Total Lunar Eclipse, Super Blood Moon, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, September 27, 2015
Don’t miss it. This is the first of only two total lunar eclipses this year. This total eclipse happens this Sunday-Monday, May 15-16 (depending on our time zone). This article will show you how to photograph it. To see it, just walk outside and look.
What is the Super Flower Blood Moon Eclipse?
The full moon in May is the Flower Moon, whether or not there is an eclipse of the moon.
Super moon is a new, non scientific term to refer to a full moon when the moon is closest to the earth (perigee) and is somewhat large in size and somewhat brighter. To the naked eye (for most untrained observers) a super moon doesn’t look any different than any other kind of full moon. Super moons are not rare.
Blood moon refers to the yellow-orange-copper color of the moon during eclipse totality. This happens with almost all lunar eclipses unless there are unusual atmospheric circumstances. The intensity of the color varies with each eclipse, due to the amount of moisture and dust particles in the air.
The terms super moon and blood moon are mostly used as a modern form of hype to promote moon and eclipse watching.
Some people flood the internet with weird super moon, blood moon, and blue moon memes with no basis in scientific fact and sometime outright nonsense (“once in a lifetime”, “first time in 300 years”, “this super blood moon will activate the psychic powers of your liver”). And finally, super moon and blood moon are used by some people to promote religious prophecies, usually of impending doom.
Where Can You See the Eclipse?
NASA Visibility Map, Early Phases.
Where you live determines which phases of the eclipse you will be able to see.
In the eastern half of the U.S. you will be able to see all of the phases of the eclipse. If you live in the western half of the United States you will be able to see the totality phase and part of the partial eclipse.
Hawaii will only see a partial phase. Most of Alaska will not see the eclipse.
NASA’s animated visibility map for the whole world is here.
Eclipse Map from TimeandDate.com
When is the Eclipse?
In any umbral lunar eclipse, the moon always passes through Earth’s very light penumbral shadow before and after its journey through the dark umbral shadow. From Earth and Sky.
Unlike a solar eclipse where the moon’s shadow races across the continent and the eclipse happens at different times, the earth gradually blocks sunlight on the moon’s surface at the same time everywhere as the moon passes into the penumbra and then into the umbra and totality.
Eclipse Phases, EDT.
This diagram shows some phase times. You will need to convert these times for your time zone. For example, totality begins Sunday, May 15 at 11:29 pm EDT, 10:29 pm CDT, 9:29 pm MDT, and 8:29 pm PDT.
Earth and Sky has this more complete list of times:
Penumbral eclipse begins at 1:32 UTC on May 16 (9:32 p.m. EDT on May 15).
Partial eclipse begins at 2:27 UTC on May 16 (10:27 p.m. EDT on May 15).
Totality begins (moon engulfed in Earth’s shadow) begins at 3:29 UTC on May 16 (11:29 p.m. EDT on May 15).
Totality ends at 4:53 UTC on May 16 (12:53 a.m. EDT).
Partial eclipse ends at 5:55 UTC on May 16 (1:55 a.m. EDT).
Penumbral eclipse ends at 6:50 UTC on May 16 (2:50 a.m. EDT).
Maximum eclipse is at 4:12 UTC on May 16 (12:12 a.m. EDT).
Duration of totality: About 85 minutes.
Photography Equipment
You will need a camera with a long lens. The longer the focal length of your lens, the bigger the moon will be. If you have a lens that is 200-400mm in focal length or longer you will get a relatively nice sized moon. The effective 35mm focal length of the image above was 456mm (285mm focal length on a camera with a 1.6X field of view crop). Much shorter than 200mm and the moon will look disappointingly small compared to the nice eclipse photos you see online and in magazines.
A sturdy tripod and tripod head are essential. At totality you will need exposures time around 1 to 2 seconds so you can’t reliably hand hold your camera.
If you don’t have a long lens, you can still take eclipse photos by making them more about the night that just happens to have a small, yellow-orange moon in the photo.
Techniques
Techniques for all lunar eclipses are pretty much the same, super moon or not.
If your camera isn’t already set up this way, set your camera to capture RAW plus JPEG files at the highest resolution, set the color space to Adobe RGB (1998), and set the white balance to daylight. All of this will give you better image quality when it comes time to do the post processing.
Critical focus can be hard to achieve and you can’t put your ultimate trust in autofocus. The best way to focus is to use your camera’s “live view” mode. Before the eclipse starts, begin with your camera in normal viewing mode (through the viewfinder) and autofocus on the moon. Then turn autofocus off. Turn on live view mode, center the moon in the viewfinder, and magnify the image to 10x on the LCD and manually focus the lens. Take a test shot and magnify the image to make sure everything looks sharp. For more information, read How To Get Critical Focus in Live View Mode with a Magnified Image.
Lens taped at infinity.
If everything looks sharp it is a good idea to tape the focusing ring in place so it doesn’t move. Don’t use duct tape! Gaffer’s tape is best and painter’s tape would be the second choice.
In “live view” mode the mirror of a DSLR is is locked up. That is a good thing – you won’t get image degradation due to mirror slap. So it is best to leave the camera in live view mode. If your camera doesn’t have a reflex mirror you don’t need to worry about this.
You don’t want to jiggle the camera by pushing the shutter button, so turn on the two second self timer so there is time for vibrations to die down after you push the shutter button. It would be even better to use an electronic cable release.
Incidentally, live view mode will drain the battery faster than normal viewing mode, especially in cold weather, so make sure you charge your battery and backup battery the night before the eclipse.
Exposure
This article assumes you understand exposure basics and the interactions of aperture settings, shutter speeds and ISO settings. If not, read the exposure series which begins here.
Don’t trust auto exposure. Set you camera to manual metering mode and use the following guidelines.
Before the eclipse begins, set your aperture to f/8, your shutter to 1/100 second shutter, and the ISO to 100 and take a picture. Feel free to bracket by using shutter speeds of 1/200 and 1/50.
As the eclipse progresses and the moon gets darker, you will need to gradually increase the ISO and the shutter speed. While your LCD images are not a totally accurate guide to exposure, keep an eye on the images to make sure your moon isn’t totally washed out or really, really dark. Bracket your exposures from a little too light to a little too dark.
It is impossible to predict how dark each lunar eclipse will be at totality so I can’t tell you in advance what the exact correct exposure will be. Generally you will end up around 1 or 2 seconds with an ISO of 1600, but be flexible. For the 2015 eclipse above I ended up with 1 and 2 second shutter speeds at ISO 1600.
During a two second exposure stars will trail a bit during the exposure, along with some potential blurring of the moon. You can minimize blurring of the moon with an astronomical clock drive set to the motion of the moon (not the motion of the stars). The good news is you can get a surprisingly good image of the moon in a 1 or 2 second exposure without a clock drive as long as you aren’t using a super long lens (500mm and up). The photo at the top was taken at 2 seconds without a clock drive.
Do not use a shutter speed longer than 2 seconds with lenses as long as 300-400mm. Do not use a shutter speed longer than 1 second with lenses 600mm or longer. If the moon is too dark, go to a higher ISO.
Post Processing
ISO 1600 means a fair amount of noise. Some judicious post processing with Adobe Camera Raw will help reduce the noise to have a cleaner image. You may need to adjust the exposure, clarity, and vibrance sliders in the basic panel to get the optimum image.
If you don’t get a chance to photograph this lunar eclipse, you can always use these techniques on the next one. It will be Monday and Tuesday, November 7-8, 2022. For North America, totality will be in the wee small hours of November 8. Earth and Sky, Time and Date, and Space.com will let you know when the next lunar eclipse is going to occur.
Lunar Eclipse Photo Data: Canon 7D Mark II. Canon EF 70-300 f/45.-5.6 DO IS USM lens at 285mm. 2 sec, f/8, ISO 1600.
Eclipse Links
The May 15-16, 2022 Eclipse at Space.com
The May 15-16, 2022 Eclipse at Earth and Sky
NASA’s Animated Visibility Map
Eclipse Map at TimeandDate.com
Photography Links
How To Get Critical Focus in Live View Mode with a Magnified Image
How To Focus Your Lens at Infinity for Night Photography
Why Is Exposure So Important? – the Exposure Series
Book Links
If you want to know more about photographic exposure, making the most of your camera gear, night sky photography, landscapes photography, wildlife photography and a whole lot more, read Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, one of the highest rated photography books at Amazon.com. Learn more about the book here and order it here.
The Best Night, Astronomy, and Astrophotography Books
Milky Way from Horseshoe Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. September 27, 2015. 8:06:12 PM MDT. Canon 5D Mark III. Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 lens. 30 sec, f/2.8, ISO 3200.