December’s Full Moon, Three-Quarter Moon & Venus
My plan was to shoot this month’s full moon (the “Cold Moon”) in the early morning hours. I was happy to be reminded when blogger friend, Vic, mentioned it last night in a comment. And then I still missed it.
Well, almost. I overslept and literally jumped up and quickly looked out my window to locate the moon. It was already dropping behind the tree line across the lake.
Full Moon morning setting December 12, 2019
And you know, when either the sun or moon are dropping out of sight, they sink fast.
I knew I didn’t have time to set up my tripod when I saw it. I quickly went outside and shot hand-held.
Full Moon morning setting December 12, 2019, one minute later
So it wasn’t what I planned, I had wanted to be up hours earlier. I decided to still share these for those looking at December’s full moon shots today.
And darn it, I had actually been practicing with night photography the past couple weeks on my tripod. So since we’re on the subject of the moon, I’ll share my best one from those practices.
Moon – December 5, 2019
That night, I also did my best shot ever of the planet, Venus, shining brightly off towards the horizon.
Venus – December 5, 2019
(70-200m, 1×7 teleconverter full frame shot on a tripod)
I took the above shot and cropped it considerably for the next photo. I am very pleased with my best focused shot of Venus to date.
Venus – December 5, 2019
The planet Venus is about 25 million miles (40 million kilometers) away from Earth.
Photos by Donna 
Wonderful photos Donna! I’ve never been able to get a good moon photo… 😎
Thank you, John! It takes a lot of shots for me to get a good one. 😉
Me too Donna. There are proper camera settings for a moon photo apparently…
I put my settings on manual, and then I take a shot or two, look at my photo(s), then change settings to adjust light & contrast and try again. And again, and again, lol To do this, I need to be on a tripod so I can concentrate on the settings I’m establishing. Every time is different, so I start anew each time! 🙂
Love the yellowish moon and purple sky!
Thank you! Dreamy, huh?! 😊
Its really wonderful..I too missed to saw it on last night..But here you gave me an experience..
Thank you 🙂
Thank you, Athira, you’re welcome! 😊
👍
Beautiful pictures of the moon setting. I think it looks great behind the tree line.
Thank you, Ken! Sometimes our photo plans go awry but still work out in the end. 🙂
Beautiful half moon Donna!
Thank you, Ashley! I want to keep practicing night photography, it is still a learning curve for me. 🙂
Way to go Donna! I usually try to get a full moon shot each month, weather permitting, but somehow activities got in the way this month. I got a couple of shot, but not near the horizon like you did. Congrats!
Thank you, Susan! I was supposed to be up at least an hour earlier so I could set up my location & tripod and try to get focused on the moon, but I’m happy with these and will take ’em! 🙂
Girl, you didn’t miss a thing. Those are fantastic shots. I agree with the comment, above…yellowish Moon, purplish sky. It is beautiful. The b&w waxing gibbous on the 5th is stunning. You are fantastic with a tripod & free hand. And, Venus shot is awesome. It is dimmer than Jupiter. Even my stupidphone can catch that big boy.
Thanks for my shout-outs. I have my appt. for Mon. @ 9am. My energy level is in my shoes with this antibiotic. Will be glad to have this OVER WITH.
Hugs, love…❤
Thank you, Vic! I do love the dreamy look of the full moon shots. I was hoping to be focused on the moon but couldn’t do it already so close to the tree line. I worked on trying to capture Venus & Jupiter together and each separate a couple other nights and didn’t have any photos I could share, I dumped them all. I’m learning, and love the challenge! 😉 I’ve seen several planets through my son’s telescope and WOW WOW WOW, I could see the rings on Saturn! It was mind blowing to me….
Sending more hugs and prayers your way, hang in there! ❤
I’d like to see the rings on Saturn. Awesome.
Thanks, sweetie. 😖
These are wonderful!
Thank you!!
Awesome series of pictures, Donna!
Thank you, Indira!
A great collection Donna…… thanks for staying up late! 🙂
Thank you, David! 🙂
I think the first one, with the moon behind the tree line is gorgeous!! And the purple sky makes it surreal❤
Thank you, Christie! It is dreamy-looking! 😊
I guess you needed the sleep! 😉
I like seeing it with the trees all the same.
Thank you, Eliza! 😊
your shots are perfect Donna! One needs to always have the moon close to the horizon so as to have a second subject in frame.
If you take shots of the moon alone in the sky its just another astronomical shot and there’s only a few billion of those.
Now If you had a eagle perched in a tree with the moon in behind that would be excellent!……but I’m bias!
Thank you! I was hoping to ready for shots a little higher over the tree lines and get more focused on the moon. If I had used a tripod, I might have focused better, but hey, I still love these! And yes!, an Eagle perched in the shot would have been really very special! 🙂
I didnt have my camera with me but I saw the Cold Moon. Beautiful reddish color as you captured, Donna😀😀😀
Thank you, Al! 🙂
These are wonderful!
Thank you Belinda!
That’s some moon! I missed it! Great shots my friend. 😎
Thank you, HJ! Glad to share mine with you….that I almost missed myself, lol. 🙂
The moon earlier in the morning might not have had such an intense color, Donna, and you would have been sleep-deprived. A win-win situation all around. 🙂
That could have been so true! 🙂 Thank you, Tanja! 🙂
Truly marvelous images. Know from trying it ain’t easy to catch that object in the sky.
Oh for a zoom that would reach the planets… 😀
Thank you, Gunta! I’m still a work in progress for night photography.
Our son has a telescope that allows me to see the planets closer, I could see Saturn and it’s rings. It blew me away! Now if I could only afford one of them and connect a camera to it….. 😉
I don’t suppose your son would let you ‘borrow’ 😀
Love the Dec 5th moon… it’s so full of mystery and (can’t think of a perfect word for it.)