How to photograph the blue moon and make it fill your frame with crisp detail?

This guide gives step-by-step gear tips, timing advice, and camera settings you can use tonight. You will get clear examples and repeatable settings so you can get great results fast.

First, we clear up what a “blue moon” actually means. Usually it is the second full moon in a month, not a moon that is literally blue, and this article focuses on that calendar blue moon while noting tips for a truly blue-tinted moon.

You will learn planning apps (PhotoPills, The Photographer’s Ephemeris, Stellarium, timeanddate), blue-hour timing, telephoto choices, tripod setup, and the Looney 11 exposure rule. Expect cheat-sheets, EXIF example photos, bracketing and stacking workflows, and quick troubleshooting so you can shoot with confidence.

Moon Photography Basics

A blue moon usually means the second full moon in a single calendar month. Sometimes the moon can actually look blue when smoke or dust fills the air, but that is rare and localized. This guide focuses on the calendar blue moon, and every tip here still works if the moon takes on a bluish cast.

The moon is brighter than most beginners expect, and it shines against a much darker landscape. That big brightness gap makes exposure and dynamic range tricky if you want detail in the moon and the scene. The moon is also smaller in the frame than your eyes suggest, so planning and the right focal length matter.

Plan your shoot before you leave home. Check moonrise and moonset times, azimuth, and altitude in apps like PhotoPills, The Photographer’s Ephemeris, Stellarium, and timeanddate. Look for nights near perigee if you want a “supermoon,” and watch the weather forecast and seeing conditions for haze or turbulence.

Map the path of the moon over your location and pre-visualize a clean alignment with a landmark. A skyline, lighthouse, ridge, bridge, or lone tree can become your anchor. For more fundamentals and diagrams, the concise NASA guide is a great primer.

Composition is where moon photography comes alive. You can fill the frame with lunar detail, or you can place the moon small over a city and use scale to tell a story. Try offsets on the thirds, silhouettes, clean negative space, and foreground layers that lead the eye toward the moonrise.

Think about the final photo you want to make. You might capture a sharp lunar close-up, a moon with a recognizable foreground, a time sequence of the rising disk, or a clean composite where the moon exposure is blended into a twilight landscape. All four approaches are valid and teach different skills.

Use a planning screenshot to guide your setup. A simple map with your camera pin, your subject pin, and the moon’s azimuth line makes alignment far easier in the field. Save the screenshot to your phone so you can check the angle while you scout.

Example image, lunar detail: 400mm on full-frame, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100, manual exposure, spot meter on the moon, manual focus with live-view magnified. EXIF should include focal length, aperture, shutter, ISO, and lens model. This setting preserves crisp craters and mare texture.

Example image, skyline with moon: 200mm on APS-C, moon exposure 1/125s at f/11, ISO 100; foreground exposure 1s at f/5.6, ISO 400; two frames blended by hand. EXIF for both shots is saved and the blend is labeled. The result shows a sharp moon and a luminous city.

Example image, blue-hour composite: 320mm, moon 1/125s at f/11, ISO 100, daylight white balance; landscape 0.8s at f/5.6, ISO 400, 4500K. EXIF and a caption explain the manual mask used to avoid a smeared moon edge. This is a clean, natural look that holds color and detail.

Shoot during the blue hour

The blue hour is the cool-toned twilight around sunrise and sunset. It lasts roughly 20 to 40 minutes when the sun is just below the horizon. This window is special because sky brightness and city or landscape brightness get closer to the moon’s brightness.

A full moon near the horizon during blue hour sits in lovely color and gentle contrast. You can balance the scene and avoid a nuclear white disk or a pitch-black foreground. It is also when the moon sits low enough to layer behind buildings or hills for scale.

Arrive early and test before the moon appears. Use your planning app to see the exact azimuth so you can choose a clean sightline. Walk a little left or right to line up the moon with your subject as it rises or sets.

Bracket exposures because a single frame rarely holds crisp lunar detail and a bright foreground. Shoot RAW so you can fine-tune white balance later. A good starting WB is 4500–5500K, but the RAW file lets you adjust without penalty.

Here are practical settings you can copy. For telephoto lunar detail during blue hour, try 300–400mm, f/8–f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100. For a moon plus foreground using two shots, try the moon at 1/125s, f/11, ISO 100 and the foreground at 0.5–2s, f/5.6, ISO 400, and bracket plus and minus a couple of stops.

Foreground silhouettes work well when the light is dim but not dark. Look for reflections on water and let warm streetlights play against the cool sky. Layers of hills or buildings can guide the eye and balance the frame.

Blend your bracketed frames by hand for the sharpest result. Place the moon exposure on top and paint a soft mask around the bright disk so its edge stays tack sharp. Automatic HDR often smears the moon, so manual masks are safer and more natural.

If you want a deeper walkthrough of blue-hour moon scenes, study this clear full moon guide. The same timing and exposure logic applies when the calendar says blue moon. It will help you pre-visualize and simplify your steps.

Photograph with a telephoto lens

Telephoto reach is the easiest way to get real lunar texture. A 200mm lens on full-frame is the practical minimum for a pleasing disk, while 300–600mm delivers craters, mare edges, and a sense of depth. Crop-sensor cameras magnify the field of view, so a 300mm on APS-C behaves like about 450mm on full-frame.

Choose focal length based on your goal. At 200–300mm you can place the moon over a landmark and keep the scene recognizable. At 300–600mm the moon grows large and detailed for a clean portrait, while 600mm and beyond demands steadier support and higher shutter speeds.

Every extra millimeter brings trade-offs. The longer the lens, the more you amplify atmospheric shimmer and the easier it is to record shake. Teleconverters add reach but cost light and a little sharpness, so only use them when your base lens is already very crisp.

Keep shutter speed conservative when you go long. Start around 1/125s for 300–400mm on a steady tripod, and go faster if wind or heat haze softens detail. As focal length rises, try 1/200s to 1/320s so vibration and lunar motion do not blur the shot.

Focus manually for the best result. Use live-view magnification and aim at the lunar terminator where light and shadow meet because contrast is highest there. If your camera offers focus peaking, enable it to confirm a tight edge on craters.

You can also use a spotting scope or small telescope with a T-ring adapter. This approach gives amazing reach, but the field of view is tight and the rig needs very stable support. Phones can work afocally through a scope, but expect to crop a lot and shoot many frames for one sharp keeper.

For extra alignment ideas when the blue moon is also a supermoon, skim these practical tips on the Blue Supermoon. The alignment logic is the same even when the moon is not at perigee. Use those techniques to predict a dramatic foreground pairing.

Always use a tripod

Stability is everything in moon photography, especially with telephoto lenses. A tripod freezes tiny vibrations so your crater edges stay crisp. It also lets you capture bracketed frames and stacks that align cleanly later.

Extend the thicker leg sections first and spread the legs wide. Keep the center column low and hang a bag from the hook if the wind picks up. Make sure the head you use holds your lens firmly and does not drift when you let go.

Trigger the shutter without touching the camera. A cable release, remote, or two-second timer prevents micro-shake at the crucial moment. If your camera supports mirror lock-up or electronic front-curtain shutter, enable it to cut shutter shock.

Turn off lens or in-body stabilization when you are locked on a tripod. Some systems can introduce blur as they hunt for movement that is not there. Check your manual so you know how to disable it fast.

For time-lapse or multi-exposure blends, use an intervalometer. It automates bracket sequences, lucky-imaging bursts, and rise timelines, and it keeps your hands off the rig. Bring spare batteries and a large card because bursts and sequences fill memory quickly.

Phones benefit from a tripod too. Clamp the phone securely, disable flash, set a short timer or use a Bluetooth remote, and lock focus and exposure on the moon. Shoot several frames and pick the sharpest one later.

Finally, be mindful of where you set up. Some rooftops, bridges, and monuments need permits, and private property always requires permission. Planning is not only about the moon’s path but also about safe, legal access.

Camera settings for moon photography (this subheading should directly answer “how to photograph the blue moon”)

If you came here asking how to photograph the blue moon, start with one simple rule. The Looney 11 Rule says that for a full moon at f/11, your shutter speed is about one over your ISO. At ISO 100, that means 1/100s at f/11 is a solid first frame.

Adjust from that baseline in clean, even stops. If you open to f/8, double the shutter speed to about 1/200s at ISO 100. If you raise ISO to 200 at f/11, use about 1/200s, and keep fine-tuning by checking histogram and crater edge sharpness.

For a detailed moon with a telephoto, begin at f/8–f/11, ISO 100–200, and 1/125–1/250s. Use a tripod, manual exposure, and spot meter on the moon or simply meter by test frames. Increase shutter speed if wind, seeing, or very long focal lengths soften the result.

For a moon with a twilight foreground, treat it as two exposures you will blend. Expose the moon per Looney 11, then expose the foreground several stops slower or at a higher ISO until the scene feels right. Bracket both directions by two or three stops so you have options in post.

Use manual focus and confirm it with live-view magnification. Autofocus can hunt on a bright disk, so switch it off once you nail focus. If your camera has focus peaking, watch for a crisp outline on the moon’s limb.

Shoot RAW and set a neutral white balance like 5000K if you want a consistent preview. RAW gives you full control not only over color but also highlight recovery in thin cloud or haze. Color can be pushed warmer or cooler later without hurting detail.

Bracket and stack for the best detail, especially when the air is unsteady. Fire a burst of short exposures and pick the sharpest one, or align and stack several in tools like RegiStax or Photoshop. Stacking boosts fine texture, and a gentle local contrast pass can bring craters to life.

Blend your moon and foreground with a manual mask instead of auto HDR. Place the moon exposure on top, add a soft-edged mask, and paint in the landscape below. This avoids a fuzzy halo around the moon and keeps the edge crisp.

If you need a quick cheat sheet, try this. For a telephoto close-up use 300mm, f/11, 1/125s, ISO 100 on a tripod and refine from there. For a two-exposure landscape, shoot the moon at 1/125s, f/11, ISO 100 and the foreground at 1–2 seconds, f/5.6, ISO 400, then blend by hand; for phones, clamp to a tripod, lock exposure and focus on the moon, use a timer, and crop after.

Common problems have simple fixes. Soft images usually come from focus or vibration, so refocus with magnification, raise shutter speed, and use a remote. A blown-out moon means lower ISO or faster shutter, while a black foreground means separate exposures and a blend.

This is the practical heart of how to photograph the blue moon. Work from Looney 11, lock down your rig, and bracket with intention. Practice on any full moon before the calendar blue moon so your workflow is smooth when the night arrives.

Save your EXIF and label your frames so you can learn from the results. Keep a one-page settings card in your bag and a planning screenshot on your phone. With patience and these steps, you will know exactly how to photograph the blue moon and bring home sharp, balanced images every time.

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Final Thoughts on Moon Photography

Whether you meant the calendrical “blue moon” or an actual bluish tint, this guide covered planning, apps, blue-hour timing, telephoto techniques and tripod workflow—if the moon rises near azimuth 270 you’ll want to scout western silhouettes. We gave repeatable, camera-ready settings, sample EXIF, and practical blending tips so you can get well-exposed lunar shots without guessing.

Expect limits: atmospheric turbulence, long-lens shake and local light will shape results, so be patient and favor steady setups and bracketing. This guide is for beginners through intermediates, plus phone and telescope shooters who want reliable workflows and clear examples. Remember we clarified what “blue moon” means and the “Camera settings for moon photography” section gave step-by-step settings and blending strategies to answer how to photograph the blue moon.

Keep experimenting with timing, focal length and exposure blends, and treat each session as a chance to learn what your gear does under real skies. The moon rewards curiosity—pack your tripod, plan your shot, and enjoy the next night you get to try it.