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Shoot The
Moon I drove to the south jetty in Galveston with the intention of photographing the full moon rising in the east as the sun sets in the west. A November cold front had passed through a couple of days before making the air clear and cool with no haze and no wind, setting up perfect conditions for the shot I had in mind. A few days earlier I checked the Almanac to make sure I knew exactly what time the moon would rise and the sun would set, this is the first of several important steps on the path to creating a unique moonrise photo. On this occasion the moonrise was at 5:20 pm and the sunset at 5:34 pm, giving me 14 minutes of ambient light to work with. The shot I envisioned included people fishing from the jetty as silhouetted subjects inside a large red moon, a shot I had come close to capturing before ( see "Blood Moon Rising" video below ) with just slight variations. When I arrived around 4:30 I was happy to see people on the jetty fishing ( photo # 1, 2 ), there were also other people parked and relaxing in the area. I also noticed a large flock of shore birds resting on the eastside of the beach, when startled they would take flight, circle then land in the same spot ( photo # 3 ).
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These are the type of things you need to be aware of as you're setting up for your shoot. I was actually hoping at some point during the moonrise they would fly through the shot. I wasn't sure exactly where the moon would rise so I used my compass and found due east. I found a spot close to a couple who had parked nearby and set up my video camera and tripod, I also set up another tripod with my still camera and 300mm lens. At this point I was hoping that I was about to witness something special and I felt good that I had put myself in position to see it. This quote by Albert Einstein summoned up my feelings at the time. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." |
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It was 5:20 pm and no sign of the moon, I scanned the horizon, squinting, straining my eyes and still no moon. After what seemed like forever I spotted it, a large, off-white orb. It was barely visible. Unfortunately, there was to much ambient light, in order for the moon to have that deep red color, it needs to rise closer to the time the sun sets. For instance, if the sun sets at 5:34 the moon would need to rise within say 5 minutes before sunset in order to have the deep red color I was looking for. Although I was disappointed I was determined to make the best of it. I quickly positioned the video camera to include the fisherman, zoomed in as far as I could and started taping. I then grabbed my still camera and moved about ten feet to my left to get a slightly different angle then started shooting ( photo # 4, 5 ). |
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| Out of the corner of my eye I could see
the couple who had been sitting on the hood of their car had gotten up and
were now looking at the display on my video camera, a short time later
they called over several fisherman. Now there was a small group
surrounding the video camera, I couldn't hear what they were saying at the
time but when I got home and watched the video I thought their commentary was
priceless. As the sun approached the horizon and the light began to fade the color of the moon turned a bright orange, set against a soft, pink sky. Everything started to come together. In the future I'll know, as the moon rises above the horizon, the less ambient light there is, the more color the moon will have. |
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| I hope this makes sense. After all
these years of shooting the moon I'm still trying to figure out the best
time to photograph it. Even though I didn't get the images I
had planned, I was still happy with both the video and still images,
although, I think the video came out better than the stills on this
occasion.
After I was finished with the moon photos I noticed a nice sunset behind me and was able to get some decent shots of it as well ( photo # 6 ). Whenever you're photographing outdoors it's always a good idea to look behind you, you may be surprised at what you find.
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List of sunset/moonrise for Texas January 09, 2012 Sunset
5:39 pm - Moonrise 5:22 pm February 07,
2012 Sunset 6:04 pm - Moonrise 6:11 PM
March 08, 2012 Sunset 6:26 pm -
Moonrise 7:05 pm April 06, 2012 Sunset 7:43
pm - Moonrise 7:57 pm May 05, 2012 Sunset 8:01 pm
- Moonrise 7:52 pm June 04, 2012 Sunset 8:19
PM - Moonrise 8:50 pm |
July 03, 2012 Sunset 8:26pm -
Moonrise 8:26 pm The moon will rise the same time the sun sets. Good moon photo opportunities. August
02, 2012 Sunset 8:13 pm - Moonrise 8:29 August 31, 2012 Sunset 7:34
- Moonrise 7:38 September 30, 2012 Sunset
7:08 - Moonrise 7:20 October 29, 2012 Sunset
6:37 - Moonrise 6:33 November 28, 2012 Sunset
5:23 - Moonrise 5:38 December 28, 2012 Sunset
5:32 - Moonrise 6:05 Please remember seeing the moonrise depends on the weather conditions. No clouds and no haze will greatly enhance your chances of photographing a red moon rising off the horizon. Click here to check the Almanac for times in your area. |
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| Content copyright George L. Hosek. The articles, photographs and videos on this site are for viewing on your computer only, absolutely, no commercial or personal reproduction without written consent from George Hosek. |
