SuperMoon ~ March 19, 2011

[Buddy Thomason]

Did anybody else capture the SuperMoon (closest it's been to Earth since '93, 15-30% brighter than regular full moon)?

[Bruce Bump]

Super photo Buddy.
We stopped and admired it but had no camera at the time.

You captured it very well, so well its easy to see some scars and impacts. It sure looks like its had a rough life out there.

[jerry fisk]

Buddy good shot. We did not photo it, we built a big fire two nights running in the fire pit in the back yard, performed pagan rituals. Ok, not really but just sit by the fire and pondered and planned.
I did some dutch oven cooking in the late evenings by the fire. Man, I can make buttermilk bisquits in a dutch over that will make you slap your grandma for just being in the kitchen. I had some good apple butter that I made from last years apple crop to go with them.

[Mark Segars]

Great photo. Thanks for sharing.

[Peter Elovich]

GREAT photo Buddy!

I saw one on TV today that appeared to show the space shuttle in front of the moon. It looked cool.

Peter

[ChuckKerwin]

That is awesome, saw it Sunday and she was orange coming over the horizon.

[Buddy Thomason]

Thanks guys!
For anyone into photography the following info might be interesting:

From Denver, Colorado USA
We had (for Colorado) a fair amount of moisture in the air and a thick layer of low-lying clouds on the Eastern horizon. The moon, very big and orange, rose through the soup (even marginally sharp images not possible) and only then did it became fairly crisp. I say 'fairly crisp' because at approximately 30 degrees above the horizon, when I made the image above, there was still a lot of mist and moisture to shoot through, making a truly sharp image impossible (at that moment, under those circumstances).

The full moon is a photographic test piece. To get a decent shot by design (not accident) shutter speed, aperture and ISO must be manually adjusted. Then, to got a decent final image, noise control and sharpening chops are needed. Anything else I do to make a full moon image better pales in significance by comparison. These are the essentials. Many folks will naturally try to use contrast or shadow/highlight tools in post-processing to make an acceptable full moon image. This often results in an overall darkening of the moon which looks OK in a picture but bears no resemblance to what we actually see, even with magnification. If ever there was a situation when it's critical to get the proper exposure in the camera, shooting the full moon is it.

This was my set-up:
Canon 1DMKII, 500mm f5.6 L lens with 1.4 extender = 910mm
ISO 200, f5.6, 1/30s, mirror lock-up w/ 2 sec. delay
Arca Swiss ball head w/ Wimberly Side Kick
Processed in Adobe PSCS5

[Jerry Manuel]

Originally Posted by Buddy Thomason

This was my set-up:
Canon 1DMKII, 500mm f5.6 L lens with 1.4 extender = 910mm
ISO 200, f5.6, 1/30s, mirror lock-up w/ 2 sec. delay
Arca Swiss ball head w/ Wimberly Side Kick
Processed in Adobe PSCS5

I knew that & you did good to - Jerry