Poolbeg Super Flower Moonrise
May 2021's Super Flower Moon rising at Poolbeg Lighthouse, viewpoint from Clontarf Seafront.
Tons of photographers out to get bangers of thi...
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May 2021's Super Flower Moon rising at Poolbeg Lighthouse, viewpoint from Clontarf Seafront.
Tons of photographers out to get bangers of this class moonrise. It had been a long time coming after all the fails and cloudy ones.
Planned using Photopills.
Read less
Tons of photographers out to get bangers of this class moonrise. It had been a long time coming after all the fails and cloudy ones.
Planned using Photopills.
Read less
NIKON D5300
Aperture f/6.3 ISO 4000 Shutter 1/40 Focal Length 6000/10 
Clontarf, Dublin, IE
May, 2021Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Clontarf Promenade near the Wooden Bridge in Dublin, Ireland facing towards Poolbeg Lighthouse.Time
The photo was taken after sunset around 9:30 p.m. on a late May 2021 evening. This was the ideal time to shoot the moonrise as it was during the blue hour which meant the moon would illuminate nicely and be visible with no exposure from the sun as well as still bright enough out so the foreground wouldn't go silhouetted. All that was needed was good weather with as little cloud as possible and in fact, conditions were perfect. There was minimal haze as the wind direction was northerly bringing clear air southward across Ireland rather than warm, hazy conditions from the continent.Lighting
All the lighting was entirely focused on the moon illuminating against the red lighthouse and it was of a very red colour due to the dustiness of the atmosphere. As it was blue hour, it was getting gradually darker and darker so I needed to increase my ISO to compensate for the shutter speed which I wanted to stay above 1/30th of a second as the lens was heavy so camera blur was quite an issue especially with the portable tripod which wasn't very sturdy.Equipment
This was shot on a Nikon D5300 DSLR with a Sigma 150-600mm super telephoto lens to compress the subject and make the moon appear huge in frame, and a K&F Concept travel tripod to try and keep the camera steady for as little shake as possible. No other equipment was used to capture this image.Inspiration
Poolbeg Lighthouse is a commonly used subject for moonrise photographs in Dublin, Ireland. This is especially true in summertime when the moonrise lines up with the lighthouse from Clontarf, it also lines up in spring and autumn time with the lighthouse from Sandymount. As a result, I wanted to do my own take on the composition as it's a picturesque lighthouse and moonrises just work so well for it. There were tons of photographers that evening to capture the same thing, the most I have ever seen at one place. I don't exaggerate when I say 'tons', there really was.Editing
I did not have to process the photo much besides a bit of noise reduction and dehaze so the colours would pop somewhat. I was already pretty happy with the image as it was, being nice and sharp as well as the moon right in line with the lighthouse.In my camera bag
In my camera bag, I normally have my Nikon D5300 DSLR with a Nikon 50mm f1.8, a Sigma 150-600mm f4.5-6.3, Nikon 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 and a Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens although sometimes go without my 150-600mm as it takes up a lot of space and is very heavy. I also carry 2 tripods, one for my DSLR and one for my phone in case I want to capture a time lapse or something else on my phone in particular.Feedback
Plan your moonrise shoots well in advance using apps like PhotoPills or The Photographer's Ephemeris and get an idea where the moon will start to rise from so you can line it up with your subject of choice. Use a variety of subjects, don't always go to the same one like the same lighthouse every time. Spice it up. Try and find something no one you know has captured before, that way your photo will be one of a kind and stand out more. Get a telephoto lens if you can. The bigger the focal length, the more compressed the moon will be in your frame and look bigger. Don't worry about those who say you photoshopped, they don't know the physics of zooming in on a lens and the visual impacts that does. However, you don't have to go all out every time and buy or bring the biggest telephoto lens like say a 600mm, a 300mm is perfectly fine and much easier to bring around with you. It is also more versatile that you might capture other things during the shoot that you otherwise could have missed with a bigger lens.
