Those of you that have been with me through the years know that one of my favorite aspects that I plan most workshops around is a full moon rising at sunset. As the moon rises on a side lighted landscape the problem of exposure is minimized. The moon also appears at its largest when on the horizon. If the composition was strong to begin with, then adding another element should be a bonus, and one that doesn’t present anything difficult photographically!

Yet another bonus is the realization that the following sunrise will have the reverse. A moon setting at sunrise. The same possibilities appear in the reverse order. The moon will appear first high in the dark sky and if you set a composition in the opposite direction from the evening before, the moon will slowly lower into the composition at sunrise.

Here at Zabriski Point in Death Valley we spent most of the preceding night following a lunar eclipse from different vantage points as it made its way across the valley. As the evening and the eclipse came to an end a decision was made as to where best to capture the image above. Dealing with a swift wind that made us almost afraid to let go of our tripods, I decided to widen my first composition so as to render the moon smaller in the image. This gave me the advantage of not being as concerned with depth of field, allowing a wider aperture and thus obtaining a faster shutter speed. The moon moves exceptionally quickly and keeping it -round- is something that usually rears its ugly head long after the shoot.

A Sigh-Ray Color Intensifier and 2-stop soft graduated neutral density filters  were used in this image.