Full moon over the marsh

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Full moon over the marsh

August 2, 2015 by Mike Powell

The full moon was bright and beautiful early yesterday morning, when I arrived at Huntley Meadows Park as the sun was just beginning to rise.

I struggled a little, trying to figure out the best way to capture the moon. Should I show the moon against the black night sky? Should I show merely its reflection? Should I show it as an element of a larger composition?

Here are some of my attempts to show the full moon in the predawn light at my local marsh.

Green Heron in the moonlight

Full moon in the night sky

Reflections of a full moon

Moon over the marsh

Posted in Art, Birds, Landscape, Nature, Photography | Tagged Alexandria VA, Butorides virescens, Canon 50D, full moon, green heron, Huntley Meadows Park, moon, Tamron 150-600mm telephoto | 10 Comments

10 Responses

on August 2, 2015 at 9:36 am | Reply Ed

Superb shots. 🙂
on August 2, 2015 at 12:47 pm | Reply Ginny Alfano

Love them all, Mike, but that first one of the Green Heron in the moonlight, is by far my favorite :). Truly a special photo!
- on August 2, 2015 at 5:30 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Ginny. The Green Heron shot was by far the toughest one to shoot. I was on a boardwalk and had limited options for framing the image and it was trickier than it seemed to line up the elements.
on August 2, 2015 at 1:44 pm | Reply svtakeiteasy

Nice creative set, Mike! My favourites are the two reflections because they are so different from what we normally see with moon shots.
- on August 2, 2015 at 5:35 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Chris. I was trying to be a bit more creative than usual (I am usually pretty literal in my shots) and I was drawn to the reflections in the water. Though the water was pretty still, there was all kinds of plant debris, which kept the reflections from being a perfect mirror reflection.
on August 2, 2015 at 4:59 pm | Reply cihearu - Chronicles of a Bionic Woman

Love these shots Mike! Moody in a good way!
- on August 2, 2015 at 5:36 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I thought about brightening up the shots, but the moodiness that you noted was part of the feel of the moment when I shot them.
on August 3, 2015 at 4:39 am | Reply Lucy

Amazing shots! Nicely done!
- on August 3, 2015 at 5:19 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Lucy. In another month, perhaps, I’ll try to do something creative with the full moon.
on August 3, 2015 at 8:31 am | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

I think the last shot was probably the toughest. Usually when I try something like that either the trees or the moon are in focus, but not both. I like them all though.