Blue Supermoon, Minus 1 Day

Technically speaking, we will experience the Blue Supermoon tonight, but we went out last night because we could. There wouldn't be much difference between last night and tonight, and the time would be a little better, for the moon would appear sometime between 7:30 - 8pm it wasn't as dark out as it will be tonight. Besides that, I hadn't really photographed all summer, so we made the effort while we could.

The preparations began when it was still morning. That is when I scouted about for a good location. I probably shouldn't say good. What I should say is acceptable and close to home. I was using my Sun Seeker app to try to predict where and when the moon would rise. After rejecting two locations, I decided to try the pond where I had photographed a number of sunrises back in 2022.

If the app were correct, I should see it rising in the distance somewhere beyond this tree. → →

I thought the tree would make a good foreground element. When I returned with Sue ~7pm, I took that → ↑ photo and waited and waited. Would the app prove to be correct? As my watch slipped past the projected moonrise time, I had my doubts.

Then, the couple with whom we struck up a bit of a conversation saw it – so faint that I couldn't see it until the man guided my eye.  It was 7:53, almost 15 minutes after rising time, but the clouds on the horizon had obscured the moon until then, which is too bad because the moon appears bigger close to the horizon.

After a few minutes, I took a disappointing record photo, but I was  pleased to see that the app had predicted the location correctly as it was rising beyond the tree.

07:59:14

A minute later, the moon was becoming clearer although only half of it has lifted beyond the low cloud. I had also adjusted the exposure, deciding that it would cause the moon would stand out a little more.

08:00:03

Well okay, but the moon was looking pretty small. I zoomed in  to the full 200mm that the lens allowed. This caused me to lose the foreground tree, but I think the pond and other features are sufficient.

8:01:50

I had the shot ↑ fairly close to how I imagined it, but I turned the camera ↓ horizontally as an after thought. I might as well since I was there. I like the above, vertical photo better, but it doesn't hurt to experiment. 

8:02:20

Sue and the couple noticed a reflection in the pond, so I moved the camera, but you see the problem. The concreter water discharge outlet is in the way, just below the reflection.

08:04:00

I was done. Or was I? I asked Sue to go to the car to get my 100-400mm lens and zoomed in to the full 400mm.

08:06:31

When I got home, I made a composite by superimposing the moon in the final photo (the one just above) onto the first full moon photo from 08:01:50. Except for this composite image, all of the photos were very close to SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera)

And that, dear folk, is the story of my Blue Supermoon photoshoot, just about my only dedicated session in months. I feel like I had a bit of an adventure while making the best that I could of the location, and I am happy enough with the results under the circumstances.

It was good to get out.

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As an afterthought, after I hit publish, I decided to composition the big moon with the original composition with the tree. Why not, eh? I think I still prefer the former photo.