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Hamlin Lake Off Pontoon Boat

A setting full moon greets us as Brad and I wait for dawn's early light. The light of the moon should give us a jump on spotting a snowy owl we know is hanging out in a West Michigan field.

Sailing to the Moon

Moon Walker

I always get a thrill out of photographing the moon as it is about to set in the west. On this frosty morning, the moon looks particularly huge and bright.

Grand Island Ice Caves

Blood Moon

The southern limb of the Moon passed through the center of the Earth's shadow.in November of 2022

Super Moon

After a long day shooting my portion of Week 21 of Tuesdays with Todd and Brad Reed: A Michigan Tribute, I noticed while shooting the sunset afterglow that the crescent moon was high above the Ludington lighthouse. I was tired and hungry. I could have gone home content with the several good images I had already made during my 200-plus miles of Michigan photo hunting travels that special early summer day. However, more than four decades as a photographer had long since proved to me that patience and perseverance are rewarded. I also knew the moon would not be setting at a peak shooting time the next day. I was rewarded with one of my all-time favorite moonset images and an excellent home-cooked meal afterward. Fortunately, my wife doesn’t mind eating late. Living with an outdoor photographer does not lend itself to strict dinnertime schedules.

The moon is an extremely difficult subject to photograph. If you set your exposure according to the camera meter, then you get some detail in the night sky and foreground, but the moon is a solid white circle with no detail. If you underexpose by three or four stops, then you get the "cheese" of the moon, but no detail in the sky or foreground. The moon also moves so quickly that it requires a relatively fast shutter speed. When it's dark outside, the only way to get a fast shutter speed is to raise your ISO or film speed. However, high film speeds are grainy or noisy. The choice is yours.

The moon is an extremely difficult subject to photograph. If you set your exposure according to the camera meter, then you get some detail in the night sky and foreground, but the moon is a solid white circle with no detail. If you underexpose by three or four stops, then you get the "cheese" of the moon, but no detail in the sky or foreground. The moon also moves so quickly that it requires a relatively fast shutter speed. When it's dark outside, the only way to get a fast shutter speed is to raise your ISO or film speed. However, high film speeds are grainy or noisy. The choice is yours.

With our minds on the new photography book that my dad and I are working on that will cover West Michigan, I decided to head north to Frankfort and my dad headed south to Muskegon to photograph the solar eclipse. In this area of Michigan, we witnessed about 75 percent coverage. We also had clouds to battle, but as we often say, clouds are your friend.

The moon’s “cheese” was not only highly visible but took on a beautiful golden red hue during the lunar eclipse on September 27, 2015. At this point, the moon was almost totally eclipsed. I ended up liking this image better than my total eclipse shot because I felt that the slight highlight of the uneclipsed edge made the photograph more exciting and more three-dimensional looking.

Eclipse With Ludington Lighthouse Shore Light

On an August evening during a photo trek to Big Point Sable Lighthouse I faced a momentary dilemma. I was shooting an extremely dramatic sunset over Lake Michigan to the west when I looked back to the east to see if the sky was "painting" the lighthouse with its brilliant color. As I turned what caught my eye was not the lighthouse-bathed in pink but the moon rising over a gorgeously "painted" dune just north of the lighthouse. The light was splendid and momentary. I knew there was not time to shoot all three pictures. While I was vacillating, my wife was decisive, declaring: "Shoot the moon!" So, I did. Thank you, Debbie!

Tonight, I photographed the Super Worm Moon from the Bryant Soccer Fields near my house. The first full moon of March is called the worm moon. Tonight’s moon is also the second closet of the three supermoons for 2020.

Lunar Eclipse