Every full moon I bemoan that I didn’t I didn’t get down to Jekyll to see the moon come up. Over the winter months until time change, it only works out to do this on weekends since I don’t have time to get down after work during the week. Full moon fell on Sunday this month. The best time to get pictures of the moon if you want to capture much of the surrounding area as well, is the night before full moon. The moon comes up approx. 50 min. later every night. Usually, the night of full moon, the moon is coming up just as the sun is finished setting, and darkness is mostly there, except for the moon. If you wait until then, and expose your camera for the moonlight, you won’t see much else. If you expose for the surrounding area, the moon will be blown out.

 

 

The above photo (from a few years ago) exposed for the moon. The photo below is exposed for the surroundings and the moon detail is lost.

 

Saturday was the night before the full moon and I thought it look pretty clear to the east. In noticed the bald eagle high on the power lines when I crossed the bridge onto Jekyll.

After I pulled over on the old, lower bridge, I noticed another one sitting on a lower pole, much closer to me. It’s not unusual to see eagles here.

I noticed some clouds rolled in after I got there.

Driftwood Beach is such an interesting place, which is good, because the moon never made an appearance til it was up in the sky a ways.

So I amused myself with trying to take long exposures handheld, since I had left my tripod in the car, and didn’t feel like going back for it.

I saw a girl walk past with a camera and asked her if she was there for the moonrise too and she replied that they are from another state, and are eloping next month (her fiance was a few yards behind her) and they are looking for a place for the wedding. I didn’t realize people plan ahead like that for an elopement. 🙂 I’m just familiar with the last-minute-run-away-and-get-married kind in books.

If you don’t have a tripod, find a nearby flat surface to keep your camera steady for long exposures. Handheld doesn’t work for me less than 1/20 of a second.

I also should’ve brought filters to darken the scene (kinda like sunglasses for the camera). I had the aperature as high (small) as it would go and boy does it ever show that I need to have my sensor cleaned. All the little dots along the top of some of these (maybe I shouldn’t have pointed that out) are dust on the sensor. My camera has been through many a state and even various countries (see Europe trip pictures) and it is time for a bit of maintenance.

The sunset was not quite what I had hoped for, given all the cloud cover. However, it could’ve been much less than this too.

 

St. Simon’s lighthouse and pier/village lights off in the distance:

 

So if nature/landscape photography is your favorite, like it is mine, you take what you can get. Even planning ahead doesn’t help but so much. In fact, some of my most favorite pictures and stunning views were unexpected. You may have to shoot hundreds before you get one you love.

But, you have all of that (God’s creation) outdoorsy stuff to enjoy while you look for The Shot.