For this month’s Moon Scenery assignment, did anyone have any success photographing the full moon over the Christmas season?

Here in West Virginia, it was super cloudy just about every morning and evening surrounding the holidays. There may have been one morning when there were clear skies, but I didn’t make it out that time. This assignment has made me more aware than ever before at how difficult it is to photograph the full moon during the golden hours. Even as far back as September. . . .

In September, I knew January’s Moon Scenery assignment would be coming up, so I figured I’d start preparing for it early. There’s only one full moon a month, you know, and I wanted to do some scouting for good vantage points before recording the actual demonstration video.

So, after some online scouting, I headed off into the pre-dawn darkness on September 29, the morning of the full moon.

Julianna & I arrived at a nice overlook a good 40 minutes before the moonset and sunrise (which would only be a couple minutes apart). This was my first photo:

A 30 second exposure. Since the sun wasn’t up yet, I knew the foreground would be dark and the moon would be way overexposed. Plus, the foreground was pretty messy. But I took several different exposures and later, on my computer, I merged them together to come up with this:

It certainly is better. Even though I’ve never seen radials coming from a moon in any one else’s picture, I kinda like the way it makes the moon like it’s shining. But there was something wrong with the whole thing. While orange was actually the color the moon was when I was there, the photo certainly didn’t give any feelings you’d associate with “Clair De Lune”. So, I decided to artificially make the moon white.

It’s amazing how that really helped! Much more natural-looking now, even though it actually isn’t natural. In nature, when the sky is blue, it means it’s not night time any more. I suppose it looks better because we normally see the moon white when the sky is dark. And I guess dark blue is dark enough for our brain.

But anyway, since I was shooting this photo with a wide angle lens, the moon looked too small, so I cropped it dramatically to help the moon take a more prominent role in the scene.

After photographing that, I had to decide if I would stay in the Wonder Bar Restaurant parking lot, or if I would try to find a better vantage point that didn’t have so much foreground clutter. With over half an hour before sunrise at that point, I decided I would try to tweak my position a bit. And I’m glad I did!

While driving down the hill from the restaurant, I saw a large gravel pull off I had never noticed before. It was probably a spot where construction vehicles and building materials were stored while the main road (a matter of yards away) was being constructed long ago. The main view was basically the same, but the foreground was completely different. I was so excited!

I pulled off, verified there were no “No Trespassing” or “No Parking” signs, and proceeded to get set up for the amazing moon set I was just about to experience. It was freezing cold, and the gravel area turned into a rock pile that was quite treacherous to navigate. I walked around a bit without my camera to find a good angle. The moon sank closer and closer to the horizon. The surrounding landscape started to get lighter and lighter. I went back to the car to get my camera. When I turned around . . . the moon was gone.

It was as if someone had snatched the moon right out of the sky! I stood there in shocked amazement. I literally couldn’t believe my eyes! Evidently, there was a bank of clouds on the horizon I hadn’t noticed through the whispy fog. I was too shocked to be disappointed, but I have to admit it was a bit of a let-down. Julianna and I looked at each other and burst into laughter that probably sounded a lot like crying to the wait staff serving breakfast up at the restaurant. (Just kidding, they don’t serve breakfast at that restaurant. )

But then a marvelous thing happened.

That bank of clouds did not extend all the way to the horizon! I had no way of knowing, the clouds and sky being basically the exact same color. But now it was shocked relief. I didn’t waste a minute running to my predetermined spot and started snapped away.

It was the spectacular moonset I had been hoping for.

Even though turning the moon white makes it partially fake, it helps make the photo look a little more fanciful. And it is true that the moon was actually that size and in that exact location.

Soon, the moon disappeared for the rest of the day.

And the location turned into a complete different place!

The fog fog started to lift and you could see the world getting to work in the bustling town below.

And then the sun started to come up behind us!

Getting down low, I could actually cover up the clutter of telephone wires, streets, cars and buildings and create the illusion of being out in some desolate wilderness.

Gotta love composition!

Even though I was surrounded by city, that location turned out to be a perfect spot for open views to both the east and west at a high elevation. This is fairly rare in West Virginia. And to think I just stumbled on it! Goes to show how important it is to actually just get out into the field and try. Online scouting is good. But on-location exploring is better. Once I was out and about, I was able to discover a brand new place I’m sure I’ll be going back to.

Now, I wonder . . . will it be clear or cloudy during the golden hours surrounding January 25?!