This two-part article offers suggestions for when and where to go, what to bring, and how to use it. The first part is a tip sheet you can print (it's PDF), containing specific recommendations. The second part consists of the example photographs and commentary on the page below. These offer examples of successful moonrise / moonset photos, as well as demonstrations of some failed attempts. I have many, many more moonrise photos but these should certainly suffice.

The Awakening scupture (using flash)

TOP. The panoramic photo at the top of the article was made from five frames, which were then stitched together in the computer to make a 30-megapixel image. The foreground is the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C., taken August 29, 2004. It's a clear night and the moon appears low on the horizon, giving it a nice orange-red hue. Unfortunately the deep twilight is nearly over, and as the moon climbed higher the conditions were no longer good for photography.

RIGHT. The Awakening sculpture in East Potomac Park makes an interesting foreground subject with the moon. This is an example of flash used to light the foreground, but flash is not usually applicable to moonrise or moonset photographs.

Film Capture: Accentuated Red

Digital Capture: less red in the moon Jefferson Memorial 4-16-03 320mm, 0.7 seconds, f/4, ISO-100

The Effects of Film. High saturation slide film (such as Fuji Velvia) tends to accentuate certain colors. It can render the moon a deep red when it actually appears orange-red to the eye. And it produces the most gorgeous blue skies at twilight. On the left is the June 2002 full moonrise recorded on Velvia film. On the right is April 2003 captured with a digital SLR - note that the moon is not such a deep, rich red color. The digital camera creates a much more accurate, if less interesting, record. So if you still shoot film, you may find it produces better results than digital.

Jefferson Memorial 9-11-03 400mm, 1.0 seconds, f/11, ISO-100

Jefferson Memorial 8-11-03 135mm, 4.0 seconds, f/8, ISO-100

Moonrise Too Late. When the moon rises late in twilight, the sky is too dark for good photographs. It's a high contrast scene with the bright moon and lights opposed to the black sky. To the eye, the sky may appear to still have plenty of light, but the camera cannot capture the high contrast range.

On the left, the moon is properly exposed but the building is far too dark, and the sky is essentially black. On the right, the building is underexposed and the moon is overexposed (completely burned out, no detail). This situation occurs many months each year, and can be predicted if you're good with the astronomic calculations or tables. The darkening sky also happens at the end of every good twilight shoot, and generally means the photo shoot is over for the evening (unless you want to do some night photography next).

Lincoln Memorial 7-20-05 500mm, 0.8 seconds, f/13, ISO-400

Key Bridge Wide Angle 3-5-04 14mm, 2.5 seconds, f/11, ISO-100

Focal Length Affects the Moon Size. Left: taken with a 500mm super telephoto lens, the moon is magnified to a larger part of the frame. With a distant subject and long lens, the moon will be perceived to be dramatically larger. Right: taken with a 14mm ultra wide-angle lens, the moon is reduced to a bright dot in the sky.

Jefferson Memorial 6-21-05 280mm, 1.3 seconds, f/8, ISO-100

Jefferson Memorial 6-21-05 200mm, 3.2 seconds, f/5, ISO-100

June, Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial. If you're shooting in June, you have the best angle on the Jefferson Memorial. The moon rises farther to the south than it does through the rest of the year. And you can get far away, at the opposite end of the Tidal Basin. Unfortunately in 2005 the moon came up rather late. Can you see it in the photo on the left? By the time the moon got bright enough to become an element in the photo (right), the sky was getting very dark. Note that a 300mm lens can capture the entire Jefferson Memorial from across the water. If the moon rises at the right time and the sky is clear, you can make better photographs than any on this page. And if the wind is still, you should get some great reflections off the water of the Tidal Basin.

National Mall 10-9-04 315mm, 2.5 seconds, f/13, ISO-100

National Mall 3-14-06 280mm, 1/5 seconds, f/9, ISO-100

The National Mall. From the grounds of the Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, there is an excellent view down the length of the National Mall. From left to right you see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Library of Congress, as well as other landmark buildings. The moon rises through this scene twice each year (near the equinox). In my experience, the weather is usually uncooperative on those two evenings. Because the foreground subject is so distant, you can use longer telephoto to magnify the moon. But you cannot move around enough to change the composition - do your best with wherever the moon ends up.

Marine War Memorial 2-2-04 78mm, 10 seconds, f/13, ISO-100

Old Post Office Pavillion 3-6-04 280mm, 0.3 seconds, f/11, ISO-100

Other Virginia Views. The Iwo Jima statue is illuminated and you can get back quite a distance for some nice moonrise shots. This shot (left) was made well after moonrise, but the sky is still a nice twilight blue. Sometimes near the equinox the moon rises in the east but not close to the National Mall scenes above. In the shot (right) the moon rose behind the Old Post Office Pavillion. This is viewed from the Netherlands Carillon grounds.

Jefferson Memorial 8-29-04 400mm, 1.0 seconds, f/5.6, ISO-100

Total Lunar Eclipse 10-27-04 640mm, 0.8 seconds, f/7.1, ISO-800

Magnify! If you're lucky enough to have the moon close to your subject and you can use a long telephoto lens, you will get a more dramatic moon due to its large size. Note how a few clouds make this photo more interesting than a featureless blue sky.

The photo on the right is cropped to one-quarter of the original frame, but there was still a lot of magnification. I used a 200mm (f/1.8) lens with 2X teleconverter, then mounted the resulting 400mm lens on a Canon 10D DSLR body for an equivalent 650mm. It shows the moon during totality phase of a lunar eclipse. The light level is extremely low during totality, so I set the ISO up to 800. The shutter speed really should have been faster than 0.8 seconds for such magnification of a "moving" object like the moon.

Arlington House 8-30-04 400mm, 1/5 seconds, f/8, ISO-100

MoonSET - Thought I'd Forgotten? It's true, I usually photograph moonrise in the evening. But moonset near dawn can actually be easier. That's because you can see the moon up in the sky, and get yourself into a good position. Observe the moon's trajectory, then position yourself for a good composition as the moon nears the horizon. Note that the moon descends at an angle (in my area), so don't expect it to come straight down from its position higher in the sky. Another advantage is that moonset occurs when there's less human activity (like traffic).

The shot on the left is the Lee Mansion (Arlington House) located in Arlington Cemetary. This view is from the Potomac shoreline just downstream from Memorial Bridge. There is plenty of room to walk left and right along the shore, so you can adjust the position of the moon to fit your composition.