In July we had the good fortune of being on vacation in Maine when the first of this Summer’s Supermoons arose. I was determined to capture this phenomena. When August 10th rolls around we will be given another opportunity to photograph this awesome sight. In fact the August 10th Supermoon will be larger than the one in July. Therefore, I thought it might be helpful to revisit a few photos from July and explain how I got them. To start a little pre-planning was very helpful. I determined that I wanted to capture photos of the Moon rising over the iconic Marshall Point Lighthouse (as seen in “Forrest Gump”) in Port Clyde, Maine. To get this I looked up the exact direction and degree of the moonrise as well as the time. I found that information easily online. Then using a map I drew a line between the moonrise location and the lighthouse to determined the best location to get the shot. This location actually happened to be in the water. Luckily we have a small boat and with my mother as the captain and husband and boys along for the ride we set out just before the moonrise and here are some of the images I captured.
A few hints for photographing the moon:
* Do your research to determine location and time of moonrise
* Shoot it early when the night sky is still bright. This will help with the dynamic range helping you get details in the moon as well as the surroundings.
* Find a clear view of the horizon line
* The longer the lens the better. A focal length of 200mm or longer will garner the best result this will help with compression.
For more info on the Supermoon here is a great site:
http://earthsky.org/tonight/most-super-supermoon-of-2014-on-august-10
