MoonScapes - Photographing a Full Moon with Landscape Detail

Moonrise with last sun light on Wasatch Range, Salt Lake City, UT ~ © Royce Bair

Little Known Trick to Photographing the Full Moon: Here is how you can get detail on both the landscape and the moon. The above photo of the full moon was taken just as the sun was setting, the day before the full moon, and the next two photos were taken just before sunrise, the day of the full moon.

Big yellow moon as it passes through a cloud, surrounded by a cold, blue winter sky ~ © Royce Bair
Canon EOS 7D with an EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens @ 400mm
(35mm equivalent is 12X) f/8 • 1/4 sec • ISO 100

5 minutes later the same moon begins to set behind the Oquirrh Mountains, near SLC, UT ~ © Royce Bair
Canon EOS 7D with an EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM lens @ 400mm
(35mm equivalent is 12X) f/8 • 1/4 sec • ISO 100

Here is my "NightScape" Moon Photography Tip: If you want to record good detail in the clouds and landscape near the moon, you need to know two important re-occurring facts: 1. The night before the full moon, the moon rises just a few minutes before the sun sets; and 2. the morning of the full moon, the moon sets just before the sun is starting to rise. During these two periods, there is just enough ambient light from the setting and rising sun to give detail to the surrounding landscape -- otherwise, it is too dark, and the contrast range is too great to record anything but blackness around the moon -- like you see in these two photos:

Middle of the night: Left image exposed for cloud detail. Right image exposed for moon detail.

You can't have it both ways: either you get a washed out (overexposed moon) in order to see the clouds and surrounding landscape detail -- or you get a correctly exposed moon, and lose all the surrounding detail -- that is, unless you follow my little known trick and these "Nightscape" tips.

Moon Charts: I use the Old Farmer's Almanac moon phase calendar and the USNO moorise/moonset charts to plan my shoots. (All times are based on sea level, so they must be adjusted slightly for mountainous terrain -- the moon will set sooner because of mountains, and the sunrise will be delayed because of mountains, and etc.) Using these charts, I can often get at least one moon rise and one moon set per month (weather permitting) that allow for good, full moon photography.

An example of how I did it: Based on my Zip Code, the full moon was to take place on January 9, 2012 at 12:32 AM. The sun was suppose to rise on this day at 7:51 AM, and the moon was scheduled to set at 7:54 AM. Because the eastern mountains around Salt Lake City are about 6,000 feet higher than the valley floor, I figured (by experience) the sunrise would be delayed about 30 minutes. And because the western mountains are about 3,000 feet higher than the valley floor, I estimated the moon would set about 15 minutes early. I figured right on both accounts. The middle two photos were taken at 7:30 and 7:35 AM, with just enough predawn twilight behind me to add detail to the western sky and western mountains ("blue hour" light).

Mirror Lock-up. One other important thing: Even with a sturdy tripod and a remote release, the vibration from your mirror going up just before your shutter release can blur or degrade your shot. That's because the magnifications are so great (12X in this shot) and the shutter speeds are so slow (about 1/4 second in this case). Read your manual on how to do this for your camera. Once it is set through your menu, the first press of the shutter release will lock up the mirror, and the second press will release the shutter, and return the mirror. Even with a remote release, you should wait about three seconds for the vibrations to dampen before pressing the release the second time. So many things to remember! I also find I have to manually focus, and set all my exposures manually for best results. (For super accurate focus, I switch to Live View through my LCD screen, and magnify it to 10X. Once set, I switch back to regular view to conserve battery power.)

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Moonlight Versus Starry Night Skies

The light from the full moon is about 135 times brighter than starlight! ~ © Royce Bair

Even a quarter moon, low in the sky, can overpower all but the brightest stars ~ © Royce Bair

Even a crescent moon is 5X brighter than starlight.

Avoid Moonlight for the Best Starry Night Skies: Because moonlight is about 135 times brighter than starlight, your best starry night skies will be when the moon is not present. Even a crescent moon can be about five times brighter than starlight.

Only on a new moon? It would seem then that only on the night of a new moon, or the first night of a waxing moon, or the last night of a waning moon would be the only three nights of the month available for good star photo photography! Not so. While these three nights do offer excellent night darkness for star photography, there are selective hours on many other nights of the month that are suitable for good star photography, as you will see from the chart below. (To track the phases of the moon, I use The Old Farmer's Almanac Moon Phase Calendar.)

The day of the New Moon, and the day before & after offer excellent night darkness for star photography.

Nights before the moon rises, or after it sets: There are also those periods of the night when the moon has not yet risen, or it has set. These periods can often give you several hours each night for great star photography.

This window of photo opportunity must also meet the twilight requirement of being at least two hours after sunset, and at least two hours before sunrise. Let me explain, using the U.S. Naval Observatory charts for moonrise and moonset in conjunction with their charts for sunrise and sunset. With the U.S. Naval Observatory website you can enter a location and obtain a table of moonrise/moonset and a table of sunrise/sunset times for the whole year of your choosing.

Moonrise/set & sunrise/set times for July 2013 in Moab, Utah

Using moonrise/moonset charts: In this custom chart, I've taken moonrise/set times for the month of July 2013 and combined them next to the sunrise/set times for the same month (this illustration is for Moab, UT USA, which is the closest city to Arches National Park). On July 1st, the moon rises at 00:27 (12:27A.M.) and sets at 14:07 (2:07 P.M.) The sun rises at 04:58 and sets at 19:46. The 4th column shows the window of photographic opportunity. On July 1st, at 2 hours after sunset (21:46) you can start taking the best star photos, and continue until the moon rises the following morning at 01:01 (taken from the July 2nd moonrise row and column). The total time available for star photography (5th column) is 3:15 (3 hours 15 minutes). On July 4th, the window of opportunity begins to be limited by the rising of the sun, not the moon (02:59 is two hours before the sun rises at 04:59).

The area highlighted in darker blue is the 3-day period in July around the New Moon. Normally, this period would lengthen your night opportunity, but the long days and short nights of summer are the limiting factor here. From July 15 - 29, the moon goes from its First Quarter (50%), to Full Moon (100%), and to it's Last Quarter (50%). During this very bright period, it can still give off quite a bit of light to the sky, even below the horizon —for up to 30 minutes after it has set, and for up to 30 minutes before it rises. Hence, the highlighted times in the "Window of Opportunity" column. The sky directly above the setting and rising moon can be affected during these time periods, similar to this image.

NOTE: *These blank spaces in the table indicate that a rising or a setting did not occur during that 24-hr. interval. **During the "Window of [Photographic] Opportunity" I have set that period to midnight (00:00), even though it would most likely fall a few minutes after midnight on the following day. Please note that these times are shown in Mountain Standard Time (if you actually use this chart, you'll need to add one hour for Daylight Time, which would be in effect during July).

Starry Night Goal: If you follow these guidelines in avoiding moonlight, twilight from the sun, and man-made light pollution, your reward can be shots like this:

Milky Way over Teton Range and Jackson Lake ~ © Royce Bair

Royce Bair is the editor of this blog and the photographer of the above images. Here is my gallery of NightScape images. My schedule of workshops, tutorials, and other events is available here.

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