Pro’s challenge Shoot for the moon

Andrew Fusek Peters challenges you to take a lunar photograph

It’s a real challenge and adventure to grab a beautiful moonrise and a striking foreground in one raw photo – but it’s worth it. Finding a strong foreground is the best place to start with this: it is relatively easy to photograph the moon by itself, but to place it in context requires both planning and patience.

The best tip I was given early on in my pursuit of moon photographs was to photograph the moon a day or two before full moon. If you use an app such as PhotoPills, this shows that the moon will rise when there is still some daylight or dusk light so you can achieve much more than a silhouette in your foreground, while the moon will still look full. After that, careful study of the Photographer’s Ephemeris can help you plan where to be when the moon rises.

To take a picture that has never been done before, Google Images is a good place to see if your choice of contextual castle, radar station, mountain, rock outcrop or iconic building has been used before.

Your kit selection is important, too, as big lenses bring the moon closer. They also cut out the surrounding area, so you’ll need to work out what you want to fit into the frame. I generally go handheld with two setups: my 500mm plus extenders,

and a 100-400mm to capture more of the landscape in the shot.

Once ready, I pray to the gods of weather (and consult the forecast), as clouds are my total enemy. Right place, right time. I shoot handheld because the moon never rises exactly where I want it to, and by running around like a mad March hare,

I can re-frame the moon quickly.

Whether it is rising over the ruins of Clun Castle in the incredible winter dusk light, or on top of Clee Hill where it’s set off and almost matching the grey satellite dishes, it needs the right frame. The Clee Hill shot needed a crop body on my 500mm lens to give me 700mm of reach. ABOVE: The full moon against Clee Hill’s phone mast, Shropshire; two angles of a moon rise over Clun Castle, Shropshire; and a full moon behind the Devil’s Chair outcrop on the Stiperstones ridge, Shropshire, with purple heather in full bloom.

Carefully check you’re exposing for the moon to avoid blowing the highlights. In my Clun Castle shot, it was easy on my Canon EOS 5D Mk IV to bring shadows and detail back into the castle walls and still keep the moon in check with the highlights slider. Above all, my aim is beauty, which can be achieved by hard work.