You don’t have to be an astronomy fanatic to get excited about a lunar eclipse. This is a unique event that is rarely repeated during the year and is very attractive to watch. And, fortunately, soon we will be able to enjoy one, since it is planned that a lunar eclipse can be seen from Spain and other places in the world at midnight from May 15 to 16 .
And surely not only do you want to witness this moment, but you also want to capture it in a photograph for your social networks or to save the memory photo. Well, believe it or not, you don’t need a reflex camera to take a good picture of the moon or an eclipse .
Today’s smartphones have sensors in their cameras that are capable enough to capture this astronomical phenomenon. And don’t worry if your phone isn’t the best when it comes to camera , because here we explain how you can take a picture of the moon or the eclipse with any mobile.
How to take photos of the moon or a lunar eclipse with your mobile
Mobile photography has come a long way in recent years . First, manufacturers began to increase the number of megapixels in the lenses. Then the first phones with dual cameras began to arrive, which opened the doors to the arrival of 3, 4 and even 5 sensors per camera. Finally, technologies that only professional cameras had such as Dual Pixel AF, ToF sensors, integrated gimbal stabilization, lenses signed by professional opticians, etc. were added.
But perhaps one of the best things that could happen to mobile photography was the arrival of the telephoto sensor in camera modules . Until recently, when a second or third sensor was added to a terminal, these were usually depth, macro or ultra wide angle. However, as of 2019, with the arrival of mobile phones such as the Galaxy S10 and the Huawei P30, the telephoto sensor revolutionized mobile photography.
This is the one that allows optical zoom to take pictures of objects that are far away. Well, if today it is possible to take a good picture of the moon with a phone, it is thanks in large part to the telephoto lens . However, even with terminals that do not have this sensor, it is possible to take a decent photograph of the eclipse if you take into account the advice that we give you below.
First of all, have a mobile phone with a telephoto lens (or at least with a good digital zoom)
It may seem obvious, but it is essential to say it: if you want a quality photo of the lunar eclipse, you must have a high-end mobile . And not just any high-end terminal, but one that comes with a telephoto lens capable of offering powerful optical zoom. In this sense, the Huawei P30 Pro was the first to achieve excellent results when photographing the moon thanks to its 5x optical and 50x digital zoom.
But the model of the Chinese brand is not the only one that can obtain a professional-quality photograph of the eclipse with its camera. Its successors are also very good for this purpose (P40 and P50) as well as the flagships of the best mobile manufacturers such as the Galaxy S21, S22, Honor Magic 4 Ultimate, Xiaomi 11 Ultra, and of course its new model, the Xiaomi 12 Pro, a terminal that brings a 50 megapixel telephoto lens and that you can buy with the following button:
But, if you don’t have a high-end mobile and don’t plan to buy one anytime soon , you still have hope of taking a decent photo of the lunar eclipse. Some phones that don’t have a telephoto sensor make up for the lack of optical zoom with a good digital zoom . This is a type of image zooming that is done by software.
To know how much the digital zoom of your phone is, you just have to open the camera app and see how much zoom you can do, it is recommended to have at least 30x to 50x to photograph the eclipse.
Even if your phone doesn’t have a beastly camera, these tips will help you get the most out of it
Now, once you have the mobile with which you will photograph the eclipse, the next thing you should do is take into account the tips that we leave you below:
- Use the professional mode: in the camera app of your mobile there is a mode that allows you to adjust every detail of the photograph. With it you can configure the parameters that we discuss in the following tips.
- Reduce the ISO to the maximum: the ISO is one of the parameters that you will find in the professional mode of the camera. Here you must choose the minimum possible value (usually 100 or 200).
- Decrease the exposure: this is the value that determines the amount of light that the camera will capture, so in this case it is best to reduce this parameter to the maximum.
- Set the focus manually: Most phones have autofocus enabled, which can be a problem when trying to focus on an object as far away as the moon. Therefore, we recommend that you disable this function and set a focus for long-distance objects.
- Make sure you have the flash off: as you can see from the tips above, when photographing an eclipse it is important to minimize the white light to which the camera sensor is exposed. Therefore, it is essential to avoid the use of flash.
- Use the maximum zoom offered by your mobile: the closer you can get with your mobile camera, the better photo of the eclipse you will have. Although, if the maximum zoom significantly affects the sharpness of the photo, you can reduce it a little in the interest of obtaining a quality image.
Stability: essential factor to be able to photograph a lunar eclipse
The problem with using zoom is that the photo becomes more sensitive to movement. Therefore, any minimal vibration that exists at the time of capturing the eclipse will result in an annoying noise that you do not want to have in the photo. Well, to avoid this, it is best to have a tripod for the mobile.
These devices not only manage to give you the necessary stability that this type of photo requires , but also some of them come with remote controls to be able to activate the camera without even touching the phone. If you don’t have one yet, we recommend the Cullmann 52104, a tripod that comes with a Bluetooth trigger and costs only €20 . How to buy it? Well, using the button that we leave here below:
There are certain apps that can help you photograph the moon and eclipses
Finally, you should know that in the Play Store there are certain applications that can be of great help when photographing this eclipse, or any other astronomical event. These are apps that allow you to know the position of stars and constellations.
In addition, they offer you updated information on any phenomenon that can be observed in the sky so that you do not miss any lunar eclipse that you can photograph with your mobile.
And now… Do you feel ready to photograph a lunar eclipse?
