HOW TO SHOOT SUPERMOON IN PERFECT EXPOSURE

Shooting Supermoon Perfectly

First shoot of supermoon is a big disappointment for every novice in photography. You end up with a big white spot in a wast black space.  Then one tries to underexpose the scene and result is a dull life less picture. The biggest problem is with choice of time. Mostly people try to shoot when moon rise high enough and starts showing its full light and beauty. It looks amazing to eyes which have perfect sensor. But unfortunately camera technology have yet to cross many frontiers to even reach a bit of near a human eye. Camera sensor is unable to balance the huge exposure difference between moon and dark sky.

So the main point in shooting moon is the choice of time

Shoot at the time of rising or setting of moon. Mostly people prefer to shoot at rising, as the sun looks big and fascinating and horizon still having some tinges of evening light. At this time the exposure difference is less and with few manual bracketing of exposure you get an acceptable shoot with both moon and surrounding exposed perfectly. Use some interesting objects like an old tree or a branch in front to make the composition interesting. In this picture I use the minaret of a masjid to get some environment. But this is a different story.  I mostly prefer to shoot the setting moon. There are three reasons behind that.

1 – Environment becomes pollution free due to night moisture.

2 – Moon becomes more illuminated due to dawn hues.

3 – It gets its position towards west where it perfectly falls behind the minarets of the mosque.

Full moon take that perfect position just before dawn and this picture is of that moment. You got excellent exposure. Bracket the exposure and take shots at different ISOs and apertures. Here I use 200 ISO and aperture in the middle.  Use manual exposure to experiment with different readings.

Moderate color adjustment ACR ( Adobe Camera Raw ) will enhance the picture near to perfect.