The harvest moon rose blood red behind the D.C. skyline Saturday evening. For a brief moment, from my vantage point at the Netherlands Carillon, the moon appeared to sit on top of the Capitol dome.
I made the poor choice of taking Metro’s Orange Line from Vienna to Rosslyn for my photo shoot at the Netherlands Carillon. Delays from single-tracking between Vienna and West Falls Church almost caused me to miss moonrise, which was at 8 p.m. But I arrived at the Carillon just in time, and I found more than 50 photographers already set up with cameras and tripods waiting to shoot the rise of the harvest moon.
The photographers were arranged in three rows facing east. I quickly chose the left end of the middle row and set up two cameras with tripods. I had just enough time to take a few test shots to verify focus and exposure.
My primary camera is a Sony a7rII, which I set at f/8, ISO 800, 1.6 seconds. My backup camera is a Sony a99, which I set at f/7.1, ISO 400, 3.2 seconds. I used my Sony a99 to construct a video by locking down the cable release button for continuous shooting and then arranging and compressing the still images into a 1080p time-lapse clip. It’s easier to shoot video in the camera’s movie mode, of course, but I like to have the sequence of high-definition images to go with the video.
At 8:02 p.m., the moon became visible on the horizon between the Washington Monument and Capitol. “That’s beautiful,” a nearby photographer exclaimed. It really was a beautiful sight. Of the many moonrise photo shoots I’ve done over the years, this one was my favorite. In my opinion, a moonrise in Washington doesn’t get much nicer and photogenic than Saturday’s.
Included in this post are a few of my still photos from the evening with time stamps and my camera settings, and my video of the moonrise that I constructed with a sequence of still photos. Also included are some of the reader-contributed photos.
#Moonrise over the #Capitol. #harvestmoon @capitalweather @SteveRudinABC7 @weatherchannel @shomaristone @hbwx pic.twitter.com/guLzrEdcBT
— Jim Knapp (@JimKnappPhotog) September 18, 2016
Shine on, shine on Harvest Moon https://t.co/bHyZ1MRwlQ @capitalweather pic.twitter.com/AT8mEyEM11
— Tom Mockler (@TomMockler) September 17, 2016
Shine on, Harvest Moon! @capitalweather pic.twitter.com/Ce998dVSvo
— Jan Wilder (@janlwilder) September 17, 2016
Amazing Harvest Moon Fairfax VA @capitalweather pic.twitter.com/CxcpwLJjzR
— DGagWillen (@DianeWillen) September 18, 2016