What elements make up a quality image of the Moon?

[Dizzy]

The Moon: a celestial body with a questionable pedigree, clouded in it's mysterious moods and in how it presents itself to humanity; worshiped by some, hated by others. The Moon is a subject that any person with a decent camera can photograph, anywhere on the planet and without regard for their geographic location. A "Universal Model", if ever there was one, and equally accessible to all.

After my recent efforts at imaging the Moon (with some limited success thanks to several site members), I got to thinking about just what *elements* are involved in taking a successful image of this Earthly orbiting body? There has to be more to this than just getting the Moon in proper focus and adding sufficient sharpening and contrast in post processing.

Made up a list of just a few elements, and have no doubts that it is lacking a number of key considerations, so please add your own thoughts on how to shoot the Moon with some level of creativity involved.

1. In Focus
2. Moon Phase
3. Atmospheric Conditions
4. Clouds
5. Color
6. Visible and Identifiable Craters
7. Celestial Enhancements

Over on my astronomy site we have members that take incredible images of the Moon using large aperture telescopes with superb resolution, but still, in the end they are simply high-quality technical images of craters and Lunar geographic features. For a celestial body that is "worshiped by some, hated by others", there must be a way to show the Moon's character beyond the cold, lifeless images we see so often.

So, what would be included in your vision of the consummate Moon photo?

Mike

[rpcrowe]

I love clouds which are backlit by the moon. It reminds me of a poem I learned in high-school, "The Highwayman" The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas...

[tbob]

The moon seems best shown relative to some terrestrial object. The most attractive images to my mind are when the moon is full, near the horizon and the image is simple and uncluttered; something like the moon, one tree ( or whatever you want) well defined and a clean horizon line.

Alternatively; I would love an image of me standing on the moon with a full earth in the background ; however I rather doubt any of the space agencies will be willing to foot the bill.

[Donald]

Mike

I imagine you are thinking about the moon being an object in the image, as opposed to the effect of the moon's light being the subject.

But the latter is a consideration as well. Your own images, here, and this one by Colin (there are also others) illustrate that we don't always need the 'thing' itself as prominent in the frame.