Awe Inspiring Moon Photos

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A full moon sends everyone a little crazy, but capturing good moon photos is an extremely difficult photography art to master. A well done photograph of the moon can add atmosphere to a photo like nothing else, but most shots of the moon tend to be bland and disappointing.

So we decided to go and see what we could find in terms of fantastic moon photography.

Once again, the good Creative Common folks from Flickr have produces some exceptional photos of what is really an over-done, but usually poorly-done subject. They certainly seem to buck the average trend with these awe inspiring moon photos.

As always, you can find some more information at the end of the post about photographing the moon and how it should be done to produce results like these.

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchilu/2414457426/][img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3009/2414457426_5fccd590a9.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchilu/2414457426/]The bird and the moon II[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/luchilu/]Luz Adriana Villa A.[/url], on Flickr[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/daves-f-stop/5473406178/][img]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5016/5473406178_15890abf59.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/daves-f-stop/5473406178/]Full Moon Over Xi'an[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/daves-f-stop/]Dave Morrow's Custom Creations[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/daves-f-stop/5423983105/][img]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5291/5423983105_e0e34be0ed.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/daves-f-stop/5423983105/]Starry Night [Explored][/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/daves-f-stop/]Dave Morrow's Custom Creations[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchilu/2811724705/][img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3096/2811724705_56eb392068.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/luchilu/2811724705/]the bird and the moon week[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/luchilu/]Luz Adriana Villa A.[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/3186143355/][img]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3118/3186143355_4840fb7620.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/caveman_92223/3186143355/]Moon Rise behind the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/caveman_92223/]Caveman Chuck Coker[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/4948423320/][img]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4148/4948423320_37b233968f.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/4948423320/]Buddha Moon – Buddha Stones[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/h-k-d/]h.koppdelaney[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/4858267380/][img]https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4141/4858267380_c87a6bdb55.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/4858267380/]Pilgrim with Donkey[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/h-k-d/]h.koppdelaney[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/joiseyshowaa/1812706711/][img]https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2056/1812706711_b0c99263a2.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/joiseyshowaa/1812706711/]harvest moon ducks[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/joiseyshowaa/]joiseyshowaa[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/notsogoodphotography/415338626/][img]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/174/415338626_933c5d8947.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/notsogoodphotography/415338626/]the sun's out in the night on my request[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/notsogoodphotography/]notsogoodphotography[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshsommers/935470210/][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1158/935470210_09bbf8ba8a.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/joshsommers/935470210/]Desert Moon Rising[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/joshsommers/]Josh Sommers[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/551526306/][img]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1155/551526306_b11fc19273.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/551526306/]Reach[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/aussiegall/]aussiegall[/url], on Flickr

[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/2196811878/][img]https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2087/2196811878_631bf354d2.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesjordan/2196811878/]Destination[/url] by [url=https://www.flickr.com/people/jamesjordan/]James Jordan[/url], on Flickr

We're sure you will agree after seeing these photos that moon photography is a facet of this skill that you might like to learn someday!

Tutorials on Lunar Photography (Note – Some are on moons as part of a landscape and others are on moon photos exclusively):

About Author

Rob is the founder of Light Stalking. His love for photography started as a child with a Kodak Instamatic and pushed him into building this fantastic place all these years later, and you can get to know him better here.
Rob's Gear
Camera: Nikon D810
Lenses: Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

I have to agree with Jenny on this one. I mean, in photography if we discard “manipulations” , then we discard a huge portion of the most famous photos in history.

Not to mention that it’s virtually impossible to get a good “moon photo” without manipulation — if you can see the moon, you probably need a long shutter speed to see anything else — and then the moon will be blown out. There’s nothing wrong with photo manipulation!

I agree wholeheartedly with dcclark here. I have always found the backlash against photoshop to be completely misplaced. Photoshop really only does things that can also be done in a darkroom.

For example, everyone probably knows James Nachtwey’s famous photo of the child in the street in Chechnya (his face from eye level up with the bombed out street as the background). If you watch the documentary “War Photographer” you get a bit of an idea about how much darkroom “manipulation” that photo actually had. Yet, I don’t think many people would call “fake” on that photo.

Now maybe there are degrees of manipulation and in an editorial or journalistic context there are probably good points to be made, but in the realm of artistic photography, I really don’t see a huge issue.

I agree. Fine art photography – you can edit to death..

Documentary photography MUST NOT be edited such that information in the photograph is not FACT anymore.

I totally agree. Just last week I went on a full moon shoot in Ghost Ranch, NM. As magical as it is in person, it doesn’t always translate well in lens. I had to use manipulation, but came out with some shots I believe will sell well. Most of us don’t care if it’s for real. In my photo art I stress that I use PS and post processing to allow others to see life as I see it, not as my camera sees it.

I agree also that these are amazing “photos.” However, not only are most of these manipulated beyond anything remotely realistic, there are a couple that couldn’t even be shot and pasted into a picture without 3d graphics. While beautiful, the title of the blog is “moon photos.” It’s a little deceiving.

First, thanks for including my shot! Second, I agree with most of the comments. I do invite you to check out my process for getting crisp moon photos such as above without photoshop or equivalent by clicking thru to my Flickr profile https://www.flickr.com/people/jahdakinebrah/ and scrolling to the blind pan process description. It’s all in-camera. Of course it’s manipulation, but not thru software and there is a difference in my mind.

I love the moon and these photos (even if they aren’t totally genuine). I spent ages sitting outside photographing the moon – in particular in cloudy conditions.

This photo was taken of the reflection of the moon through a double glazed window. The brightest one is the actual moon. No manipulation involved.

While some of these images are beautiful, I find it offensive that they are labeled photographs. They are illustrations that have been created in some graphic program. It’s not the images that bothers me (although some are over the top), but the misnomer.

They’re all beautiful but the one with the monk walking on the stones.. he ruined the picture by doing an awful job with photoshop. That’s sad. It was a very nice picture if it wasn’t for that!

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