filters won't help that. I'm guessing a high ISO was used?

One thing to try, if your camera supports it, it to do spot metering. Try to meter in different parts of the picture. Keep the ISO as low as you can (cameras have different levels of usable high ISO). Higher ISO, while allowing you to take a picture in darker environments, will produce more noise.

The biggest problem here is that the moon is so bright. Try metering on the moon, knowing that the rest of the photo will be dark until you can post process it. It's a balance between blowing out the moon and capturing enough detail in the rest of the picture. Not an easy shot.

John

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Thanks for the advice. We are booked in October/November during the full moon . If weather permits will have a good
"test lab" to try different things !

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Thanks for the advice. We are booked in October/November during the full moon . If weather permits will have a good
"test lab" to try different things !

Good luck and post pictures. If you break the full moon code, post the settings!

John

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