Total lunar eclipse this weekend
its the last one visible here (in austin) until 2018
i plan on leading a group to shoot it. ive shot a few of these and came up with tis list of tips if your going to try and shoot it
1) you will need a tripod. at the peak of the eclipse you will be shooting long exposures
2)rule of 600. take 600/ the effective focal length of your lens to determine the maximum exposure you can take without blurring the moon. for a full frame camera the effictive focal length is the same as the lens,for a crop sensor its 1.5x the focal length. this number will come into play as the eclipse progresses
3) learn how to set your camera for spot metering if you can. the normal metering on a camera is for the whole scene which will over expose the moon.
4) i find i have the best results using manual mode although ive also had success with aperture priority
5) exposure settings. these will change dramatically as the eclipse progresses,especially in the 10 minutes before totality starts and after it ends.
At the beginning of the eclipse its similar to shooting the full moon,maybe just a little longer exposure. As the eclipses progresses the exposure may change by 10-12 full stops or more. thats whi you need the maximum exposure. an exposure of 1/200 at teh start may become an exposure of 5-10 seconds at totality and if your using a big telephoto the boon will blur unless you shorten the exposure and either open the lens and boost the ISO. The exposure setting for the totally eclipsed moon changes for each eclipse and there is no way to know in advance. The last eclipse i shot I was using an exposure of .8 seconds,f 5.6 iso 6400 at totality.