Shoot the moon

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta The waning moon is framed by the autumn leaves of a poplar tree.The moon can be fascinating for photographers.

It changes as the month goes on from a new moon to full and back again.

We often visualize it as silvery or white and yet some evenings it can appear red in the sky.

It doesn't provide its own source of light and as a result a proper exposure for the moon is the same as during the sunny daylight hours.

It also provides an optical illusion. Sometimes when a full moon is rising it can appear to our eyes as an enormous globe that almost fills the sky from horizon to horizon and yet when we grab our cameras it shows up as a speck.

The trick to keeping the moon large in your photos is to shoot it with a long lens.

It also adds some depth to your photo if you have something in the photo besides just the moon.

This means having either something cross in front of the moon, like migrating geese, in the foreground like a city scene or having it framed by an object, like the photo above.

While it can be hard to shoot the moon with a well lit foreground at night, often times the moon rises and sets while it is still daylight which makes it easier to add that depth you are looking for.

Next time you are suffering from a creative block in your photography just shoot the moon.