The moon is not only the earth's only natural satellite, exerting enormous gravitational forces on the immense water masses of our planet, but it has also captivated people of all eras since time immemorial with its different appearances. "Luna" allows us a particularly spectacular and intense perception in the form of the Supermoon - directly on April 27th at approximately 05:31 am. In this blog article, you will learn how to best photograph the "Super Full Moon".
The moon has always been of enormous importance to humanity. It determines our calendar by its path around the Earth. The gravitational pull of its mass of 7.349 · 1022 kg causes the tides of our seas and oceans.
In fact, the moon doesn't orbit our home planet in a clean circular path, but "wobbles" in an ellipse, circling us once in approximately 27 days. The fundamentally elliptical orbit is also influenced by the sun. Due to its elliptical shape, the moon takes on a particularly close (perigee) and a correspondingly distant (apogee) position once a month.
If the full moon (complete illumination without Earth's shadow from the sun) then coincides with the perigee, we see the rugged satellite as a "Super Full Moon" or simply as a "Supermoon". At this moment, the moon is actually up to 40,000 km closer to Earth, which translates into a visible increase in size of up to approximately 10 percent and a brightness increase of an impressive up to 30 percent.
The relationship between a "normal" moon (at an average distance of approx. 385,000 km) and a supermoon can be quite vividly illustrated using two euro coins: Simply place a 1-euro coin and a 2-euro coin directly next to each other to get an approximate idea of the optical size difference. If we look at the moon on April 27th at 05:31 am with "unarmed" eyes, we will, in contrast to the "Blood Moon", hardly notice any difference, as we lack a reference size and the full moon itself already appears quite bright.
Therefore, we should take the opportunity to photograph the Supermoon – which only occurs approximately every 14 months. The moderate time appears quite favorable at first glance, but can lead to increased "light pollution" (see below), especially in urban environments. We would like to explain in more detail below how you can nevertheless capture the Supermoon as best as possible on your camera's memory card.
Preparation is everything
The decisive facts are already established: on April 27, 2021, at 05:31 am, the moon will be "only" 357,378 km away from Earth. You can therefore immediately begin to prepare thoroughly for the Supermoon event.
The choice of the right location is crucial here – depending on your motif idea, you can frame the Supermoon or even "spear" it on a church spire. Get a moon calendar so you know exactly when and where the moon will appear and disappear. Relate the Supermoon to scenic highlights to emphasize its size, or place it in the center of the image at maximum magnification so that its rough surface structure comes into its own as best as possible.
The regional weather report on April 27th will not inform you as precisely as a moon calendar about the meteorological conditions. With a closed cloud cover, you will only achieve unsatisfactory results – but don't throw in the towel (or camera) yet if unfavorable weather is predicted 1 or 2 weeks before the respective date; reliability steadily increases with advancing date, even experienced meteorologists still experience considerable surprises.
Our tip: Go out with all your equipment the day before – on April 26th – to do a dress rehearsal at your planned location. Admittedly, the Supermoon will not appear in its full, round splendor until April 27th, waiting for its audience – but it will already look pretty good the day before, and you will also have ample opportunity to calmly and without pressure go through the exact procedure "live and in color". Nevertheless, it helps immensely on April 26th if you can operate your camera safely and intuitively even in the dark. Furthermore, you should have the necessary equipment at hand and have thoroughly tested it in advance.
Got everything? What belongs in your Supermoon photo backpack on April 27, 2021
The most important and obvious component of your 2021 Supermoon equipment list: your camera. In fact, you don't need a dedicated high-end camera of the highest price range; even good compact cameras are suitable for the upcoming Super Full Moon event, provided they have some basic features:
- You can make all settings manually. Even the most sophisticated automatic mode reaches its limits in moon photography, and some "creative" programs can significantly "over-optimize" the best possible result, especially in exceptional situations.
- The camera has a (built-in or interchangeable) zoom lens that allows you to choose a focal length equivalent to a DSLR (APS-C) lens of 200 to 300 mm. If you are even using a professional full-frame camera, it should be more towards 500 mm.
- Your camera has a tripod mount – in the form of a 1/4 inch thread. This feature is even available on very inexpensive entry-level compact cameras.
- The fourth feature, however, is not found on all cameras: the connection for a wired remote control or even an integrated radio receiver is usually only found on cameras above the entry-level class. Alternatively, you can – less flexibly – work with the self-timer function, which in turn belongs to the "standard repertoire" of otherwise rather sparsely equipped digital cameras.
Ideally, you should approach the Supermoon with a good camera to maximize freedom and flexibility during the upcoming night shoot. Fortunately, you don't necessarily need a particularly fast (and correspondingly expensive) zoom lens to successfully photograph the very bright Supermoon. You should check the suitability of a prime lens on a case-by-case basis – possibly another item for your to-do list for April 27th.
Perhaps you have already experienced it – our cities are getting brighter and brighter. And as a result of the steadily increasing use of energy-saving lamps of various power classes, a light dome is forming and solidifying over our cities, which is now compared in its extent and intensity with SMOG (a portmanteau word coined in London at the beginning of the 20th century from "smoke" and "fog") and is accordingly colloquially referred to as "light smog". This "light pollution" already occurs in communities with a population of 25,000 people and, even in its smallest form, artificially brightens the surroundings within a radius of approx. 20 kilometers. The sky within this light dome appears unusually low in contrast and unexciting. A possible way out is to move as far away as possible from this disruptive factor – and ideally also to find the highest possible camera position.
However, if you do not have the opportunity to move sufficiently away from the light-smog screen of your hometown, you should consider purchasing a suitable Rollei Astroklar Night Light Filter .
In round form, the Astroklar is available for lens diameters from 39 mm to 105 mm. If you mainly work with rectangular filters, this valuable optical aid is available in widths of 100 mm and 150 mm. The high-quality Rollei Astroklar filter reliably prevents yellow and orange components in the light from entering the lens and simultaneously improves the overall image contrast. Smallest details of the starry sky reappear, and the sky regains its natural "coldness".
In order to capture the immensely luminous Earth satellite in sharp focus, while fully utilizing a focal length of 200 to 300 mm, you should mount your camera on a stable and low-vibration outdoor tripod. Depending on the camera weight and the lens/filter combination used, we recommend our professional tripods from the Lion Rock or Rock Solid families.
Lighter DSLMs, for example, find a secure and stable hold on the proven C5i. Not unimportant: the suitable tripod head to align the lens axis precisely with the desired point and fix it without play. When choosing the location, you should make sure that you still have enough room to maneuver in all directions to implement spontaneous ideas directly.
Depending on the camera position and weather conditions, it might be necessary to vary the exposure time. However, you should avoid apertures that last longer than 1 second. As is well known, the moon continuously moves across the night sky, covering approximately one kilometer in one second. Measured against the average distance to Earth of 385,000 kilometers, this distance naturally appears relatively insignificant at first glance, but it can nevertheless negatively affect image sharpness and cause a blurring effect with longer exposures. Used deliberately, it is certainly an interesting variation of the motif already photographed millions of times – unintentionally, unfortunately, a real "image killer".
However, if the Supermoon shines in all its glory on April 27, 2021, into your lens in a completely cloudless sky, you might also find yourself in a situation where you need to work with a neutral density filter. You'll be on the safe side if you carry either a suitable round filter or a rectangular filter. These not only serve you excellently in astro and night photography but are also naturally suitable for reducing excessively bright sunlight or for creative long exposures. Another piece of equipment that is very useful, especially with longer exposure times, is a wired or wireless remote control – especially if you want to achieve exposure times that are no longer supported by the camera's electronics.
Perfectly photographing the Supermoon – concrete tips for April 27, 2021
You have now assembled the necessary equipment and familiarized yourself with the individual components of your photographic equipment so that you can quickly and effortlessly make all settings even in complete darkness. To avoid any unpleasant surprises during the shoot, we recommend setting all control elements to "Manual".
An unwanted flash trigger will not noticeably brighten the Super Full Moon more than 350,000 km away, but it will unnecessarily dazzle your surroundings. You should only use autofocus in live view mode at the very beginning to focus on the Earth's satellite, but then immediately deactivate it so that a surprising (and actually completely unnecessary) refocusing does not ruin the entire shot at the crucial moment.
Try different apertures to find the perfect brightness for you. ISO values from 100 to 200 have proven effective in moon photography; you shouldn't need to go higher, especially with the Supermoon, to keep image noise as low as possible. Even the otherwise very useful image stabilization will not help you in this special case, as you are working with a stable tripod and a remote control.
To be on the safe side, experienced night and astro photographers recommend working with exposure bracketing. Perhaps you shoot more series than actually necessary the day before and then analyze the results. On April 27th, you can then directly put your findings into practice. If your camera offers the mirror lock-up function, you should definitely use it to eliminate all sources of vibration in and on the camera body.
The next Supermoon
Otherwise, you will then have until May 26, 2021, i.e., almost a month, to prepare extensively.
We wish you great success on April 27, 2021!
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