Sunday night’s sky was a rare treat, wasn’t it? We won’t even see another lunar eclipse until 2018. But in the meantime, we have a lot of fantastic photos, taken by you, of the blood super moon.
Middle-Of-Nowhere
We live in the Middle-Of-Nowhere, Colorado. We often have some beautiful night skies to stare at. But for tonight, I had to call a neighbor and go interrupt their dinner so I could set up shop in their backyard. As their house was actually blocking the view from our house! I bit my nails as a large cloud covered most of the action, but it cleared just in time for the awesomeness. Another neighbor thought it would be a good idea to turn on her flood light! At first i panicked, but then I used it to my advantage to light the field. This is a composite of a few images, just to get all the exposures right. But I didn’t go too crazy with the Photoshopping. Canon 7D, 200mm (Canon 70-200L), 5.6, Tripod
Ruxy Papineau
Birthday
I shot this image using a canon 60D camera with 135mm lens. It was my birthday and I was celebrating with my family and the Super Moon was our main event.
Elaine Fayad
Drug Deal Overwatch
I went to the airport for the shot, but getting the shot was kind of strange. A pickup truck was sitting in a pull off engine on lights off. The truck took off after a few minutes lights off. A taxi pulled up and sat right after. A drug deal with lunar eclipse problems.
Mark Avery
Partial Duo
The full eclipse photos did not turn out. But I like these two from the partial eclipse. The shots were taken 20 minutes apart, with the upper moon the 1/2000s exposure. I use Lightroom for processing and Photomatix Pro to merge the photos together. I used the Natural filter in Photomatix Pro to keep the shots looking mostly normal. Canon T3i, 250mm, ISO 400. 1/4000 and 1/2000s at f5.6
David Short
The Backyard
Recent evening clouds scuttled any excursions to shoot this moon, but I pressed on in my light-polluted back yard with my rental Sigma “bigma” lens. This is as the moon was coming out of totality. Pentax K-50, Sigma 50-500 6400 ISO f8
James Wilson
Westwing Mountain
Hike to the summit of Westwing Mountain in North Peoria, Arizona for this shot. I got some great panoramas with the iPhone, too! This one was with my Canon Rebel 300D. The hike down in the dark was a little hairy. 🙂
Dave Reuss
Flare
Exciting that I am both in a location where I could see this AND it’s at a time I’m actually awake. That hasn’t happened in, I can’t even remember the last one. Confused the heck out of the dogs- “What is this game? Why are you sitting on the ground and why do you keep shooing us away? We just want to play!” It took a second to get it set up since I didn’t want to find my tripod (stupid move) so patio table plus kitchen towel equals lo-tech support. Did have to dig out the remote though, and super happy it still worked. Since I live in the middle of nowhere, during most full moons it’s like daylight outside and I thought that this shot was a nice combination of eclipse and the normal “Holy cow, did I leave a light on?” And the lens flare mini moon happened naturally- I liked it, so I kept it.
Shot with my Nikon DSLR, (since I bought a new thingy to get pictures off of it) the longest lens I have, f/6.3, 2.5 sec. And at ISO 400 cause I forgot to change that. Turned out pretty good for approximately 5 minutes prep.
Christina Anstaett
Eclipse Over Boston Federal Reserve
I headed to Faneuil Hall to take most of my eclipse shots so I could hear Alabama Shakes playing live across the street at the same time. Afterwards, I walked to South Station to get a cab away from the crowds when I realized the Federal Reserve Bank building was a perfect subject. There was no street level view of the moon over the top, but from this angle it looks as if the blood moon is reflecting off the silver siding. Sony A7 II with Sony 24-240 lens at 52mm, 4/10 sec f6.3 ISO 800
Josh Wardell
Blood Moon
The blood moon is so much more dark than the normal moon, which made it tough to shoot. I had to use manual focus because the moon was so dim, a long exposure, and bump the ISO which added a bunch of noise. But it was fun! Canon EOS M3 (with a 1.6x crop sensor). 1/3 sec, f/8, and ISO 3200. 300mm f/2.8 lens with stacked 2x and 1.4x extenders. So effectively 300 * 1.6 * 2.0 * 1.4 = 1344mm.
David Lee
Partly Cloudy
I’ve been dabbling in astrophotography for a little bit and figured this shooting challenge would be up my alley. It’s been really cloudy for the last few months and I was expecting to miss the eclipse altogether. But 10 minutes before it was scheduled to start it cleared up. So I ran outside, threw my equipment together and started shooting. Clouds did come in eventually, ruining my chances for a shot of the full eclipse itself, but I did get some nice images of the earlier parts of the event. Olympus VG-110 (point-n-shoot camera) afocally mounted to a Celestron PowerSeeker 80EQ Telescope. Camera set to -2.0 exposure compensation, ISO 100. Levels and color balance adjusted slightly in GimpShop.
Richard Gonzalez
Half Moon
I got a new camera over the weekend, and decided it would be a good time to try some astrophotography through my telescope. I am pleased with the results and now realize that astrophotography is a lot harder than it appears to be.
After being all excited up until eclipse time, it was a huge disappointment to see nothing but clouds during the entire course of the eclipse. The clouds finally went away near the end, and I captured what you see in the photos. I took nearly 300 of them over about a half hour. Since I am fairly new at photography through the scope, I did not load it up and drive to some out of the way place. The photo was shot from my backyard in San Jose, CA.
The camera I used was a Canon 6D mounted to a 900mm telescope. I used a Barlow adapter to mount the camera to the scope. The Canon 6D has wi-fi capability, so I was able to use my iPhone to change settings and ISO as well as firing the shutter. ISO 1600, SS: 1/80, Sept 27, 2015 8:59PM PDT,
Shane Lee
Progression
It was shot using a Canon 70D, with a 18-135 mm STM lens. Each shot was taken at 135 mm, 4 second exposure at ISO 400. I took a shot each 10 minutes, and then merged them together on Photoshop, to get the final result.
It was funny, because the sky was a bit cloudy, and every time I had to take a shot (after 10 minutes), there were no clouds in front of the moon. I was lucky with that! So, that’s it. I really liked the final result. I’m happy with that.
Bruno Saad Marques
Airshow
I shot quite a few things today with my SX60HS camera, an airshow, the moon rising as a supermoon. This shot was taken around 10:30PM in Mission, KS.
Samuel Micah Edward VanHorn III
Shine
We had overcast weather towards the east here in the bay area all afternoon until the clouds finally opened up to give this great composition.This was shot on an Sony a7s on a tripod with a 500mm Minolta reflex lens.
Jorge Mena
LA Moon
After spending a few days of preparing how I can best shoot this super rare celestial event, instincts kicked in and everything I read online became meaningless. I pulled out my Canon 6D and 70-300mm lens out of my case, mounted it on my tripod. There was a lot of trial and error, but after several shots of learning from my mistakes, I ended up with this. A scene of the super moon, Los Angeles cloudy skies (which did have me worried for a little bit that it’d block the entire event) and some of the stars in the background. My camera was set at an ISO of 1250, shutter of 2 seconds, and aperture of f/5.6. Manual focus was used and image stabilization and a remote shutter release was used for minimal camera shake during the shot.
Ryan Valle
In Branches
My name is Piotr (Peter) Milert. I was very excited to find this contest on Gizmodo website and even though I do realize I don’t have many chances of winning it due to my camera being Point & Shoot, I still wanted to share my attempts to memorize this amazing event! Today on September 27th, 2015 I witnessed full Super Moon Eclipse. I was lucky enough to spend that evening surrounded by friends and many other people who were also interested in being part of this astronomical moment and gathered at OMSI parking lot in Portland, Oregon. I took many pictures, from partial eclipse till almost the end of full coverage. Unfortunately, most of them were lacking necessary quality and ended up being a little bit distorted…At that point we decided that we’ve seen what we wanted and left; also major input had the fact that it was pretty cold outside, so to avoid getting cold we made that crucial decision to cut the party short.
Although when I reached my house I’ve noticed that the event isn’t fully over just yet and decided to snap few more pictures. And this time, because it was only me watching it, I decided to use the small viewfinder instead of 2.5” screen. I was fiddling around with different settings on my P&S camera and couldn’t figure out why the pictures aren’t coming out clear. That’s when I decided to zoom out tiny bit and noticed that there’s something slightly obstructing the view. The effect in my humble opinion is pretty interesting and I hope you guys will enjoy it too!
Piotr Milert
South of Market
The Blood Moon as taken from the roof of our building, overlooking the South of Market district of San Francisco. Taken with a Sony A7s on a tripod. So happy we weren’t fogged in!
Albert K
Orb
This was shot with a Canon 5DIII, a 300m f/2.8 with a 2x teleconvertor, making it a 600m f/5.6. Taken in my backyard around 4:00 am on a tripod with remote release, about 30 miles southwest of London. Conditions were pretty good, a bit damp, so some haze and softening of the moon. Not too cold out and no wind, so that helped! Postprocessed with Lightroom, a really quick job this morning as I’ve got a day gig too!
Michael Smith
Cityscape
This photo was taken on a Nikon D610 on a tripod at f/8, ISO 800, and 1.6 seconds.
Moonrise here in LA was at 6:40 Sunday night which isn’t too bad except I had a family party to go to that day at 2:00. I figured if I left the party at 6:00 I would have enough time to go find a good spot and set up my gear in time to catch the moon rising over downtown. At 6:00 I said goodbye to everyone and started driving towards West LA to try and find a spot where I could get a picture of the moon behind the LA skyline, however traffic was heavier than I had anticipated and come 6:40 I still didn’t have a spot to set up my camera. After a little more searching I was able to find a multi-story parking garage in Koreatown so I got to the top and was able to set up my tripod and camera just in time to see the moon rising over the US Bank Tower. By around 7:00 I had gotten the camera fully dialed in and I was trying to get as many pictures as I could because I could see some clouds starting to move in. This was one of the last photos I was able to take before the moon moved completely behind the clouds at around 7:40.
Oliver Carlton
Visitor
This owl flew over and stooped upon a lifeguard tower just as clouds parted just for a short time. Kindly, the owl unperturbed by my presence, posed for a few shots. Illuminated with flash, I captured two images. Using Photoshop I merged the two images bringing both subjects into focus. 6D 300mm f/2.8 @ f/29 .3 sec ISO 6400. Taken near the Ventura Pier (CA)
Richard Heller
Mordiford Moon
Got up about 3am and took a few shots, these seem to be the best in terms of colour and sharpness/focusing. Canon 1000D (XS rebel), Sigma 70-300mm lens, Home made mount, ISO 400 / f5 / 5sec exposure @ 214mm
James Drew
Dead Moon Break
Here’s one shot I got of the super moon. My wife and I had to take a break from our Walking Dead Season 5 binge (just released on Netflix) to get the shot. Was taken with our Sony DSC-HX200V, 144mm. 1s exposure, f/5.6, iso800
Drew Ayrit
Cloudbreak
It was a cloudy, hazy evening in the mid-atlantic east coast, and the moon was mostly obscured. But near the beginning of the eclipse, a break in the clouds allowed a few quick photos. By the time the moon was in total eclipse, it was completely shrouded in cloud cover, so I missed the best part of the show. This is a composite image of two photos taken a few moments apart. One image of the moon over the treeline with a tripod-mounted camera, and a second handheld shot through the eyepiece of a small telescope to show the moon detail more clearly. Canon G7x, f/2.8, ISO-125, 1/15 sec. and 1/120 sec. exposures. Post processed with GIMP.
S Wootten
Partly Cloudy
We had cloud coverage for most of the eclipse here in southeast PA, and I was shooting through them for the majority of it, but occasionally I had a clear shot. While i did get a few good ones of totality, this one had better composition with the clouds as it was waning at 11:41 EST. Canon SL1, 75-300 lens, ISO 400 f7.1 for 1 sec.
Jeff dePascale
Fliberflys in the Desert
Shot this image at a Gathering celebrating the Supermoon/Eclipse In California, Drove 3 hours into the desert and got there and the gathering was pretty much over sadly, But still took some portraits, had some fun, and got some great shots of the eclipse.
This Photo is an Unedited Light Painting, Created with a Fiber Optic Whip (prototype of a new “fiberfly”). Settings ISO 800 F/9 14 Second Exposure, Created on a Sony A7R, I also took a bunch of Light Painting portraits that included the moon, but I thought that for this submission some abstracts art featuring the moon would be appropriate.
After shooting this image I promptly realized that if i wanted to submit this image to you… I Couldn’t stay or sleep in the desert… So i shot for an hour or two and then packed up, Got lost in the desert for a while, And finally made my way back home about 4am!
Reid Godshaw
Michigan Moon
It was a cloudy night in Southeast Michigan, so we decided to be lazy and just stay in and check out the window occasionally to see if the moon was visible.
When it was I’d hurry to try the shot, but this was my first attempt at astronomy photography (astrography?), so it involved a lot of experimenting with exposures, focusing, and timing (the remote shutter wasn’t working well) and catching it between the clouds.
Fun experience.
Jeff Hafner
The Redeye
I had been excited for weeks to see last night’s lunar eclipse. I rarely stay up past 9pm but if I was to ever stay up late, tonight was the night. My wife wanted to stay inside and go to bed, but eventually gave in and helped me set up our telescope and binoculars in the driveway of our suburban New Hampshire home, just far enough from the city lights to not be dragged down by light pollution. There were some tree branches in the way so I chopped them down and we settled down for a couple hours in the cold darkness. We had only been out for about 15 minutes when I saw a commercial airliner and its moonlit contrail approaching from the south. It was a one-in-a-million chance that it happened to pass right in front of the moon, so I snapped this photograph using my Canon SX280 point-and-shoot held against the eyepiece of a 5” Celestron 130SLT telescope. The picture was flipped and cropped but not altered in any other way.
Chris Andrews
3 Minutes In The Heavens
It took me a while to get my camera’s settings to a place I was ready to commit to for a multiple exposure shot. Once I was happy with what I was getting, I spent about half an hour taking one shot every minute, afraid to even touch the camera (a remote can be a really hand thing). After looking at the shots, three minute intervals produced the best spacing.
Shot on a Nikon D7000, 200mm (55-200mm lens), F/10, 1.6”, ISO 400. When producing the final image, I brightened the original shots by overlaying four copies of each. Overlaying and some minor cropping all done in GIMP.
Jacob Trioiano
Penumbra
Now, don’t get me wrong. A blood moon is certainly cool. But I was not prepared for how spectacular the penumbra was. Seeing the edge of the Earth’s shadow really put the scale of it all in to context.
ISO100, 300mm, f/5.6 5 sec. Canon T3i
Matt Heiniger
Phases
Pretty much straight out of the camera shots, a little brightening, alignment and sharpening. No color correction (which I’m normally a huge fan of). It was a challenge to expose the surface of the moon correctly that was in sunlight, and in shadow. Tried HDR, didn’t work at all; moon moved too many (!). Ended up just doing one or the other.
Elliot Scott
Focus
I am lucky living in Oxford, UK, as we have an overload of incredible architecture that is very easily accessible. I set my alarm for 3am hoping that if I headed to the city centre I would get a good shot of the blood moon with some of Oxford’s famous buildings in the foreground. After taking shots with buildings for over an hour I decided to try something different, and frame my favorite statues as though they are looking at the moon. I only wish I had tried this approach earlier when the moon was a deeper red and the eclipse was peaking and not at the end. My equipment: Canon T3i and 18-200mm lens on a tripod with IR remote, 10s exposure, f/8, ISO 400. This is a composite of two images merged in photoshop in order to get the statue and moon in focus.
NJ Brideau
Slow Learning Curve
Took this one with my trusty 20D early in the eclipse before trying a series of multi-exposures that did not turn out well at all. Can try again in 18 years I guess….
Scott Lumsden
Karl the Fog
Taken from the pier in Saucalito, CA. That’s Karl the Fog. Fuji X-T1, XF 55-200mm, 800 ISO, f/8
Mark Farinas
Incredible entries all around. And a very special thanks to everyone for not sending us pictures of their butts.