The Best Time for Landscape Photography with the Moon

Timing is an important consideration when planning landscape photos with the moon. The above photos were taken less than 4 minutes apart.

We know that timing is an important aspect of all photography. Landscape photographers know and revere the “Golden hour” for good reason.  When capturing the moon with the landscape though, it seems that timing often gets overlooked. It’s easy to focus on the “where” element, since just finding a position to align the moon with a particular mountain or other subject can be tricky. So putting any thought into the “when” takes a back seat. For myself though, the timing is usually the first thing I think of while planning, and doing so can greatly improve moon photos.

This photo was taken just before sunset, giving the rocks a nice glow to accompany the moon. Single Exposure: 550mm 🔹 F/9🔹1/125sec.🔹 ISO 100.

I want to be clear that we’re talking about a very specific type of photo here, and that’s a photo within a few days of a full moon, along with some subject on the ground, whether that be a mountaintop, a tree, a skyscraper, etc, along with the goal to have that subject still lit by the sun.  Many people don’t realize that due to the time that the moon rises and sets in relation to its phase, the best time for these types of photos is a day or two before the actual full moon if capturing the moonrise, or a day or two after the actual full moon if capturing the moon setting.  But on those days, how can you know when exactly is the best time for this type of shot? The easy answer is golden hour, however after 10 years of shooting the moon, I’ve found that there is a narrower window of time that is generally best. 

This photo was taken the day before the previous one above. The moon rose earlier in the day so the harsh light made for a much less impressive image. The different apparent moon size is due to my distance from the rocks being different on those days. Single Exposure: 200mm 🔹 F/16🔹1/60sec.🔹 ISO 100

The “perfect” moment will of course vary from location to location, and “best” is certainly subjective, but I usually prefer in between 20 minutes to 5 minutes prior to sunset, or 5 minutes to 20 minutes after sunrise. Those 15 minute windows not only give that beautiful warm light on the landscape and make scenes more dramatic, but they allow us to capture the moon and foreground in a single shot, both perfectly exposed to reveal the details of the moon while still showing off the landscape.  Any other time during the day will usually lead to harsh lighting on the foreground, and the moon will not stand out so well.  And if shooting too long after sunset or before sunrise, either you won’t be able to clearly see the landscape as it will be silhouetted, or you could be left with the moon alone while the rest of the image is completely black. Yes, you could try a longer exposure to compensate for the darkness, but go too far and you won’t be able to make out any details of the moon, but instead are left with a white disc or orb.

Planning this photo for 15 minutes before sunset provided depth as the last sunrays of the day lit up the landscape. Single Exposure: 600mm 🔹 F/9🔹1/160sec.🔹 ISO 160

Now, why have I not included the last 5 minutes before sunrise or first 5 minutes after sunrise? Though great photos with the moon can be captured during that time, if your target time is that close to sunrise or sunset, you now have to be extremely aware of an additional factor, which is the terrain on the horizon where the sun is rising or setting. In many situations, you’ll lose the sunlight hitting the landscape in your photo due to hills or mountains blocking the sun on the opposite horizon. In other words, it’s quite common for the sun to set on your subject earlier than the actual sunset time for your location. Leaving out those 5 minutes gives us a better chance of the landscape being sunlit. All that said, if you feel confident in figuring out if your subject landscape will be lit up or in shadow, go for it! I’ll likely do a future post to take a look at that.

For my first step in planning a moon photo, I don’t even choose a subject or specific position. The red pin can be placed anywhere in your city or town, as the first thing we want to do is get an idea of the sunset time. In this example, I used TPE on my computer browser.

Here are the steps I take to figure out the best time for any full moon, along with a specific example:

Step 1: Choose a day or 2 before the actual full moon. Use a planning app and set the time to 20 minutes before sunset. (This would be for the moon rising. If you are capturing the moon setting, set the time to 20 minutes after sunrise). 
I use 3 different apps for planning moon photos (PlanIt, PhotoPills, and TPE). I decide which one\s to use based on several factors. For our purposes here, TPE works perfectly (see the image above), but the others will do the job as well. I set the date to 1 day before the full moon.  We see the sunset will be at 7:40pm, so I set the time slider to 7:20pm.

Step 2: Note the “altitude” of the moon, as well as its location in comparison to my position. 
In this example, the moon would be at an “altitude” of about 7 degrees (“6.87°”) - this is seen in the timeline box next to the blue square which represents the moon.  This tells us how high in the sky the moon will appear at that time. This height, also known as “angle of elevation”, is something that could be explored separately, but in short, all you need to know is that the horizon is at 0, and directly overhead is 90 degrees. Point halfway in between those two and that’s 45 degrees, and you can use your imagination to break it down further. Now, the direction of the moon from my position is also important. It is represented on the map by the blue line to the lower right of the red pin. Note that eventually I’ll place the red pin where my location on the ground will be, but so far I’ve only placed it in the correct city. This is enough to get the information we need to start picking a location. Even if I end up 20 miles outside of town, the angle of elevation and the direction of the moon will be approximately the same, so this will work well as an estimate as we plan.

Step 3: Brainstorm possible subjects to capture with the moon.
I personally use Google My Maps to keep track of of potential subjects to capture with the moon, so I reference that at this point and see which ones might work out. At this stage we’re essentially asking ourselves: What subjects, whether a mountaintop or a building, could I find a clear view of, given the above altitude (7 degrees) and the direction (approximately SE)? This may seem like an intimidating task, but with practice this thought process becomes second nature. That said, this is another great candidate for more in depth explanation in a future blog post!

Step 4: Refine the plans
Once I have the subject in mind that seems like it will work, I dive in to make sure it’s possible. Do I actually have a spot on the ground where I can stand without any obstructions between me and the subject? Can I get things lined up perfectly? These are yet other components of planning that we can talk about in a future post, but hopefully you are able to answer these. If during this refining process I see that it’s actually not going to work out, I go back to brainstorming other possible subjects until I find one that does.

I’d been wanting to capture the moon with these towers for a long time. Given the parameters in the example above, it looked like I could make it work out so I set about figuring out my exact position on the ground to make it happen. Single Exposure: 600mm 🔹 F/8🔹1/250 sec.🔹 ISO 125

Merging the “when” with the “where” doesn’t make things any easier when planning, but it can definitely take landscape with moon photos to another level. If precision planning a moon alignment seems like a bit much at first, and you’re more interested in just a casual viewing of a moonrise, feel free to check out my post on planning a viewing.