Full Moon or no Full Moon - that's the question
In our Facebook group, around full moon we get an abundance of moon shots.
People seem to be addicted to moon photography.
Weirdly as soon as full moon is over, the flood suddenly stops and we hardly see any pictures of the moon until roughly a month later.
Sadly – because the moon is in fact much more interesting when it is not lit from the front.
The Full Moon is Like an Image With an On-Camera-Flash
If you take a closer look at an image of a full moon, you see – well you see that you don’t see much at all. The moon is just a flat pan without much detail. No wonder, just like a portrait that is lit with an on-camera-flash, the full moon is lit from the sun right behind us (or better said behind our mother earth).
But just like we photographers love to use our flash off camera, to give the faces of our subjects a nice interesting structure, we should use the sun “off camera” too. When the moon is lit by the sun from the side, we see all the beautiful craters casting shadows and receiving some highlights from the sun. Have a closer look at the image above.
So by shooting the moon only when it is full, you don’t only waste valuable time for practicing, but moreover you lose out on the best occasions.
Are you interested in an in-depth moon photography tutorial?
Moon photography isn’t really difficult, but to get the best out of you moon pics, there are several things that are good to know. Let me know in the comments if you are interested in an in-depth tutorial.