It was the weekend of the full October Hunters moonrise. Decided on a evening full moon rise hopefully behind Camber Castle near Rye on the east Sussex coast.
Camber Castle Return
I had used the Photopills moon calendar about a week earlier and knew this weekend would be good if the weather conditions were suitable. I then forgot all about it and was only reminded by viewing social media posts of all these beautiful moonrises and moonsets. I have been meaning to do a full moon rise behind Camber Castle for a few years now tonight was going to be the night.
Sea Level
What makes Camber Castle good for a moonrise or moonset is the castle itself is a great foreground subject. I dont just want a shot of the moon. Camber castle is also at sea level on Rye Marsh so not need to wait long for the moon to come into view.
Focal Range Subject Distance
Took the 400mm lens and 1.4 extender. Plan was to get as far back as possible in terms of subject distance and fill the frame with Camber castle and a decent amount of sky. Through compression this will make the moon look a lot larger in the frame.
Unfortunately had not anticipated a river and could only go back as far as 230mm so this would have to do this attempt. Checking OS maps there were more footpaths the other side of A259. I would need to scout these footpaths another time to check if gave a good viewpoint of Camber Castle allowing the full 560mm focal range to be used.
Beyond Infinity
Have not done a lot of this type of photography before and was quite challenging to get right. With such a large lens and focal range focusing and depth of field can be an issue. Generally want the castle your focal point and subject to be beyond infinity. Everything then beyond your subject the moon in this example should then be in acceptable focus.
Was then a case of just firing the shutter release as the moon rose behind Camber castle to the east. To avoid vibrations fitted the cable release to the camera. The sky was pretty featureless but kind of creates negative space for the brightly lit moon.
Blue Hour
The moon rose some time after sunset, maybe the day before would have been better had I realised. The contrast between the moon and the sky is high and post processing had some chromatic aberrations around the fringe of the moon to deal with.
Another potential problem was sheep in the foreground. With a low shutter speed dont want motion blur. I ignored them and just shot for the castle and moon. It not prove a problem as they were pretty stationary grazing on the field in front of Camber castle. The moon is also constantly moving rising up you dont want an exposure over 2 seconds to avoid any motion blur.
Zoomed In
I did try some zoomed in shots of Camber castle tower with the moon rise. But really wanted the complete castle in the frame.
Being in the right position for the Hunters moon rise I could move a few metres left or right to change the viewpoint and composition. But it was getting increasingly dark by the time the full moon had cleared the tower.
Drone Photo
While waiting for the full moon to rise above Camber castle I had a play with my drone and got some aerial shots. A view never seen before of Camber castle.
I not use the drone much, rarely for photography but its great if you want to get the lay of the land. Getting impatient for the rising moon I could put up the drone and see the moon rising above the horizon out to sea a good few minutes before it rose above Camber castle.
Check out the October 2022 landscape photography gallery
Check out the East Sussex landscape photography gallery