How to Photograph a Lunar Eclipse

I’ve got some great news for eclipse enthusiasts! There will be 4 eclipses this year — two total "blood moon" lunar eclipses and two partial solar eclipses. 

The next one — a total lunar eclipse — will occur on March 13th to 14th, 2025. For the eastern half of North America, it will occur after midnight early on March 14; farther west it will be just before midnight on the 13th. The total eclipse will last for around 65 minutes and will be visible over North America and most of South America. This will give you plenty of time to take photos. 

Lunar eclipse photoshoots require careful preparation. Here are some tips to help you take the best possible photos during this exciting event.

What Lens Should I Use?

It’s possible to take amazing photos of lunar eclipses using any kind of camera equipment. However, different focal lengths produce different results, and which lens you use will depend on what type of photo you are looking to create.

Keep in mind that the longer the focal length, the larger you'll be able to make the moon. Consider a minimum of 400mm to 500mm (full frame equivalent) to render the moon at a reasonable size. You'll need 1200mm or higher to get the moon to approach the edges of the image frame.

You can also take amazing wide-angle photos of the moon, especially if you want to include parts of a landscape in your composition. But, the wider you go with your focal length, the smaller the moon will appear in the photo. I'd recommend being cautious about using focal lengths wider than 24mm (once again, full frame equivalent), as the moon starts to get very small. Also, be aware that wide-angle lenses can cause noticeable distortion of the moon's shape, especially if the moon is anywhere other than the center of the image frame. But, it's entirely up to you and your creative preferences.

Use the Right Tools and Accessories

No matter what kind of lens you use, you'll need to use a tripod to keep your photos sharp. An electronic remote to trigger the shutter without causing vibrations will also be useful (or you can use the 2 or 10 second timer on your camera if you don't have a remote), especially when making photos during totality as you will be using longer shutter speeds to capture the faint details of the moon while it's in shadow. If you're properly focused and using a fast enough shutter speed (see below), but are still getting blurry results, turn off image stabilization on your lens and/or camera. If image stabilization is active during a long exposure, blurring may result. Some cameras, however, only activate image stabilization when motion is detected. With those systems. image stabilization should already be off when the camera is motionless on a tripod.

You also need to know where the moon will be located. There might be locations that are better for shooting than others, so plan well in advance using an app like PhotoPills. Planning in advance is critical if you plan to include features of the landscape in your photos, but if you just plan on shooting only the moon, then all you need is clear skies.

Last but not least, make sure to bring along a headlamp so that you can get set up in the dark!

Don't Overexpose the Moon's Highlights

When the moon is only partially eclipsed, the part of the moon that you can see is still fairly bright. Make sure to avoid overexposing your highlights. When the moon is totally eclipsed (the "blood moon" phase), it's considerably darker. You'll need to increase your ISO and lengthen your shutter speed to get good results. Once again, make sure you aren't overexposing any part of the moon.

Shutter Speed is Important!

Since the moon is moving across the sky (actually, the Earth is spinning, making objects in the sky appear to move relative to you), you want to keep your shutter speed from being too long to avoid motion blur. I recommend a shutter speed of no longer than 2 seconds to ensure sharp exposures.

If you're using a focal length of 300mm or shorter, you can probably get away with 2 seconds (1 second is better), but with longer focal lengths, a shutter speed of no longer than 1 second or 1/2 second is best. (The longer your focal length, the more apparent the motion of the moon will be.) The good news is that lunar eclipses unfold slowly, so if you aren't getting good results, you can shorten your exposure time until you get it right.

Focusing on the Moon

Focusing on the moon is easy when the moon is bright. Once you have locked your focus on the moon, consider turning your autofocus off (just make sure you don't move the focus ring after; also, avoid zooming in or out as some lenses change focus when zooming). That way, you won't risk your autofocus making a mistake at some point. Once the moon is totally eclipsed, focusing on the moon using autofocus can be difficult, so setting your focus before totality and then turning autofocus off will ensure that you have sharp focus throughout the entire eclipse event.

If you're incorporating features of the landscape in your eclipse photos, where to focus becomes a bit trickier. If the feature is very distant, it might be close enough to your lens' infinity focus point that both the feature and the moon will appear sharply in focus when focused on either, even if shooting wide open. If the feature is not at the lens' infinity focus point, then you can stop down your aperture to extend depth of field to cover both the feature and the moon. Just be aware that when you stop down your aperture, you lose light, which means you will need a higher ISO to capture detail in the moon during totality.

Another option is to focus on the landscape feature and take a shot, then focus on the moon and take another shot, and then combine the two images together in the digital darkroom. With wider focal lengths, you will have more depth of field, making it easier to ensure that the entire scene is in focus.

Exposure Bracketing 

A lunar eclipse is a slow event. As I mentioned earlier, the March 13-14 eclipse will be in totality for a little over an hour. This will give you plenty of time to take great photos and to ensure that your exposure is correct. As the moon changes during the lunar eclipse, the light will also change, meaning you can't use the same exposure settings the entire time. As the lunar eclipse progresses, make sure to exposure bracket and take multiple photos using different exposures. This will ensure that you get the proper exposure and don't accidentally clip any of the highlight detail of the moon.

Types of Lunar Eclipse Compositions

You have a lot of options when photographing a lunar eclipse. You can take long lens photos of just the moon itself, or take a long lens photo of a distant landscape feature juxtaposed with the moon behind it. Or, you can go wider and include more of the landscape and the night sky.

Many photographers also like to create composites of the moon as it passes through the various phases of the eclipse, such as the composite photo I included at the beginning of this article. I took a series of images using an 800mm lens as the moon went through the various phases of the eclipse. During totality, I used ISO 1600, f/5.6, and 1 second to get a proper exposure and to avoid motion blur. When the moon was only partially eclipsed, my ISO was 200 and my shutter speed was 1/250 second, which goes to show you how much darker the moon is during totality. I then composited the various photos together in Photoshop.

The simplest way to do a composite is to take a bunch of photos of the moon during the eclipse, and then paste all of your moon photos onto a new document in Photoshop with a black background. You can then scale and position the moons as you see fit. Or, you can add the composite moons to a photo of the wider landscape that you took during the eclipse event. Or, you can do something else entirely; you are limited only by your creative vision!

Conclusion

Lunar eclipses don't occur that often. In fact, the last total lunar eclipse over North America was in 2022. Use this opportunity to sharpen your night sky photography skills and take amazing photographs of the moon.

Check out this page to keep track of other upcoming lunar eclipses.