Nighttime lunar photography needs to be in manual mode since your camera's light meter is often fouled by the amount of darkness present. In reality the only light you wish to expose for is the light from the moon. Since the moon is rotating around the earth, higher shutter speeds are encouraged to prevent a blurry moon. Manual focus will also be necessary since most cameras have difficulty focusing in the dark. Need to know the best place to view the eclipse https://photoephemeris.com/
THE BASICS
Preferred Equipment
Tripod
Camera that can go to manual focus and manual exposure
Strong Telephoto lenses are the best
Manual settings
Manual focus set at infinity
Manual ISO (not auto iso)
White balance setting at daylight
Shoot both in RAW and FINE JPEG
When the moon is full in the night sky, the looney 11 rule is often applied.
F-stop or aperture at F11
Shutter speed will equal 1/iso
shutter speed 1/400 at iso 400
shutter speed 1/800 at iso 800
if the image appears too light
increase your aperture number
if the image appears too dark
decrease your aperture number
Start getting your correct exposure on the full moon prior to the eclipse
As the eclipse starts, the amount of light present will drop.
to adjust for the light lost decrease your aperture number. Conversely when the moon begins to reappear increase your aperture number. An alternative to changing the aperture is to use the exposure compensation setting.
What is exposure compensation?
Exposure compensation allows you to override the camera's light meter or current camera setting to either lighten or darken the image.
plus (+) adds light or lightens the image
negative (-) substrates light or darkens the image
What does this mean in terms of the lunar eclipse?
as the full moon begins to fade add light
as the full moon begins to reappear substrate light
For more advanced users, consider using the famous Fred Espenak (Mr. Eclipse) chart of manual exposure for each phase of the lunar eclipse
Or visit https://www.nikonusa.com/learn-and-explore/c/tips-and-techniques/how-to-photograph-a-lunar-eclipse
Happy shooting. Just make sure you take time to enjoy and watch the eclipse and not miss the wonderous event.
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