minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I attended two moonrises and two moonsets during SuperMoon season, with little to show for it other than a few moons with nothing else in the frame, suitable to use in composites. Here's a few of the oddities I collected.

I gained some actual shooting knowledge from the moon chase and thank everyone who gave me tips to help. But my best take-away from the moon chase was not really about the moon, it was about everything else. Going out with a specific quest is efficient, fun, and can lead to learning. But even better is being out there with an open mind and a watchful eye. The last image is the gift I got for not leaving after moonset like everyone else.

Please offer any comments or suggestions or edits, I know they've all got flaws so please share ways I can do better. The moon will be full again even if they don't call it SuperMoon.

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Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Joining the odd half billion folks with a camera a phone or tablet taking shots of the same moon never occurred to me for some reason. Possibly cos the shots on the Nasa site simply blow one away and certainly blow away anything captured on a little sensor from earth. We had plenty of em here in Phils pointing equipment at the sky so they could go home and download an inferior image that looks like everyone elses. So i cannot get excited about going out with a quest knowing full well what I capture aint gonna compare with what has already been done. Coming home second best aint for ol' Billy. Strikes me as no fun and the learning involved would be Nasa with a few billion dollars to spend do it better.
The fourth shot which as far as I aware could not be taken by a Nasa satellite is very pleasant and is nicely understated in its processing. Very nice capture of the moon rays.
Ways to do it better - Get closer. Virgin Air is taking deposits on tourist space flights starting hopefully in 2022. $100000 gets you a seat reservation. Popular with rich Russian oligarchs I hear. Keeping ya liberal views under wraps may be a good idea. In flight menu likely to contain stodgy sausages caviar and ice cold Vodka. Then you could amaze ya mates at FYC.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Well Billy I both agree with you and I don't, which I kinda already said but maybe you didn't read it. But nonetheless I appreciate your taking a look. As for all you have to say about NASA etc, there is not much on this old blue ball that somebody hasn't taken a photo of, even if I haven't seen it, so I never worry about that part, I am not grandiose enough to think anything I produce is totally unique. I had personally never seen a moon that looked like a squashed tomato before, so it was interesting though more difficult than I anticipated to try and capture it. What I learned about taking pictures of that danged moon may come in handy some other time. And, I harvested some moon pixels that will come in handy for composites down the road.

But I was amazed that so many fellows with apparent expertise and amazing equipment live nearby and yet, with my almost daily prowling around the woods and bushes and swamps, have never seen a one of them till they flocked to the only open shore of our only lake for this event. Then, just as quickly as the moon rose/set, they were gone without the slightest interest in the amazing light show developing just behind them.

BTW those are sun rays from sunrise, which coincided with moonset.

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

min our boss informed me their are 7.5 billion people on this earth. Each one of those is totally unique as is every single animal tree and plant. Look at the sky and the cloud formation you see will never happen again. So this old blue ball offers much that is unique. The moon yields a whole load of images that look identical. And what did you learn min? That the moon is bright huh.
You know what min I have met lots of folks with huge bags of amazing and expensive equipment who lack the ability to see or notice what is around them. But they have to have the latest kit.Their cameras are always worth buying cos they polish their equipment regularly but take few photos so shutter counts are low.
Its one downside of living here that I cannot take advantage of Mr Mustapha Newcamera.

Frank2013 Loc: San Antonio, TX. & Milwaukee, WI.

All great shots minniev well done. Matters not whether you came in second best by someone else's standards, and would not agree that Nasa takes a better image....different maybe....there are not bilions of images like these, there is not even one, they are unique and yours. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm just giving you mine.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Does your camera clock need to be set back for the time change? It shows 6:40 a.m. on the b&w in #1. According to the website I use (which apparently was so overwhelmed on super moon Monday, it crashed - lol), Biloxi's moonset was at 6:13. Same issue with your sunrise shot - appears to be an hour off.

The reason I want to clarify is to discuss the timing of full moon rise/set with the corresponding sunset/rise. And as you discovered, often it pays to turn around 'cause you might get a two-fer!

For those interested in capturing landscape as part of their moon shots, there is usually one moonrise and one or two moonsets each full moon cycle that work out well for exposure.

The "sunny 16" is for when you fill the frame with the moon and usually when it's a bit higher in the sky (to clear any ground haze etc).

Another important factor, that you mentioned to me in a pm, Minnie, is at your latitude there isn't much twilight. I found this interesting tidbit on wikipedia's definition of twilight:

"This angle of the sun's motion with respect to the horizon changes with latitude as well as the time of year (affecting the angle of the Earth's axis with respect to the sun)."

So there are a lot of factors to consider when chasing the moon, including where you live!

Your comment here, "Going out with a specific quest is efficient, fun, and can lead to learning..." resonated, most recently because of the mushroom thread I've often gone out with the goal of certain subject themes (hops harvest) or perspective (telephoto landscapes), or of course "golden light."

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

The biggest thing I learned was that most of the stuff I read about Sunny 16 and moons is BS for most of the time the moon is in the dark sky, and it is NOT as bright as the articles tell you it is. A Sunny 16 exposure and anything remotely near it yielded a totally black frame no matter how I focused, or what metering I used. And I learned that the darned thing moves faster than you'd think, esp. close to the horizon.

I agree that they are photographers with different priorities than mine, but it was still confounding. Where are these guys when there's no supermoon?

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Thanks Frank. I took a bunch of NASA types for practice and for Min's Bank of Pixels, for later composites. In fact the tomato moon is a layer stack so I reckon it's a composite. The monochrome is kinda composited with itself, since I hacked out some of the black space between the moon and the water. So I've already used the pixels I harvested. But I gotta admit, the sunrise shot was more fun and more "me."

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Yeah, I never remember to reset the clock on the camera!

I have noticed extreme differences in light at the transition times in different latitudes I visit.

While I enjoy setting goals for myself and envisioning what I want with a shot, I enjoy exploring and following the moment even more. There is a somewhat related discussion in Piet's thread about the "Gullet". I haven't quite got it all worked out in my mind but it's a concept worth exploring: planned vs unplanned, pre-envisioned vs post-discovered, captured vs created. They are recurring themes in photography, and the moon quest slapped me in the face with how different my own approach was from all the other people who were shooting the same event beside me. Since I am so in the minority, I suspect it is me who is out of whack. I don't really care, but it is interesting to figure on.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Yes please, I love the idea of learning how everyone feels about these concepts!
Where do you get that you are in the minority? Maybe with those who cart around the $30,000 worth of gear, but I bet there are a whole lot of us who get great joy out of unexpected discovery or "following the moment."

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I was mainly referencing the group I was shooting alongside, who are my local "peers" I guess, and I had no idea they even existed. My impromptu Moon Group reinforced my sense of photographic isolation here, in that I had nothing at all in common with these folks except being there and having a camera. This is one reason the fellowship of the forum may be more meaningful to me than it is perhaps to some others, because I never see other photographers in the field here, there are no galleries selling or displaying photographs, there are no camera clubs or meet ups or workshops. I'm fortunate to have you folks!

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

How will you be first if you don't try? S-

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

This is the reason I shot everything; it's not to be perfect, get published, or anything other than to learn something new and be a part of the experience! S-

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

Hi Min. I went out and took photos of that damned moon too. Waited forty five minutes for it to rise in exactly the proper spot according to photographer's Ephemeris so that it would be rising next to a lighthouse here on the shore. I had to get so close to the the lighthouse for the angle to match the rising moon that, when it did come up it was tiny because of the lens I used. Anyway, your moon shots are all much better than what I came up with and the shot on the bottom is the one that really works for me because it has more in it than the moon. I ended up shooting the moon with a tele and then using it in a composite with the lighthouse. Cheating, I know; but I'm not beyond that.
Erich

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

I think it would be incredibly hard to shoot a crystal clear moon against the horizon with all the atmospheric interference and light pollution most popular spots have to offer and get the foreground in focus and lighted correctly. I'm sure it's done and done well, but even I think it might be easier to shoot the location, then the moon high overhead and combine them together. Maybe it's cheating, but I think it's all in the presentation and what you intend to do with it. S-