How to Photograph a Moonrise or Moonset
Conditions:
1. Best shot when the moon is close to being a full moon.
2. Look up on a program that shows you the moon phase. There are lots that do. I have a simple one I can use on my phone, but I also use a program called TPE that is available for your computer and smart phones.
3. The key is to be shooting the moon rising or setting at the same time as the sun is setting or rising.
Technique:
1. Typically you will be using a longer lens and not a wide angle lens for this. The point of the shooting the Moonrise or Moonset is to be getting enough detail of the moon, and that's done when it's larger in the frame of your image and not just a small spec in the sky. Usually a 70-200mm lens is great for this.
2. The point of shooting the moon while the sun is up is that the sun then provides enough ambient light so that the moon won't get blown out.
3. You want to time your shooting so that for the Moonrise (which obviously is to the east) as the moon rises above the horizon, you want the sun to be setting in the west. So for Moonrises, you will be looking for compositions where you can be facing the east.
4. For Moonsets, it's the opposite. You want to find compositions where you are facing to the west. So you want the sun to have just risen in the east in the morning just as the moon is setting and lowering itself below the horizon in the west.
Conclusion:
It's pretty easy to do, it really comes back down to timing.
Conditions:
1. Best shot when the moon is close to being a full moon.
2. Look up on a program that shows you the moon phase. There are lots that do. I have a simple one I can use on my phone, but I also use a program called TPE that is available for your computer and smart phones.
3. The key is to be shooting the moon rising or setting at the same time as the sun is setting or rising.
Technique:
1. Typically you will be using a longer lens and not a wide angle lens for this. The point of the shooting the Moonrise or Moonset is to be getting enough detail of the moon, and that's done when it's larger in the frame of your image and not just a small spec in the sky. Usually a 70-200mm lens is great for this.
2. The point of shooting the moon while the sun is up is that the sun then provides enough ambient light so that the moon won't get blown out.
3. You want to time your shooting so that for the Moonrise (which obviously is to the east) as the moon rises above the horizon, you want the sun to be setting in the west. So for Moonrises, you will be looking for compositions where you can be facing the east.
4. For Moonsets, it's the opposite. You want to find compositions where you are facing to the west. So you want the sun to have just risen in the east in the morning just as the moon is setting and lowering itself below the horizon in the west.
Conclusion:
It's pretty easy to do, it really comes back down to timing.