Photo Opportunity - 13 July Supermoon

Update 15 Jul

Tonight, the day after the full moon had little cloud coverage so I was able to see the moon emerge over the horizon.  Unfortunately the high dynamic range meant an under exposure of 3 stops still resulted in overblown highlights in the moon with the detail recoverable and extreme noise levels over the black areas of tree/ground that were to be my foreground interest.

So back to plan B and to shoot the moon itself using my 500mm lens and hoping that metering off the moon would allow me to capture detail in the moon.

Still not the shot I wanted as there is no foreground interest to give the moon some scale.  My balcony may give be a good view of the moon but needs a more significant landmark building or hill to give that foreground interest.  Norman's balcony is also south facing and is further back looking at the sky through a large tree that does add interest but I suspect the end of my apartment will have obscured the early part of the moon's journey when it appears larger and more red.

I have managed some nice record shots of the moon but it is not clear what the true colour was as I tweak the colour temperature.  My eyes said red, the camera gold.

Shots by Norman and me can be viewed by following this link.  Feel free to comment/critique

Update 14 Jul

There was too much cloud cover to see the moon as it emerged over the horizon so my planned short of the moon alongside some trees in the distance was not possible.  I did, however, get some shots of the moon behind the clouds once it was higher in the sky.

Wed 13 July

The full moon next Wednesday, 13 July will be a supermoon.  This occurs when a full moon coincides with the Moon's closest approach to earth.  This will occur on Wed 13 July and the best opportunity to capture a large moon is when the moon is close to the horizon.  The moon will rise at around 2200 from the SE and go down in the SW at 0430.  The sun sets at 9.21 so you will be working in the dark.

The best opportunity to capture the supermoon from Wadswick Green should be between 10 and 11 pm (assuming you are not early risers) between SE and S, i.e. between Almond Close and Rowan Lane.

My balcony looks due South at the end of Rowan so I anticipate a good view by looking to the left, provided it is not hidden by trees.  Assuming my balcony will be back in use in time as the door is due to be repaired on that day, until then I cannot get on the balcony!

The path of the moon (green) is shown in this plan view of the sky.

I hope you can take this opportunity to capture a good image of the moon and look forward to seeing them.  Good luck.

Hints

1. Try to compose your photo so that it includes foreground interest to add scale to the final image such as a building (or part of a building),  tree, or person as otherwise there will nothing to indicate the moon is larger than usual.
2. Light levels will fall very quickly and exposure times will be long unless you focus tightly in on the moon which will be the brightest part of the scene.  You will therefore have a very short window of opportunity to capture the moon while there is sufficient light to illuminate your foreground in order to add that sense of scale.
3. You need to be ready to start taking photographs at sunset and be prepared to take a series of phots for 30 minutes or so while there is sufficient background light.
4. The difference in brightness between the moon and your foreground suggest a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image.  If your phone/tablet is relatively new it will have an automatic HDR mode; for SLR/bridge camera users you will have to use exposure bracketing to create, say, 3 images at -2, 0 and +2 stops that you can combine in software afterwards.  Camera users will need to use a tripod to bracket the exposures as the under exposed image time is likely to be long.
5. iPhone users be prepared to reduce the exposure by focusing on the moon (tap and hold moon on screen) and drawing exposure slider down.
6. Mobile device users will also need to be aware that their camera will take and combine multiple images so you need to be very still and hold your position for a few seconds after taking the picture.
7. Camera settings
1. Long lens focal length as this will fill the frame with the moon and give added separation between the moon and your foreground interest.
2. Aperture Priority with aperture in the range f11 to f20 to maximise depth of field to capture the moon and your foreground interest.
3. ISO, probably best to avoid Auto ISO as your camera will assume you are hand holding and so boost ISO to shorten exposure times.  This would probably result in a grainy soft final image.
4. Exposure times will be long so a tripod is likely to be necessary.
5. Try exposure bracketing.
8. Use Monday and Tuesday to experiment and finalise your viewpoint but remember the point on the horizon where the moon rises will move towards the south.
1. Monday 11 Jul
1. Sunset, 9.22
2. Moonrise 7.40
2. Tuesday 12 Jul
1. Sunset, 9.22
2. Moonrise, 9.02
9. Watch the weather, the right amount of cloud cover could add to the scene, too much will ruin it.  If the weather is bad on wed you might have saved the day on Mon or Tue or could try again on Thur/Fri.