I tried to see how high quality it would be with “How to shoot the moon beautifully with an iPhone”! — LIFE OF OTONA

As smartphone camera performance improves, more and more people are casually taking photos of landscapes and night scenes. On November 8th this year, a total lunar eclipse and a Uranus eclipse occurred simultaneously in Japan for the first time in 442 years, and many people seemed to take pictures of the moon. However, there were many comments on the Internet from people who had trouble taking pictures of the moon, such as “I can’t take good pictures of the moon” and “The images are gray…”.

So, this time, we will introduce “How to take beautiful pictures of the moon with iPhone”, which became a hot topic on SNS. Let’s look back at how to do that and check if it can be taken cleanly.

All you need for shooting is the existing iPhone camera!?

The first technique to address is the method of using only the iPhone’s current camera, which was talked about on Twitter.

Because the total lunar eclipse is starting
I’ll share again how to shoot the moon beautifully with my iPhone (ง ˘ω˘ )ം

1. Settings → Camera → Video shooting set to “4K/60 fps”
2. Focus on the moon when shooting video
3. Lower the brightness (☀️ mark) to make it darker
4.Press the shutter button on the bottom right when shooting video

I’ll do it later too (๑╹ω╹๑) pic.twitter.com/dnpRacQaJi

— Sakura mochi*???? Aquarium Jr. (@mochi92000326) November 8, 2022

The preparation is very easy because it only requires changing the settings of the iPhone. First, open “Settings” on your iPhone and select “Camera”. Next, after selecting “Shoot Video” in the destination, tap “4K / 60fps” to change the screen resolution of the video and the number of frames per second. Now you are ready to shoot.

Next is the shooting mode, but the point is to shoot in “video” mode instead of “photo”. For the specific procedure, first focus on the moon in video mode. Then, turn down the sun mark that appears after tapping the screen to lower the “exposure”. By reducing the amount of light coming in, you can prevent overexposure and create a clearer image.

After that, start recording and press the shutter button (the position varies depending on the model) to complete the shooting. There is no shutter sound when you press the button, so check your camera roll if you are unsure if you can take a picture.

As soon as it became a hot topic on Twitter, users immediately took up the challenge. On the Internet, there is no end to the positive comments, such as “I was surprised to see a photo that looked like it was taken by a professional” and “It was an old iPhone 8 model, but the quality is completely different from before.” If you have an iPhone, you can easily try it because it is a method that anyone can easily practice.

“MuseCam” camera app that even beginners can shoot easily

For those who are not satisfied with the iPhone camera, it is also recommended to use the app. For example, the compatible iPhone “MuseCam” is ideal for shooting the moon.

“MuseCam” is a foreign camera application that can be used free of charge, and it is possible to make more detailed adjustments than existing cameras. In particular, you can easily set the “shutter speed”, the “ISO sensitivity” which allows you to adjust the darkness of the photo, and the “focal length” which specifies the distance from the lens to the subject.

According to users of the app, the trick is to follow the steps below to avoid letting in too much light.

1: Zoom the camera to the maximum and set the ISO sensitivity to the minimum value (the screen will be darker, but the image quality will be improved)
2: Raise the shutter speed to about 1/250 where you can see the moon pattern clearly
3: Adjust the focal length to about 0.7 to 0.8 for finishing

If you take on the challenge of shooting based on the above, you should be able to take a photo that puts the pros to shame. When you have taken a shot of your whole body, it may be ant to share on SNS.

Try actually shooting… ○ ○ one step ahead!?

I built a method using the iPhone’s existing camera and app, but I’d like to check if it can actually shoot clearly. Let’s compare “photo taken after installation” and “photo using the app” based on one photo taken without actually installing anything.

The first one is a snap without changing the settings of the iPhone from the default. It takes too much moonlight, making it a “terrible picture” where you can’t tell what you’re taking…

Shoot the moon as usual with the iPhone camera

Next, if you change the settings of the iPhone and shoot the moon, the exposure is stopped and you can see the shape of the moon, but you can’t see the pattern of the moon at all. However, you can see that the outline is more beautiful than the one usually taken.

Image of the moon after changing the settings

Finally, when I tried to use “MuseCam”, I managed to shoot the moon pattern for the first time here. The moon was missing on the day I took the picture, so I got the impression that it was quite difficult, but the fact that I was able to capture the pattern even in such poor conditions is a highlight.

When I used “MuseCam”, I could see the pattern of the moon!

Be careful not to move the camera while shooting. This time, I used a smartphone stand and shot from the window, but the setup seems to be loose and a little blurry. It would be better to prepare a dedicated item such as a tripod.

Also, this time, I used an iPhone 11, a slightly older model. If you are using a new model with high image quality, you may be able to take higher quality photos.

In the future, when you have a full moon or a lunar eclipse, why not try the techniques presented in this article?

Quoted from: How to take a beautiful moon with an iPhone I would like to share it again[SakuramochiAquariumJr(@mochi92000326）】