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How to Photograph a Total Lunar Eclipse

Not so long ago, I shared the In-Depth: How to Photograph a Total Solar Eclipse article. The 2024 event that page was targeted toward was phenomenal, but as I write this page, another interesting sky event is approaching.

The earth is going to completely block the sun from illuminating the full moon, and you want to be in the earth's shadow for this event. This lunar eclipse will be far more accessible than the 2024 solar eclipse, and photographing it is considerably easier.

With the right camera setup and plan, you will be capable of creating exceptional lunar eclipse images, and the planning is part of the fun. Read the instructions, get your gear, and practice.

When and Where is the Next Lunar Eclipse?

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Of course, to photograph a total lunar eclipse, you need to know when the eclipse will occur and where it will be visible from. While the following instructions are relevant to all lunar eclipses, this guide was authored before the March 13-14, 2025 event, and much of the rest of the world will enjoy the Sep 7–8, 2025 show. These sites provide the broad when answer, including for future events:

• Timeanddate.com
• Eclipsewise.com
• Xavier Jubier

Click on the maps provided to see the event timing, including duration, for the selected viewing location.

Lunar Eclipse Viewing Location Selection Considerations

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Total lunar eclipses are often viewable from a vast area, including most of North America for the 2025 total lunar eclipse, but ensure that you are within the path of totality. Partial eclipses are entertaining, but they are far less exciting than the total ones. Select a location within the path of complete totality.

Just because you are in the path of totality doesn't mean you can see the moon. Weather, specifically heavy cloud cover, can impede eclipse visibility, ruining an otherwise spectacular show. For those of us traveling for this event, forecasting future weather based on historical averages is the best we can do. These pages provide the cloud cover outlook:

• Timeanddate.com
• Eclipsophile

For the 2025 eclipse, this forecast indicated that the SW USA was an optimal choice. Optimally, stage in one location and be ready to travel far to an alternate location should the weather forecast go bad.

That said, do not let clouds cancel your shoot. The moon can shine through clouds, and clouds sometimes create a welcomed moodiness.

Also, consider a high-altitude location for a clearer atmosphere.

Plan the specific shooting location, the piece of ground you intend to plant your tripod on — not just a town in general, in advance. Most non-public locations require permission.

Those familiar with night sky photography understand that dark skies are important. So, select a naturally dark sky location. This map will help.

• Dark Sky Finder

Remember that you must have a clear view of the moon throughout the eclipse path. A photo app with an augmented reality feature can visually show that path.

What is the Best Lens for Lunar Eclipse Photography?

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Generally, photographers will look for an environmental image to include with the moon's progression, or they will focus on the moon alone.

Most landscape lenses will work fine for the environmental option but find an interesting foreground if implementing this plan.

I'll likely include only the moon in the image, but if a landscape captures my interest, I may opt to capture some long-exposure landscape images during totality to use for a composite image.

During the partial eclipse with the moon properly exposed, there is no benefit to including more than the moon in the frame (unless artificially lit). Nothing but the moon, directly sunlit, will be visible, and all else will be a black background — a blackground.

Since a black background is easy to create in Photoshop, frame the moon as large as possible. Most of us do not have a too-long focal length lens in our kits.

The above image was captured at 2400mm.

The sun consumes a similar amount of the frame as the moon, and here are some full-frame camera sun examples, with the APS-C/1.6x equivalent angle of view focal length shown in parenthesis.

Load Comparison Images

When selecting a focal length, remember that the moon moves its diameter approximately every two minutes. Your lens optically performs its best in the center of the frame, so you always want the moon near the center of the frame (unless including the landscape). As mentioned, you can easily add a black background and reposition the moon later if desired.

Allowing for at least modest cropping to account for moon movement makes sense, and framing ahead of the moon so it moves into the center during the exposures is a good plan.

The longer the focal length, the harder the moon is to find in the frame, the harder it is to keep the moon in the frame (make frequent composition updates to avoid losing the moon), and the more challenging obtaining sharp images becomes. I prefer the 1200mm angle of view, a 600mm F4 lens with a 2x extender or teleconverter behind it. Alternatively, I may instead use a 1.4x teleconverter to gain a more relaxed framing to contain the moon for longer durations (increased cropping headroom) and a wider aperture.

I recommend using the same focal length throughout all eclipse phases to ease the creation of a progression series.

Wide aperture lenses are advantageous for lunar eclipse photography, especially during totality when longer exposures are required to capture the darkened moon.

I recommend using a 600 to 1200mm full-frame equivalent focal length lens. The longer the focal length, the less forgiving the setup will be to weakness in the support or technique.

If you don't have a long telephoto lens, a scheduled lunar eclipse is a good reason to get one (support the site by ordering it through one of the links provided). Renting is a good option if this lens would only have a one-time use for you.

Note that even the sharpest lens used with the perfect technique will not produce perfectly sharp details of the moon. We have the atmosphere to thank for that. On the topic of sharpness, the benefit of a 2x extender is somewhat impacted by the image degradation it causes (and narrower aperture), resulting in somewhat less than a 2x benefit from a details perspective. On the other hand, extenders utilize the center portion of the lens's image circle, which avoids the strongest peripheral shading.

If planning to shoot upward with an extending lens that doesn't lock at its intended use length, gravity will attempt to retract it. Liberal use of gaffer tape can ensure the extension doesn't change throughout the entire event.

What is the Best Camera for Lunar Eclipse Photography?

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Photographing a lunar eclipse is a relaxed process and not stressful on camera performance. Most interchangeable cameras will work fine for this purpose.

High-pixel density imaging sensors can resolve more eclipse details than lower-resolution models using the same lens and focal length. If focal length limited on a full-frame camera, an APS-C model with a high pixel density may provide larger details in the final crop. If a progression composite is your goal, the pixel count of the merged images quickly becomes high.

Minimally, enable mirror lockup when using a DSLR, and better still, use live view, effectively making it a mirrorless camera.

To enable a low tripod setup, the camera should have a tilting or vari-angle LCD. An angle finder is helpful when using some DSLRs' optical viewfinders. Take your reading glasses to see the LCD at a close distance.

What is the Best Tripod and Head for Lunar Eclipse Photography?

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The more solid the tripod and head are, the less likely vibrations will require a shutter release delay, and the less likely vibrations will impact the imagery during the exposure, especially at the long exposures required during totality.

Don't settle for a cheap tripod. Great tripod options include:

• ProMediaGear TR424/TR424L Pro-Stix Carbon Fiber Tripod
• Really Right Stuff TVC-34L Mk2 Tripod
• Robus RC-8860 Vantage Carbon Fiber Tripod
• Robus RC-5570 Vantage Carbon Fiber Tripod

Numerous other models will work well.

The lower the tripod setup, the less vibrations, including from wind. Try first shooting with all legs retracted, and extend the top, largest diameter leg sections until just high enough for comfortable use (this is a many-hour event, and the comfort aspect will be appreciated). If wind is a problem, set up behind an obstruction, such as a vehicle or building, and remove the lens hood.

I highly recommend using a two-way style head on a leveled base for lunar eclipse photography. While few will know if your eclipsed moon image is tilted, differing levelness may become obvious during a progression series composite — strive to keep progression images true. When the base is level and the head moves in only two axes, the camera levelness is no longer a concern, simplifying and hastening composition during the entire shoot.

Some of the best options are gimbal style heads, and these models are outstanding choices:

• Really Right Stuff PG-02 MK2 Pano-Gimbal Head
• Wimberley WH-200-S Sidemount Head

A high-quality fluid video head will also work well.

I frequently see geared heads recommended for this purpose. However, the lower end geared heads are highly susceptible to vibrations.

Ensure that your tripod and head combination accommodates the camera angle required to photograph the eclipse in your selected location. Of special interest is clearance between the camera and the tripod chassis. Test your setup's capability and learn more here: How to Shoot Upward with a Large Lens While Using a Gimbal Tripod Head.

Understand how the moon's position in the sky changes during the event and how the head must rotate. Position the tripod to best accommodate the arc, perhaps positioning the front leg toward the total eclipse.

While I love the convenience of using the camera's self-timer to let vibrations settle, an inexpensive wired remote release is desirable. The release allows precise timing control and faster repeat captures when the camera is not touched between shots. Note that the remote release cable itself can cause vibrations. Attach (such as gaffer tape) the cable to a tripod leg to shield the camera from such movement.

Manufacturers usually recommend turning IS, OSS, OS, VC, IBIS, etc. off when using a tripod. Image stabilization can make tripod-mounted composition difficult, fighting against you, and shot-to-shot variances that challenge HDR processing can occur. However, some lenses feature an auto tripod sensing mode and adjust to the vibrations typical of a mounted lens, including those caused by wind. Mode III IS does not impede composition.

Consider Using Tracking Mount

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A tracking mount takes a time and energy-consuming aspect out of lunar eclipse photography. While time and understanding are required to set up a tracking mount, the moon should remain in the center of the frame throughout the entire event. Ensure Polaris is visible from your selected location to allow polar alignment of the mount.

Easily transportable tracking mounts can handle mid-sized lenses, but those required by super-telephoto lenses are troublesome to transport by air. The Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro Equatorial GoTo Mount has long called me, but I'm not ready to fly with it.

The Lunar Eclipse Stages to Photograph

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A total lunar eclipse progresses as follows:

• Full Moon
• Penumbral begins
• Partial begins
• Full begins
• Maximum
• Full ends
• Partial ends
• Penumbral ends
• Full Moon

The shadowing during the penumbral stages will be faint, but the partial phases show more obvious shadows. During the full eclipse stage, the light refracted and unfiltered by the earth's atmosphere is red, creating a blood red moon.

Include full moon photographs from just before and just after the eclipse in your take-home.

Unless clouds provide changing opportunities, partial eclipse images should be captured at a predetermined interval. How many phases of the partial eclipse period do you want in your gallery and in composite progression images? Calculate the number of partial eclipse images needed to create the desired result, including the before and after full images.

Single-row (or arc) progressions are easy to calculate. Capture the same number of partial eclipse images before and after totality and add an odd number (1 is always a good option) of total eclipse images between them.

If a multiple-row progression is a goal (a worthy one), a specific number of images will be required to keep the row and column counts odd, to enable a total eclipse image to be centered. Do the math, remember that the moon moves its diameter approximately every two minutes and that having too many images is a much better problem than not having enough. Here is a chart to help:

The final image will likely appear better with some border added, but this chart helps optimize for a final aspect ratio. Here is a 3:2 aspect ratio solar eclipse image using 77 as the sun image count.

Always shoot multiple images of each stage to ensure a momentary atmospheric distortion or tripod vibration blip doesn't ruin the set. I check sharpness on the camera's LCD after each image capture.

Capturing images to a specific plan aids in dealing with the results. For example, take 2 images every 10 minutes (perhaps using a higher frequency during totality).

What are the Best Exposure Settings for Lunar Eclipse Photography?

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Plan to use your camera's non-lossy compressed raw image format to gain the most image data available for processing. Also, don't let Concentration Apnea, a constant problem for me, hinder you — keep breathing.

Exposing for the exposed moon is easy. Use the camera's M (Manual) exposure mode. If you've never used manual mode, now is your chance to learn it — you will appreciate knowing how to use it.

Determine the brightest exposure that does not push a histogram channel completely into the right wall. The blinkies sometimes show up just before a channel is blown, but avoiding the blinkies should fully avoid blown highlights. In this case, it is better to err slightly on the side of underexposure than overexposure.

Start with 1/160, f/8, and ISO 250, and adjust from there, including to your widest aperture.

Then, chase the exposure. Mostly, I prefer avoiding overexposing the sunlit moon, but during the partial phases, especially near totality, consider exposure bracketing to hold the details in the sunlit portions of the moon and capture earthshine details in the eclipsed portion. Exposures favoring the shaded portion of the moon become favorable as totality arrives.

Focusing on the dark moon is difficult. So, lock in a focus distance setting 5-10 minutes before totality, confirm sharpness, switch the lens to manual focusing, and gaffer tape the MF ring in place.

When fully eclipsed, the moon is dark. Try 0.3, f/8, and ISO 3200, and adjust as necessary.

The second half of the shoot is as easy as the first. Sorry, you can't re-use the partial images from the first half to represent the latter half because the moon may not leave the opposite of its arrival. Return to capturing the partial phases, chasing the exposure until the moon reaches its full size, finishing out your images for the progression composite image(s). Or, if clouds are present, capture completely different images than those already on the card.

How to Focus the Lens when Photographing a Lunar Eclipse

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Autofocusing on the moon or the edge of the moon usually works ideally for this task. When using a mirrorless camera, select a large focus area that covers the moon, and the camera will find the edges.

Otherwise, place selected focus points on the edge. If edge focusing does not lock focus quickly, move a focus point further along the moon's border. If autofocus still complains, zoom the live view image, and manually focus. Review a test image to be certain the setting is right.

You will hear advice to establish focus before the eclipse begins, switch to manual focus, and tape the ring to prevent any changes throughout the rest of the eclipse. If opting for this advice, it is imperative that you diligently monitor for changes.

I lock in manual focus before totality as the fully blocked moon is difficult to focus on.

Practice Photographing the Moon

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Even small issues can ruin an eclipse shoot. Start practicing early enough to recognize and resolve insufficiencies in your gear and technique. Use a narrow aperture to help simulate the totality shutter duration.

Consider the Details

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Ask the what ifs, incorporate redundancy into the plan, and consider having a full second camera and lens setup immediately ready for action.

Have fully charged batteries in the camera to start the shoot and monitor for the need to replace them.

Lunar eclipses last a long time. Prepare yourself for the conditions by dressing appropriately. Have water and food available. Take a Walkstool or similar. A tarp, blanket, or plastic under the camera setup may be helpful.

It is dark during a lunar eclipse. Have a flashlight, perhaps a red light, immediately available, and know how to use your camera in the dark.

I advise removing neck straps. They get in the way when shooting upward and may increase lens vibrations if the wind blows them.

Summary

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While a total solar eclipse may be more dramatic, lunar eclipses are subjects worthy of the effort required to photograph them. Make a plan to photograph the next total lunar eclipse.