The almost full Moon, as a waxing 13-day gibbous Moon, setting in the northwest the day before the date of Full Moon for February, this being called a “Snow Moon” — it certainly is here! — and also being a supermoon — the closest Full Moon of 2019. This is a blend of 4 exposures from short to long to preserve details and colour on the disk of the Moon while bringing out the snowy field in the foreground. Shot from home on February 18, 2019 on a clear but very cold — -25° C — morning. With the Canon 6D MkII and Sigma 50mm lens.
The Full Moon rising on December 22, 2018, the day after the winter solstice, in a perfectly clear sky and over the distant horizon to the northeast over the snow-covered prairie. Some cows are grazing at left! The top edge of the Moon has a green rim and the bottom edge a red rim, from atmospheric refraction. But it made for a Christmas-coloured Moon ornament on the horizon! The dark lunar mare and even the bright rays splashing from Tycho at bottom are visible. This is a close up with the 105mm refractor, the Astro-Physics Traveler, at f/5.8 for a focal length of 609mm, and with the Canon 6D MkII at ISO 200, with the camera on auto exposure and taken as part of a 950-frame time-lapse sequence. This is a single exposure.
The Harvest Moon of September 24, 2018 in thin clouds and above a field of hay bales in southern Alberta. The rows of bales run east-west and due east is at left here. The Moon came up just south of east this night, despite being only 3 days past the equinox and almost exactly Full. That was due to its position south of the ecliptic. This is a blend of three exposures using luminosity masks. to record the darker sky and ground while retaining the golden disk of the Moon. Exposures were 5 seconds. 0.5 seconds and 1/5th second, all at f/11 and ISO 400 with the Canon 6D MkII and Canon 135mm lens. A duplicate image layer with a Luminar Abandoned Places filter was blended in to add the glows to the bales and the contrast to the ground. So yes, this is a fairly manipulated image with effects and blending applied.
