You’ve seen them. Those jaw-dropping images of the supermoon where the lunar disk looks like a giant, glowing pizza hanging right behind a city skyscraper or a lonely mountain peak. Then you go outside with your iPhone, snap a pic, and it looks like a blurry white pea in a sea of black ink. It's frustrating. Honestly, it's mostly physics' fault, not yours.
A supermoon happens when the moon is at "perigee"—its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit—while also being full. This makes it look about 14% larger and 30% brighter than a "micromoon." But here is the thing: 14% isn't actually that much to the naked eye. Most of the "giant" moon photos you see online are a mix of clever focal length tricks and a psychological quirk called the Moon Illusion.
The gear gap and why your phone fails at images of the supermoon
Your smartphone has a wide-angle lens. That is great for selfies or sunsets, but it's terrible for the moon. Because the lens captures such a wide field of view, the moon only occupies a tiny fraction of the sensor.
To get professional-grade images of the supermoon, you basically need a "long" lens. We are talking 300mm, 600mm, or even 800mm. When you use a telephoto lens, you aren't just zooming in; you are compressing the space between your foreground object and the moon. This is called lens compression. If you stand two miles away from a lighthouse and zoom in on it with the moon behind it, the lighthouse and the moon will look massive relative to each other. If you stand right next to the lighthouse, the moon will look tiny. Distance is your friend.
Stop using auto mode right now
If you try to take a photo of the moon on "Auto," your camera sees a giant black sky and thinks, "Wow, it's dark in here!" It then cranks up the exposure, turns the moon into a white blob with zero detail, and introduces a ton of digital noise.
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The moon is actually very bright. It's literally a rock sitting in direct sunlight. Treat it like a daylight scene. You need to manually lower your ISO—keep it at 100 or 200—and use a faster shutter speed. If you're on a phone, tap the moon on your screen and slide the brightness yellow sun icon way, way down until you can see the "seas" (the dark basaltic plains) on the lunar surface.
Understanding the "Moon Illusion" in photography
Have you ever noticed how the moon looks absolutely massive when it's hovering right at the horizon, but then it looks small and lonely once it gets high in the sky? That is the Moon Illusion. Scientists like NASA’s Bill Cooke have pointed out that your brain is basically tricking you. When the moon is near the horizon, you compare it to trees, buildings, or hills. Without those reference points in the vast empty sky, your brain loses its sense of scale.
Photographers exploit this. By placing a person or a building in the frame, they provide a scale that makes the images of the supermoon feel epic.
Planning is 90% of the work
You can't just walk outside and expect a masterpiece. You need to know exactly where the moon will rise. Most pros use apps like PhotoPills or The Photographer's Ephemeris. These tools tell you the exact azimuth and elevation of the moon at any given minute.
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Imagine you want a shot of the moon rising behind the Statue of Liberty. You can't just stand in Battery Park. You might have to be three miles away in New Jersey to get the alignment and the size right. It’s a game of geometry.
The technical settings that actually work
If you are using a DSLR or mirrorless camera, try these settings as a baseline for sharp images of the supermoon:
- Aperture: f/8 or f/11. This is usually the "sweet spot" for lens sharpness.
- ISO: 100. You want the least amount of grain possible.
- Shutter Speed: 1/125 to 1/250. The moon moves faster than you think. If your shutter is open for 5 seconds, you’ll get a blurry white smudge because the Earth is rotating and the moon is orbiting.
- Tripod: Essential. Even the heartbeat in your thumb can cause camera shake at high zoom levels.
Weather and atmospheric distortion
Sometimes you do everything right, and the photo still looks "mushy." That’s usually "atmospheric seeing." Heat rising from the ground or moisture in the air creates turbulence. It's like trying to take a photo through a swimming pool.
To get the cleanest images of the supermoon, you want a cold, clear night with low humidity. This is why many of the best lunar photos come from high-altitude deserts or during the winter. If the stars are twinkling like crazy, it's actually a bad sign for photography—it means the atmosphere is unstable. You want "steady" air where the stars look like still points of light.
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Dealing with the "Halo" effect
On some nights, you'll see a bright ring or halo around the moon. This is caused by ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus clouds. While it's beautiful to look at, it's a nightmare for sharp photography. However, it can make for a great "mood" shot if you embrace the glow instead of fighting it.
Editing without faking it
There is a big debate in the photography world about "composites." A composite is when a photographer takes one photo of the foreground and a separate, zoomed-in photo of the moon and mashes them together in Photoshop.
Purists hate this.
If you want "authentic" images of the supermoon, you have to capture it in a single exposure. This is hard because the moon is bright and the landscape is dark. The "Blue Hour"—that short window just after sunset or before sunrise—is the secret. During Blue Hour, there is just enough ambient light on the ground to match the brightness of the moon. This allows you to get detail in both the lunar craters and the city streets without needing to fake anything.
Actionable steps for your next supermoon hunt
The next time a supermoon is announced, don't just grab your phone and head to the backyard.
- Check the moonrise time: The best photos happen in the first 20 minutes of the moon appearing over the horizon.
- Find a foreground: Find a church steeple, a radio tower, or even a friend standing on a distant hill.
- Get away from the subject: Move at least half a mile away from your foreground object. Use your zoom to bring it back. This is how you get that "giant moon" look.
- Manual focus: Autofocus often hunts in the dark. Switch to manual, use your camera’s "live view" screen, zoom in digitally on the moon’s edge, and rack the focus until it's pin-sharp.
- Use a timer: Don't press the shutter button with your finger. Use a 2-second timer or a remote shutter release to prevent "shutter slap" vibration.
Taking high-quality images of the supermoon is less about having a $10,000 camera and more about understanding how light and distance work together. Once you stop relying on "Auto" and start planning your location based on the horizon, your lunar photography will look less like a mistake and more like the professional shots that go viral.