How To Snap The Supermoon, ‘Cos If You Don’t ‘Gram It Were You Even There?

Ah, yes: it’s that magical time of the year where hordes of us flock to open spaces in order to gawk at a rare celestial wonder. Get hyped for the supermoon, friends. 

Muuuuuuum, the moon’s doing that thing again pic.twitter.com/jKp5nVO3ml

— courtney (@courtwhip) September 28, 2015

Catching it might be tricky in Sydney, where clouds are predicted to cock-block the whole event, but legitimate experts in astro-photography have given punters nationwide tips to avoid their giving snapshots a similarly out-of-focus fate.  

NASA’s senior photographer Bill Ingalls has advised everyone with their heads tilted towards the heavens not to “make the mistake of photographing the moon by itself with no reference to anything.”

Sure, it’ll be super, but when all you’ve got to compare it to is the vast emptiness of space, the impact might just be lost. When looking for landmarks to compare the sky to, Ingalls says he uses “Google Maps and other apps – even a compass – to plan where to get just the right angle at the right time.”

We’re not suggesting you crack out your Year 10 trigonometry skills just for the ‘Gram, but we’re not not saying it, either. If hiking to a landmark is a bit much (and look, we’ll be scoping it out in our trackie dacks), Ingall also says “there are lots of great photos of people appearing to be holding the moon in their hand and that kind of thing. 

Of course, if all you’re packing is your phone camera, Ingalls recommends getting really creative to get the most out of it. Needless to say, you don’t need to nick your partner’s DSLR while they’re distracted – he reckons it’s rad if you “do something more panoramic, including some foreground that’s interesting,” or “think about being in an urban area where it’s a little bit brighter.” 

Oh, and make sure your lens isn’t smudged. Natch.

Ingalls also encourages all you would-be snappers to tinker with your exposure settings, lest you wind up with a stack of shots that are dim or blindingly bloody bright. Alternatively, you could just stay inside and wonder at the work of professional photogs and your more adventurous friends. That’s what Instagram is for anyway, right?

For the record, it’s recommended you get your shots while the moon is juuust peaking over the horizon. Here’s when that’ll happen:

Alternatively, some other cloud experts have had their say: