The moon looked amazing at 7:00 this morning when I went out to get my newspaper from my front steps. It was still dark and in the opposite direction, the sun was just beginning to rise. I rushed back into the house, put some socks on my sandaled feet, and ran outside with my camera to get some shots.
I used the longest lens that I have, a Sigma 135-400mm lens, and leaned it against the roof of a parked car to stabilize it. I was surprised at the detail that I managed to capture of the craters near the dark side of the moon. (I think the full moon was a few nights ago.) Click on the photo to see it in higher resolution.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Amazing Mike!
Thanks, Robyn. It certainly was nice to be able to rush outside to get some shots and then back indoors (it was 22 degrees outside when I took the photo).
The detail is incredible. I’m surprised by darkness at 7am! Sure makes a difference being further north than me in Los Angeles! ~SueBee
It was starting to get light at that time of the morning, but the sun was coming up in the opposite direction. In addition, I deliberately underexposed the image to capture the details. If I hadn’t done so, the moon would have appeared almost completely white with few details. It’s interesting sometimes to realize all of the adjustments that I have to make to the camera simply to capture what my eyes are seeing.
Thanks for explaining – I tried taking a shot of the moon a few months back and, as you said, it was a white ball. But I saw the man in the moon clearly!
Not bad for hand held. That’s not as easy as it might seem.
Nice one!