2024 proved to be a busy year in terms of supermoons, those full moons that appear larger than usual due to the moon's orbit being close to the earth at the time of the full moon.
But of course, seeing and filming these events is very weather dependant, especially here in north Wales, where we aren't known for our clear skies!
But in 2024 we enjoyed four opportunities to capture a supermoon, and the one featured in this time lapse video was the third out of the four, the Hunter's moon of 17th October.
Filming the moon with a 400mm telephoto zoom lens is a tricky affar at best, with not just a clear sky required, but also flat calm condtions, otherwise any breath of wind above a whisper causes a tripod mounted camera and lens to wobble a bit, which results in a visibly shaky video.
But on the evening of the 17th October conditons were as near perfect as you're likely to get outside of an observatory, so I decamped to one of my favourite night sky viewing spots on the slopes of Moel Famau, the highest peak in the Clwydian Range Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with reasonably dark skies and just a fifteen minute drive from the home.
To film the supermoon I decided to use my Canon EOS250D, with its cropped sensor and 4K video capability giving me a decently maginfied view of the moon, with all its surface detail clearly visible.
It took just over twelve minutes for the moon to traverse upwards across my camera and lens's viewing angle, with clear, crisp, still air all the way - highly unusual!
Then it was just a matter of speeding the video up and enhancing contrast and sharpness in Adobe Premiere Pro to achieve this final result.
Filename - moon_full_timelapse_13
Camera - Canon EOS250D
Lens - 100-400mm zoom @ 400mm
Exposure (start of sequence) - 1/100 sec @ f/11, ISO100
Exposure (end of sequence) - 1/100 sec @ f/11, ISO100
Filters - None.
Music - Surrender - Asher Fulero
Shooting interval - 25 frames per second video
Location - Pen Barras carpark, Moel Famau, North Wales
This clip - HD 720p, 30fps (4K and HD formats also available)
Clip duration - 20 seconds
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.