The Looney 11 rule is a manual-exposure guideline for photographing the moon: at an aperture of f/11, set your shutter speed to the reciprocal of your ISO (ISO 100 → 1/100 sec). It works because the moon is a sunlit object in open space with no atmosphere to scatter or soften the incoming sunlight before it reaches the surface — photographically, it behaves like a landscape in full daylight, not like a dim object at night. This guide covers the exposure math, a full phase-by-phase settings chart, focal length and sharpness considerations, and an interactive calculator that adjusts for phase, zoom, and ISO in real time.
Why Auto Mode Turns the Moon Into a White Blob
A camera's light meter has no idea what it's looking at — it only knows what fraction of the frame is bright versus dark. Point it at the moon and the meter sees a scene that's roughly 99% black sky and 1% bright disc. It responds the only way it knows how: by exposing for the average, which means dragging the shutter open far longer than the moon itself needs. The result is a featureless, overexposed glow with every crater and mare washed out.
The fix is to stop metering the scene at all. The moon is illuminated by direct, unfiltered sunlight at almost the same distance from the sun as Earth is — meaning the light actually falling on its surface is close to what falls on a sunlit field at noon. That's the same physical situation the "Sunny 16" rule was built for (f/16, shutter = 1/ISO, in direct sun), and the Looney 11 rule is its lunar variant: one stop more exposure than Sunny 16 to account for the moon's darker average surface reflectivity — its albedo is only about 0.12, similar to worn asphalt.
Houston, We Have a Lighting Problem
Why your automatic settings fail in the void.
The "White Blob" Effect
To your eyes, the moon is a lantern. To your camera, it is a glowing rock in a black void.
Your camera sees 90%+ black sky and panics, opening the shutter wide to let more light in. The moon becomes a featureless, glowing white blob with no crater detail.
The "Looney 11" Fix
Ignore the light meter entirely. Use the Looney 11 Rule: at aperture f/11, shutter speed = 1/ISO (ISO 100 → 1/100 sec).
This treats the moon as what it actually is: a sunlit landscape in the middle of the day, not a dim night-sky object.
Key Variables
The Looney 11 Exposure Chart
The classic rule assumes a full moon. As the moon waxes or wanes, less of its illuminated surface is visible to the camera, so you generally need to open up the exposure to compensate. The chart below is a set of typical starting values, not a fixed physical law — actual brightness also depends on the opposition effect, libration, Earth-Moon distance, and atmospheric extinction, so a quarter moon might land closer to +1.5 stops in practice, and a very thin crescent can need anywhere from +3 to +5. Treat these as a starting point and fine-tune from your camera's histogram.
| Phase | Aperture | Typical Extra Exposure | Example (ISO 200) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Moon | f/11 | Baseline (0 stops) | 1/200 sec |
| Waxing / Waning Gibbous | f/8 | +1 stop | 1/100 sec |
| First / Last Quarter (Half Moon) | f/5.6 | +2 stops | 1/50 sec |
| Waxing / Waning Crescent | f/2.8–f/4 | +3 to +4 stops | 1/13 to 1/25 sec |
One counterintuitive wrinkle: the full moon doesn't just look flat, it's photometrically brighter than a simple "half the surface is lit" model would predict. This is the opposition surge — when the sun is almost directly behind the camera relative to the moon, shadows on the lunar regolith hide from view and light reflects straight back at the viewer, spiking the apparent brightness. It's part of why full-moon shots are the easiest to overexpose and the hardest to get crater texture out of.
Choosing a Focal Length: How Big Will the Moon Actually Be?
The moon's apparent size is fixed — about 0.52° across, or roughly the width of your thumb held at arm's length. What changes is how much of your sensor that 0.52° fills, which depends entirely on focal length. A reliable rule of thumb: the moon's diameter on your sensor, in millimeters, is roughly your focal length divided by 110.
| Focal Length | Moon Diameter on Sensor | % of Full-Frame Height (24mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 50mm | ~0.45mm | ~2% |
| 200mm | ~1.8mm | ~7.5% |
| 400mm | ~3.6mm | ~15% |
| 600mm | ~5.5mm | ~23% |
| 1200mm (superzoom / small telescope) | ~11mm | ~45% |
Cropped sensors (APS-C, Micro Four Thirds) push these numbers further for free — a 400mm lens on a 1.5x crop APS-C body behaves like 600mm for framing purposes, though the physical light-gathering and diffraction behavior stay tied to the actual focal length and aperture, not the "effective" one.
Interactive Looney 11 Calculator
Set your phase, focal length, aperture, and ISO below — the shutter speed and stability warnings update automatically, and the viewfinder simulates roughly what the shake and grain will look like at those settings. The phase adjustment uses the same typical values as the chart above; treat the result as a starting point, since actual brightness shifts with atmospheric conditions and exactly how thin or thick the phase is.
🌕 Looney 11 Calculator
Adjust the settings below to find your shutter speed
Standard Zoom. Moderate shake risk.
Getting Sharp: Diffraction, Atmosphere, and Handling
Correct exposure only solves half the problem — most disappointing moon shots are actually sharpness failures, not exposure failures. Three things work against you, in roughly this order of impact:
Handshake
The reciprocal rule (shutter speed no slower than 1/focal length, assuming no image stabilization) is the floor for a handheld shot, and telephoto reach makes it unforgiving fast — 1/600 sec at 600mm leaves almost no exposure flexibility. In-body or optical stabilization can buy back a stop or more, but the safest fix is a tripod and a 2-second timer (or remote shutter), which removes this variable entirely, including the shock from a mirror or your finger on the shutter button.
Atmospheric Seeing
Light from the moon travels through more atmosphere — and more turbulence — when it's low on the horizon, which is why low moonrise shots often look soft or wavy even at perfect exposure and focus. Shooting when the moon is higher in the sky, on a cold, still night, gives noticeably crisper results. Avoid shooting over hot rooftops or pavement; rising heat plumes distort the air path the same way a desert mirage does.
Diffraction
Stopping down past roughly f/11–f/16 starts to soften fine detail as light diffracts around the aperture blades, even though it's the "correct" exposure setting for a crescent moon. Exactly where this becomes visible depends more on your sensor's resolution (pixel pitch) and how much you're cropping or enlarging than on sensor format alone. If you need more light at a narrow aperture, raising ISO a stop or two is usually a better trade than stopping down further.
Equipment by Budget
Smartphone
Small sensors and wide native lenses mean the moon defaults to a tiny, overexposed dot. Manual/Pro camera modes that allow locking shutter and ISO help, but the more reliable trick is afocal photography — holding the phone's lens up to the eyepiece of binoculars or a telescope. Some recent phones include dedicated "moon modes"; be aware these can use AI-assisted detail enhancement rather than optical resolution alone, which has drawn scrutiny for producing detail the sensor didn't actually capture.
Bridge / Superzoom Camera
A fixed superzoom in the 1200–2000mm equivalent range is the best detail-per-dollar option for lunar work, since the moon fills a large portion of the frame without needing a telescope. Image stabilization helps but doesn't replace a tripod at full zoom.
Interchangeable-Lens Camera
A 400–600mm telephoto (with or without a teleconverter) on a mirrorless or DSLR body, on a sturdy tripod, is the standard enthusiast setup. Crop-sensor bodies gain reach "for free" over full-frame for this specific purpose.
Telescope + Camera
Attaching a camera to a telescope (prime focus or afocal through an eyepiece) gives the most detail of any consumer option, at the cost of tracking the moon's motion across the frame at very long effective focal lengths. A motorized tracking mount helps for longer sessions or high magnification; unlike deep-sky imaging, lunar work uses short enough exposures that a simple alt-az GoTo mount tracks it fine — polar alignment isn't required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I really need a tripod to photograph the moon?
Yes, for anything beyond a wide shot. At 200mm and up you're magnifying your own heartbeat along with the moon — even a mirror slapping up inside a DSLR can blur the shot ("shutter shock"). A tripod plus a 2-second timer or remote shutter removes both problems.
Why is my moon photo still blurry even with the right exposure?
Correct exposure doesn't fix a sharpness problem. The usual causes are handshake at telephoto focal lengths, atmospheric turbulence (worse when the moon is low on the horizon or you're shooting over a hot roof), or diffraction softening from stopping the aperture down too far. Check the sharpness section above to isolate which one is happening.
What lens or focal length do I need to see craters?
200mm is the practical minimum for visible crater detail; the moon still appears fairly small in the frame at that length. 400mm and up starts to show meaningful surface texture, and 600mm+ (or a small telescope) is where the moon begins to fill a significant portion of the frame.
Can I photograph the moon with just a smartphone?
You can, but native phone lenses are wide and sensors are small, so the moon usually renders as an overexposed dot. Holding the phone camera up to a telescope or binocular eyepiece (afocal photography) is the most reliable smartphone method. Some phones' built-in "moon mode" uses AI-assisted enhancement rather than purely optical detail, which is worth knowing if image authenticity matters to you.
Why does the moon sometimes look orange or red?
This happens when the moon is near the horizon, rising or setting. Its light is passing through much more atmosphere at that angle, which scatters away blue wavelengths and leaves the red/orange end of the spectrum. It's the same effect as a red sunset, and it's a great time to shoot — just expect to need a slightly slower shutter, since the moon is dimmer at that angle than when it's high overhead.
Does the moon's phase actually change my camera settings, or just the picture?
Both. Less illuminated surface means less light reaching your sensor, so a crescent moon genuinely needs several stops more exposure than a full moon at the same ISO — see the exposure chart above. It's not only a compositional difference.
Why does the moon look so small even though I used a "zoom" lens?
The moon's apparent size is fixed at about 0.52° across regardless of your gear — what changes with focal length is how much of your sensor that fixed angle fills. As a rule of thumb, the moon's diameter on your sensor in millimeters is roughly your focal length divided by 110, so even a 200mm lens only fills a small fraction of most sensors. See the focal length table above for exact figures.
Is it safe to point my camera or telescope directly at the moon?
Yes — unlike the sun, moonlight carries no meaningful heat or UV risk to your eyes or your camera's sensor. You can compose, focus, and shoot the moon directly with no filters or special precautions.