I took this photograph on September 7, 2025, at 20:58. The result reflects two fundamental elements of photography: careful planning and familiarity with one’s gear.
As mentioned in a previous publication, I used The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) to identify local vantage points that I could reach in less than twenty minutes. Three months earlier, I set in my agenda, for that date, the full moonrise at 19:21. TPE confirmed that the Plage de l’Est location would be a good vantage point to capture this special event.
I arrived at the vantage point 20 minutes before moonrise.
Once on location, I set up my tripod, camera, cable release, and Leica DG wide-angle lens. From experience with the sun, I know this lens produces pleasing star effects when used at a very small aperture, in this case f/22. For me, on that date, the moon would be a photography star!
When the full moon rose over the distant shoreline, I composed and framed the scene using an 18 mm focal length, f/22 aperture, 200 ISO, and, to obtain a perfect exposure (ETTR), I had to overexpose by 3.7 stops. With these settings, the exposure time would be a couple of minutes. I was afraid of capturing trails from a moving moon. Consequently, I raised the ISO to 16,000. Thus, the exposure time would be 15 sec. Lightroom has a good noise-reduction feature.
At 20:45, I moved my tripod and recomposed the scene. I used the rule of thirds to position the rising moon on the upper right third. I was amazed to see the moon’s twin approaching the shoreline.
At 20:58, behind the camera, I saw two big white stars in a blue environment. I triggered the shutter.
Once again, planning and gear familiarity paid off.
