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Tutorial on Planning Moon Photography

Sunset moon rise alignment anticipated in January, 2009

I’ve been enthralled with the moon since growing up watching the Apollo missions on TV, the original Cosmos TV series starring Carl Sagan, and getting a 60mm telescope.  My digital photography of the moon was underway by 2004, and digital cameras improved significantly over the following years, particularly with the release of the relatively affordable Canon 5D Mark II, with its large 35mm “full frame” sensor for excellent dynamic range and low light performance.  I went to watch the first space shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base, and I had a press pass for the fourth landing there.

With my passion for space and astrophotography, it was fun discussing one of my favorite subjects, moon photography, with PhotoPills app developers Rafael Pons and Germán Marquès, who joined me on the Landscape Photography Show.

Here’s the video on YouTube:
Landscape Photography Show Episode #20 Jeff Sullivan and Rafael Pons “Shooting The Moon”

Also featured on the show was photography from Chris WhitingAlan Majchrowicz, Dag Ole Nordhaug, Franka M. Gabler and David Tomek.  Take a look at their work, and follow them on G+ to see more.  Many thanks to Jim Warthman, Carra Riley, Kevin Rowe, Tom Hierl, Sheila B. DuBois for hosting the Landscape Photography Show !

December 2015 update: I’ve created a new @DSLRastronomy Twitter account to focus more on astrophotography than my regular @JeffSullPhoto Twitter account, which also covers travel and landscape photography.  I started planning moon shots with Naval Observatory tables, as I explained in a blog post back in 2006.  Later I was thrilled to use a free app on a Windows PC: Anticipating Sun and Moon Alignments.  Today I’m glad that we can carry our apps on a smartphone in our pocket.  I like having multiple apps, since they’re relatively low in cost, and you never know which one will introduce the next cool feature first.  Rather than have to reevaluate them every year, I’d rather have multiple installed, and let the new features come to me in updates.

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Jeff Sullivan

Jeff Sullivan leads landscape photography workshops in national parks and public lands throughout California and the American West.

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