Tomorrow is the night to capture the Supermoon and I'd like to offer some suggestions gleaned from the internet that will give you the best picture. Number one is that you really should have a tripod, but baring that, try to get somewhere that you can steady your camera such as a beanbag on the top of the car, leaning your arm against a tree or even using your camera strap pulled tightly to keep the camera from moving. Another hint is to make sure you don't miss it, you'll need to check the timing of Moonrise, because you want to try to shoot while the moon still has a horizon reference like beside some trees or just over your roof.

For some of the more advanced photographers, I found a cool site that offers a program to figure the best location via Google maps and the specific information on moonrise/set timing.

As for your camera settings, of course it depends on the camera but I'll offer you some examples of my previous images with the settings for each. I also think it would be a really good idea if you go out tonight for some test shots. The position of the moon will be similar to what you'll see tomorrow as well as the timing. You can start with settings similar to mine and then once you see what you get, you can tweak your own settings to get the best image.

This was a moonset I captured in March.

© 2012 by Rottlady

Aperture f/5.0, ISO speed 169, Shutter speed 0.017 sec (1/60), Entire EXIF data is here

Here's another example:

© 2012 by Rottlady

Aperture f/8.0,ISO Speed 160, Shutter speed 0.003 sec (1/320), More EXIF info here.

My last example was taken just last month at moonset.

© 2012 by Rottlady

Aperture f/8.0, ISO speed 160, Shutter speed 0.004 sec (1/250), and again for more EXIF data here.

FYI: Exif data is a record of the settings a camera used to take a photo or video. This information is embedded into the files the camera saves. Your camera editing software always has this info available to you, all you have to do is find it, normally if you right click on the image and look for "Properties".

Here is another site that offers more tips and tricks.

Finally I got a shot! I took this about 5:30am CDT on 5-6-2012.

© 2012 by Rottlady

Supermoon 2012