During the recent full moon a couple of beautiful nights beckoned me to get out and photograph the moon rise. This happened to be a super moon which means it was closer to the Earth than usual during a full moon. It has not been this close on a full moon for the last 46 years so what does that mean for most people. Probably the most noticeable piece was the brightness. As long as the sky was mostly clear you could look out across the landscape and see it brightly lit up more than usual.
I went out on two different nights to enjoy this slightly larger and brighter moon. The first I was joined by one of my cousins also interested in capturing some photos of the moon. It was fun to try a few different ideas. In the picture above I knew of a leaning tree so I positioned myself to photograph it leaning towards the moon as if the gravitational force of the moon was pulling the tree. It turned out well I think.
With a brighter and slightly larger full moon the reflection off of the water made for a picturesque image. Calming to look at. It was relatively windy that night so the reflection takes on a different look. The light is more scattered making for a wider reflection.
One of the challenges I continue to work on is creating a moon burst with the camera. You’ve probably seen images that include a sun burst with rays spreading out across the horizon. I’m trying to create a similar picture using the moon. It’s a little more challenging because of the lower light available. The photo above gives you an idea and for the most part I like it. Getting the moon a bit sharper along with sharper rays would make this about perfect I think. Gives me something to work towards.
On my second night of photographing this full moon I was in place to see it rising above the trees. This is when I could really notice the larger size. At least I think it was noticeable but I haven’t watched the full moon rise in this particular spot before so there really isn’t anything to compare it to. Still it looks quite big across the horizon to me.
One of my attempts was to get geese or ducks flying in front of the moon. I was never prepared in time to get this as I was usually photographing the super moon and surrounding landscape when a flock came flying by and my camera settings weren’t quite right. By the time I changed them to capture these geese they had already made it by but after looking at the image in the computer it looked like these geese were pulling the moon. I thought that looked kind of fun so I decided to share it with you.
