My fascination with the moon goes back farther than I can remember. I think it's because
there's so many interesting things about it. Other than the sun, it's the only other heavenly body that we can see from earth with the naked eye in any detail. It's apparent size is almost exactly the same as the apparent size of the sun though vastly different in reality. The moon rotates in a way that the same side always faces earth. It's gravitational pull creates tidal forces that not only cause ocean tides but squash the earth in a massaging motion creating frictional heat that is at least partially responsible for earth's volcanism and molten center. The moon appears to be fairly close to earth but is actually very very far away. In terms of scale, if the earth was a basketball and the moon a tennis ball, they would be 24' apart. Given that, isn't it actually remarkable the frequency of eclipses? And how amazing is it that man has been to the moon... as early as 1969?
The list goes on. But for a photographer, what interests me the most is the illusion that the moon is bigger at moonrise than when the moon is higher in the sky. This is only because of relativity. At moonrise, the moon is close to the horizon and is only big relative to earth objects near the horizon. Objects such as Balanced Rock. When the moon is high in the sky, it is alone with a vast amount of empty space to make it appear relatively small. The biggest challenges to photographing the moon is having a telephoto lens with a focal length big enough to zoom in on the relatively small object. Have you ever photographed an impressive rising moon with a normal (35mm-50mm) lens only to have the moon appear a small dot in the picture? I consider having at least a 300mm lens to be a must though I sure wish I had a 600mm but would have to break the bank to acquire one. Also the moon itself isn't terribly interesting as long as there's no other complimenting subject. But where exactly will the moon rise on the horizon relative to your chosen complimentary subject so that you can be at the right location to photograph?
Enter the age of smartphone apps, namely Google Sky Map. www.google.com/mobile/skymap/ Other apps probably exist but this is a well known smartphone app that uses the phone's compass and GPS to superimpose the night sky on the phone's screen showing outlining constellations, planets, and other heavenly bodies as you hold the phone up to the sky. Very cool in of itself, but what I like is that you can see below the horizon, like an xray, at the moon, sun, or whatever before it rises giving you time to set up your equipment location accordingly. Several failed attempts of predicting moonrise and sunrise locations in the past made me pretty damn excited to have the upper hand on this shot! Not only was I able to find a suitable subject, but the perfect place to set up right on the Arches National Park highway with plenty of time to set up.
Other tips for photographing a full moon are to photograph the night before a full moon. The night of a full moon, the sun and moon are on completely opposite sides of the earth and once the moon is up, the sun will have already set and you won't have any (natural) lighting on your complimenting subject. An exception would be if you're going for a silhouette. It's very important to have a full moon not overexposed (easy to do when trying to get a horizon object correctly exposed). Our aesthetic perception of a full moon is the texture and detail of the moons features. In contrast, our aesthetic perception of a crescent moon is the crescent shape of the moon opposed to the moons texture. More acceptable to have a crescent moon overexposed.
-Wayne
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