And the Moon Shall Become as Blood

/ Richard R. Barron

I have a revelation for you: the night of January 20 into the very early parts of January 21, all of North America that has clear weather will be able to see, and photograph, a total lunar eclipse. I hope to photograph it myself, as does my wife Abby.

The moon takes on various shades of amber during the September 2015 total lunar eclipse. The dim, red light is created by sunlight refracting through earth's atmosphere.
The moon takes on various shades of amber during the September 2015 total lunar eclipse. The dim, red light is created by sunlight refracting through earth’s atmosphere.

Here are a few tips and tricks…

  • Longer is better. If you have a telephoto lens, consider that despite its impressive appearance in the sky, the moon is actually quite small, about 0.5 degrees, smaller in apparent size than your fingernail held at arm’s length. To fill up the frame with the moon, you need as much telephoto as you can get. If you have a 300mm, you will probably be disappointed at how small the moon is in the frame. Adding a teleconverter can help, but a cheap teleconverter can rob so much sharpness, the image ends up much worse.

    As formidable as this combination of the Nikkor 400mm f/3.5 and its TC-14 teleconverter looks, it's still not really long enough for photographing objects the size of the sun and moon.
    As formidable as this combination of the Nikkor 400mm f/3.5 and its TC-14 teleconverter looks, it’s still not really long enough for photographing objects the size of the sun and moon.
  • If there is an astronomy club near you, consider joining. You will have shared access to real astronomical telescopes that eclipse (pun intended) photographic lenses.
  • The moon moves surprisingly fast across the sky. Exposures of more that a few seconds will likely result in the moon appearing as an oval blur instead of an amber disc. Larger apertures and higher ISO settings are your friend, but the next level is to put your camera on a telescope with a drive mechanism that tracks objects across the sky, leaving you free to use lower ISOs and longer shutter speeds for maximum sharpness.
  • It’s January. It will probably be cold outside. Bundle up. You’ll probably spend some time standing around waiting unless you’re lucky to live in a dark area…
  • Find a dark area. The full moon is quite bright, but by the time it’s in full eclipse, it might be dim enough that you have trouble locating it; I did a couple of times three years ago. If you are in the city, it might be difficult to get around all the light pollution.
  • Don’t believe the absurd things you hear about eclipses and other stellar phenomena. Eclipses aren’t omens. Mars will never look as big as the moon. Asteroids are not going to crash into the earth. There are no space ships hiding behind comets. The world is not flat… eclipses are obvious proof of that. Before you spread bad memes, learn some good science. And have fun photographing the eclipse next month.
This is an assembled composite from seven images made at 20-minute intervals of the Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, lunar eclipse.
This is an assembled composite from seven images made at 20-minute intervals of the Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015, lunar eclipse.

Find out when and where to photograph the next lunar eclipse here (link).