It’s full moon tonight. Because it will be closer to earth than usual it will be big and bright so it’s been dubbed a ‘supermoon’.
NASA advises that it’s the closest full moon to Earth since 1948 and we won’t see another supermoon like this until 2034.
Photographing the supermoon
The most interesting photos will be taken soon after the moon rises when it appears larger and can be seen in the context of familiar landscape.
You can also get the same sort of photos when the ‘supermoon’ is setting.
If you just want to photograph the moon on its own wait until the moon is a bit higher in the sky.
Use your longest focal length lens and preferably a tripod and a cable shutter release to reduce camera shake.
There’s plenty of advice for photographers on how to take photos of the full moon. Here’s a few examples, and you can google plenty more:
- How to shoot the Moon
- How to photograph the moon: an easy way to shoot moon pictures full of detail
- How To Take Stunning Pictures Of The (Super) Moon
Moon shots in the Redlands
Popular places to view the full moon include Cleveland Point and Wellington Point.
If you are thinking of getting a moon over water shot it will be half tide when the moon rises.
Be prepared for biting midges (sand flies) if you are anywhere near the Bay when the sun goes down.
On North Stradbroke Island there will be some great opportunities to capture the moon rising over the Pacific Ocean.
On Brisbane’s Bayside (Cleveland) the moon rises at 5:48 pm but the sun does not set until 6:15 pm and it won’t be dark (after last light) until 6:40 pm. All of this information can be obtained from Willy’s Weather Toondah Harbour.
14 November 2016
UPDATE 15 November: the results
Last night lots of people took lots of photos and had lots of fun.
Low cloud meant that on Brisbane’s Bayside we couldn’t see the moon for about 20 minutes after its scheduled rise time.
After that we had mainly cloud free sky for a couple of hours which allowed us to take detailed shots of the moon.
Photos taken by people in the Redlands can be seen on the Redland City Bulletin webpage.
Photos taken in Brisbane and elsewhere in Queensland can be found on the ABC News website.
More than a million photos hashtagged #supermoon have so far been been uploaded to Instagram.
15 November 2016