The Many Moods of the Moon

In terms of photographic challenges, capturing the moon has it all:

It arches through the night sky, presenting the photographer with differing angles and obstacles such as tall buildings and trees.

Depending on where the sun is, the moon has a new shape every night.

Hand-held photos are tough, usually producing solid whitish colors, or with haze, tints of gray, and even orange at times.

A tripod is mandatory for those slow shutter speeds that produce either outlines of the moon’s surface, or distortions.

Mathematically, there are thousands of moods that come with the moon and, sometimes, the best approach is to simply admire it with the naked eye.

Finally, Ansel Adams set the standard it in 1941 when he pulled to the side of the road to give us “Moonrise Over Hernandez.”

The photo above was a hand held shot taken this week while I was putting out the garbage and the photo to the right was the product of a time exposure shot a few years ago in Sacramento. More attempts to come in 2014.