Rich1939 Loc: Pike County Penna.

If you want to know where and when the moon or sun will be in the right location for you check out this web site; http://photoephemeris.com/

You can easily figure out what time you need to get up to capture a sunrise at any place you're interested in with this. (put another way, how late you can sleep in) This tool will give location and time for both sun and moon rise and sets.

philo Loc: philo, ca

what makes this shot so great is not what came out of the camera, but the knowledge and time he spent with it in the darkroom.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Its not easy to find and when I finally did, well, physically, it does not look the same at all. You can say you were there, but keeping the image in your mind and the story on how he made the photograph is much more fun.

Nikocarol Loc: NM & FL

Thanks, I happen to know that. He took the shot in October and I used the ephemeris and still did not get it. I also tried Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb. The cemetery doesn't look anything like it did in that shot either. My feeling is that it was meant for Adams and him alone.

Ricardo, if you want the direction to that location (very easy to find) just send me a message.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It is well known that many photographers over time have visited the same spot where Ansel Adams stood to photograph this iconic image. None of them duplicated what he saw that day.
Linda posted an article based on that particular day when Ansel Adams took his famous photograph. Those who read the article noticed how Ansel Adams changed the print over time to make it fit his vision.
His print, made years after he took that photograph reveals a significant increase in contrast. He darkened the sky and the foreground making the little village of Hernandez to pop out with light. That was quite a departure from his earlier prints and a much dramatic rendition of what he saw when he originally took that picture.
The art of b&w photography has changed since we have been using digital but the contrast of a b&w photograph has remained as an artistic form. It is today much better to use software than when we had to use the optical darkroom. It was not easy to manipulate an image during printing and many times required as much efforts as printing paper.
Moonrise over Hernandez is an iconic image that only Ansel Adams made better through his expertise in the optical darkroom.

rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX

Given that 'moonrise' is Ansel Adams' most famous photograph and was done in 1941, I expect that thousands of photographers have visited the spot and taken their version.
I would have been one of them if I had found myself in the area. I did visit the location of several of AA's photographs in NM and on the Monterey area of California and did my thing with them.

TheDman Loc: USA

Today people would just say "Pfffht, Photoshop" and dismiss it as junk.

RandyImages

I was looking for that exact spot a few years ago. It now is nothing like the orig. setting. True, I was not there at the best time of day, however, the highway and buildings ruin any chance of duplicating that great Ansel image.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

Simple slip of a word. Nothing to get excited about.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

Thanks. I've got it located exactly with Lat/Long coordinates.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

An interesting story about the iconic photo, thanks!!!

forjava Loc: Half Moon Bay, CA

If you'd not posted, I'd have had to do it.

Further, it is worthwhile to know the background, as told by commenters and the Adamses themselves.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

In fact, Adams had a platform built on top of his car that he often used to set up and shoot. Comes in handy when you need to "shoot over" things in the immediate foreground.

Keep in mind that he used large format cameras and it's always a rather slow, deliberate process working with those. This "twilight" shot probably needed to be done as quickly as possible... things change and disappear so rapidly that time of day.

Oh, and the actual title of the 1941 image is "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico". (I.e, not "moonlight over".)

There's long been dispute whether that was caught in a single image, with filters or whatever. The contrast range of the moon itself and light from the just-set sun on the mountains, clouds and some other middle ground objects at one extreme, and the dark shadows and sky at the other extreme are beyond the dynamic range typically possible with either film or digital! All the dodging and burning in the world can only do so much.

Apparently the image is on a single negative... but was that made in a single shot? Or was it a composite from two different images? Or a multiple exposure of some sort?

Adams himself has said he made two exposures.... but the moment was very fleeting and light was no longer on the white crosses by the time he was able to set up for the second.

Also, his first description of the image when it was published in a 1943 magazine relates how he used his Weston light meter to calculate the settings. But, later when describing his process in his book "Examples" (1983), he says he couldn't find his meter and just used previous knowledge and the Zone system to determine his settings.

There also has been some dispute (as if it really matters!) of the exact date and time the image was taken, which apparently can be determined by the position of the moon, sun, lens focal length, etc. At various times it was noted as having been taken in 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1944. One person calculated the date and and time as October 31, 1941, at 4:03 p.m. Later analysis instead places it as 4:49:20 p.m. on November 1, 1941. Upon review, the second is thought to be correct.

BebuLamar

I would think the actual scene doesn't look as good as in Adams photograph. I would think if I were exactly where Adams was when he was I wouldn't see that beauty in the photograph.

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

A big part of the artistry of Ansel Adams' photos were the uniqueness of the weather conditions, clouds, angle of light, his angle of view, particular time of day, year, etc. Go back and review any of his photos as to what is the "X" factor that makes them great and you will see that the art consists in more than mere technical expertise.