Tonight’s full moon, known as the Wolf Moon in January was also a Penumbral Eclipse. A Penumbral Eclipse is when the Earth blocks the sunlight reaching the moon’s surface, but in this instance, only a small section of the Earth’s outer shadow (known as the Penumbra) covers the moon.
If you look closely, using the moon as a clock face you will notice a darker shadow at between 4 and 5 o’clock.
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Yet another fantastic sunset tonight with the sky lit up in spectacular fashion. I was sitting drinking a Sagres (Portuguese beer) and just couldn’t resist grabbing the camera with 500mm lens to take a shot of a nearby ridge silhouetted by the glowing sky. The Crescent Moon was low in the sky as it was setting soon after sunset.
To assist with exposing the Moon correctly, I used exposure bracketing and merged 2 of the shots together.
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Yes, I know this post is actually now the day after, but I did take the shot just before 11:57pm so it counts!
I wasn’t born at the time, but I can only imagine the excitement of watching it live on TV 50 years ago. The moon fascinates me due to the fact that I can see it, but I know I’ll never get to go there.
It seemed only right that I took a shot on this important day.
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A last minute plan of a Full Moon Rise went as I suspected…….badly. I had a feeling that what I had planned wasn’t going to work and I was right, but it was still worth the drive to the dam of the Barragem de Odelouca. I arrived just after sunset and could hear what I thought was Barn Owls at the actual dam, then looking overhead I saw the shape of Red-necked Nightjar which was soon confirmed when it landed and started it’s “raygun” sounding call.
Realising the shot was not to be, I decided to go for a Plan B shot and went to a totally minimalistic silhouette shot of it rising behind the distant tree line.
I often mention PhotoPills, the app I use mainly for predicting the location Sun, Moon and Stars. Occasionally I submit a photo where I’ve used PhotoPills to their “Award” competition. They select a photo everyday which goes onto make up a monthly award and onto their yearly award. At the end of the year, the create a digital book that showcases every daily award for that year.
The Full Moon Rise Photo I took towards the end of September was chosen on the 1st October as an award photo and of course it is now included in the end of the year “PhotoPills Awards 2018” book. It is amongst some amazing photos from around the world and you can download the whole book (for free) from the PhotoPills Website.
Here is a screen print of page 219 of the book where my image appears.
A few weeks ago I hoped to get a shot of February’s Super Moon rising above a ruined Windmill here in the Algarve Hills, however, clouds put a stop to that. Therefore, I had already planned the shot for March’s Worm Moon.
The Full Moon in March is called a Worm Moon due to folklore that believed that the ground frost would melt and the Earthworms would start to emerge. Today is also the Spring Equinox and therefore the name Super Worm Equinox Moon has been given, quite a mouthful!
This afternoon I was in place almost an hour before the Moon would appear above the Windmill. A few small changes of position put me in line for the Moon to rise directly behind the Windmill.
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