The Full Cold Moon

The Full Cold Moon, originally uploaded by Sheba Wheeler.

Last week I posted about "The Full Cold Moon" which appears in December. Here is a shot that I took of it during a Denver Digital Photography Meetup featuring holiday lights in the city.

I have always marveled at others' successful moon shots. I could never seem to capture a decent one. Turns out my Canon 70-200 2.8 was the missing element. No other lens I had was bright enough or had enough range to get this much detail. I can't wait to get a teleconverter to bump up that range to at least 400 mm or more so I can get even more detail in the craters.

Get Out There: Shooting by the light of the Full Cold Moon

Today a full moon will grace the skies in Denver, making for a wonderful night photo opportunity. Hopefully it will light up your skies where ever you live too! Known as "The Full Cold Moon," December is the month "when the winter cold fastens its grip and the nights become long and dark," according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The moon is also called, "The Moon before Yule," or "The Long Nights Moon" by some Native American tribes. The term is appropro because the midwinter night is indeed long and because the moon is above the horizon for a long time.

A bright moon should make for some great captures of the Denver City and County Building tonight when I join several other photographers during a digital photo meet up. Don't be intimidated by night photography. I let those baseless fears keep me away from it for far too long. Once I finally got up the nerve to attend a night photography workshop with Illuminate Photography Workshops, I LOVED it! Watch this video on the Digital Photography School forum to get some tips for shooting in the dark. There's a very different world out there when the sun goes down...learn how to capture it!