Sunday, March 20, 2011

Over the Moon for the Supermoon

I've always wanted to attempt to get pictures of the the moon and last night I knew that getting a shot of the "Supermoon" was my opportunity. Scientists called the moon last night the "Supermoon" because it's the biggest, brightest moon that has been seen in almost 2 decades. The moon was the closest to the Earth since March 1993. It was 14% bigger, 30% brighter, despite being 221,000 miles away!

So before I pulled out the camera and the tripod I knew I needed to google "how to shoot a picture of the moon" so I had some idea of the best settings so I didn't ruin this opportunity. Here's some of the recommendations: ISO 100, f/8 to f/16, tripod, timer, mirror lock-up and that should do it.

Well then I got all set up and went outside to discover there were tons of clouds. I was able to get a few decent shots with the clouds and here are a few of my favorites.


 But then the clouds parted and at around 1:00 am I was able to get a much clearer picture of the Supermoon, 221,000 miles away. It was breathtaking but I learned that taking pictures in the pitch black is trickier than you think - I couldn't see my camera and some of the buttons/functions (like spot metering) that I don't normally use were hard to find. I ran back inside and got a flashlight and we were back in business. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I did taking them.


Did anyone else capture shots of the Supermoon - do share!

5 comments:

  1. BWAHAHAHAAA! I am so glad I wasn't the only one out hunting the super moon. I actually got in my car and drove all around town trying to find a good spot to see it. This was at 7:30pm. I soon realized that I wasn't getting a super shot of the super moon with all that darn cloud cover! (Oh, and I googled tips too! We are so much ALIKE!) I kinda gave up at that point. I really wanted to catch it as it was first starting to rise. Dave thought I was such a nerd - glad I am in GOOD company!!! Heeee.

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  2. I attempted, but failed miserably. I'm so glad someone was successful. Congrats!

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  3. Between my son and me, we must have taken over 30 shots of the "supermoon"!

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  4. These turned out great! I really love the ones with the clouds, it made for some great atmosphere.

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  5. I got some pretty fun moon shots myself! We were lucky enough to have a clear sky, and I was very grateful. It was so pretty!

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