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Photography: Snow Moon

I’m trying to use my camera’s manual mode more, but it’s not going well. The night of the last full moon, I went to the lake and left in tears. The lighting wasn’t good, and the moon hid behind the clouds. Every image was a mess.

I spent the rest of the night thinking about quitting. I’d secretly been considering making photography my new career. Maybe another year and I could start charging real money for my work and help my family pay down our debt. Failing at the moon photos felt like a rejection—a confirmation that I’m wasting my time.

The next morning, I woke up early and headed to my local park to try again. These photos are the result. I’m still not thrilled with these images, but at least I’m getting better at making fast adjustments. The sky went from totally dark to a bright sunlight in the hour I was there. I had to keep tweaking my settings, popping in and out of light and shadow. But, unlike the previous night, I didn’t let it get to me.

These aren’t the best, not even my best. Not by a long shot. But, I edited them to be cohesive. Some of these shots have potential. I’ve taking a few online photography classes. I’m still going to keep trying.

You should, too.

I believe in you.

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  • These were taken with my Olympus E-M1 MarkII, using a 75-300mm lens and edited with Lightroom Classic.

43 thoughts on “Photography: Snow Moon”

  1. You still created some nice photos, Bridgette! May I suggest using Aperture Mode which lets the camera do most of the work. The spinning button on top of my Nikon cameras allows you to adjust the ISO which makes it so much faster to get what I see as photos. Also, do you have an HDR (high dynamic range) app on your computer? I use the Aurora HDR app and have use it for many years. I hope you guys are well!

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  2. At least you had a go. I found that just using Auto and a steady hand works well for me for Moon photos. I have tried lots of settings and was, like you, disappointed Bridgette
    The other photos are good

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    • Thanks. I’m still struggling with getting the crispness I want in all my photos, and really think mastering manual mode will allow me to get it. Not yet…but I’m hopeful if I keep trying I’ll get closer.

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    • Oh, Roy! You always say the nicest things. You have no idea how much your kindness helps me in this process. I loved #15, too. The golden light was so beautiful through the trees. That bird was a bit irritated at me, I think. I disrupted his hiding place.

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    • Thank you! I’m so glad you like them. I’m working on developing what my “style” will be, and I think these are close. I like a more moody look, as you can probably tell. But the crispness isn’t there yet. Hoping to see more improvement next time.

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  6. #s 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, & 18 are my favorites! I felt like I could lean into every shot and be right there. I love them! You’re a master at photography, Bridgette! Please don’t sell yourself short! 🙏🏾💙

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    • Thank you so much LuAnne. The leaf shots were some of my favorites. There’s something about those very last leaves, still hanging on in February, that feels personal to me. I’m so glad you liked these.

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    • Thank you! While they aren’t exactly where I want them to be, as far as crispness, I do think I’m starting to develop my editing style. I really like a moody picture. Next time, though, I’m going to try for rich colors.

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  12. Hey Bridgette.
    Having started photography with an all manual camera, I want to support your working on developing (pun intended) that skill. It will help you to understand what correction(s) you need to make to one of the auto-modes and how to make them.
    I use aperture priority now unless I can tell it’s not working for me on that shot.
    Shots of the moon, or other night shots, can be very challenging. A tough subject to learn manual settings on. I would focus on (what? again?) daylight or similar settings before taking on the moon shots.
    And remember, there’s no free lunch. If you stop down the lens to f/8 or f/11, you need to either use a higher ISO or slower shuttler. A tripod helps with that.
    Lastly, make sure you take some courses in Lightroom. Some of your images have some real unlocked potential.

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    • Thank you! I’m going to start doing some portrait work and think dialing in my manual mode skills will allow me to get much sharper shots. On these moon shots, I kept lowering the f-stop, but then I’d have to raise the ISO (or they were black) and ended up with a LOT of noise in my images (hence the way I edited them to downplay that effect). I played around some with shutter speed too, but didn’t have a tripod, so kept that around 120-200.

      I’m learning a lot in Lightroom right now and will add a class in my mix of classes I’m taking right now. Can you recommend a good one?

      I’m about to edit some photos I took at a local auction the next day, and again, struggled. Some things were in bright light, while others were inside with low light. Making those switches was ROUGH. I’m thinking I should probably continue to stick to Aperture priority in situations like that, but when I start doing portraits, perhaps finding a place where the light is consistent, will allow me to get shaper/crisper shots. Does that sound right?

      Also, feel free to ignore all my questions. 🙂 I’ve got a lot of them right now.

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      • Hi Bridgette. My favorite instructor/teacher of photo stuff is Ben Long. I have gone through a lot of his online courses that are available on LinkedIn Learning. He has a wide range of topics.

        I don’t really do portrait work … but I know that having a thorough understanding of lighting is really important for that. Fill lights, key lights and such.

        LinkedIn also has a lot of Lightroom courses … can’t really recommend any in particular… I’m sorta geeky and just read the Adobe manuals … but they can be tough. The Classroom in a Book series are the ones I like a lot. Scott Kelby’s Lightroom Classic is my favorite Lightroom manual.

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  16. My likes: 6, 10, 12-14, 22, 25. I looked at 13 and thought, “wow, that looks like a serigraph.” Beautiful editing on that one. 14, because it’s weird. And 25 because of the technique. Perhaps not powerful, but to capture the legs just after lift-off? Wow. I like noting that white-throated sparrows hit both coasts, apparently, and it’s been awhile since I’ve seen a Western bluebird. Not quite as vibrant as the Eastern ones.

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