Shooting the Moon

When I left work today the clouds were amazing. They were big, white, fluffy, and broken up enough to allow plenty of sun through. I only had about an hour before the sun would set, so I had to move fast and settle on a location not to far away.

I live on the West side of the Mississippi which makes finding good vantage points for a sunset difficult. The city and powerlines clutter everything up when you look West, and looking East, well, that's not where the sun sets. But today I settled for looking East at sunset, knowing the setting sun would paint the clouds over the Mississippi.

Bee Tree Park was crowded with people enjoying the unseasonable 70+ degree weather. So I hiked a trail to a bluff that overlooks the river and set up. Using the tripod, I alternated between the wide angle and the 400mm. Trees on both sides added some framing. The moon was high against a blue sky, with colorful clouds beneath it, all underlined by the mighty Mississip.

As usual I shot numerous compositions and settings. The close up of the moon I liked the best was shot at a shutter speed of 1/250, aperature of 5.6 and an ISO of 100 with the 400 mm lens. The mistake a lot of people make when shooting the moon is to set up for a night shot, and they end up over exposing the moon leaving no detail. Remember that the moon is reflecting the sun so it is bright.

I'm including a couple previous shots of the moon taken with my 10D also. One is a black-and-white (converted to BW in photoshop), taken with a 1000mm mirror telescope lens. This one was taken at 1/45; ISO 100. This particular lens is a fixed aperature 11.

Finally the moon next to the Clarke Bridge, taken in West Alton Missouri was taken at a .5 shutter speed, av 5.6, ISO 100, 400 mm lens.

Moon River, wider than a mile...

Until next time, keep shooting.

geopic