I took this photograph on August 11, 2025, at 21:32. 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 to identify local vantage points that I could reach in less than twenty minutes. The weather forecast was favourable, and moonrise was at 21:17. The moon illumination was at 91%.
Once on location, I set up my tripod, camera, cable release, and my Olympus 12–100 lens. From experience, I know that to be able to capture details on the moon, the camera metering mode must be set to spot shadow (lighting is measured on the moon) as the main subject.
To obtain a perfect exposure (ETTR), I intentionally overexposed the scene by 3 stops. Using an f/5.6 aperture and ISO 3200, this gave a 2 sec exposure time. With such settings, I was not afraid to see trails from the moving moon. Lightroom does very well with noise reduction.
At 21:32, the reflection on the water was long and interesting. I composed and framed this image using a 200 mm focal length. I triggered the shutter.
Later, using the same technique, I used my 840 mm lens to isolate and capture the lovely moon.
