Conditions on this page are recalculated from the latest forecast every time it is opened, for the current date in the location's own time zone.
It depends on your goal. Quarter moons show best crater detail along the terminator. Full moons work for landscape compositions. Crescent moons capture earthshine. New moon nights are best for star photography. Use the Looney 11 rule as a starting point: at f/11, shutter speed equals 1/ISO (e.g., ISO 100 = 1/100 sec). For detailed shots, use f/8-f/11, lowest ISO possible, and fast enough shutter to freeze motion. Clear skies with under 20% cloud cover are essential for detailed shots. Low humidity improves atmospheric transparency. Stable air masses provide better "seeing" with less atmospheric shimmer. The moon is a sunlit surface and quite bright. Your camera's auto exposure is fooled by the dark sky. Meter directly on the moon and underexpose slightly, or use manual settings with the Looney 11 rule. How to photograph the moon at every phase — camera settings, weather conditions, and timing tips. From crescent detail shots to full moon landscapes. You drove an hour to shoot the supermoon. Set up your tripod. Waited. Then clouds rolled in at exactly the wrong moment, or atmospheric haze turned your sharp craters into a blurry glow. Moon photography fails are almost always weather fails — here's how to guarantee better results. Each lunar phase presents different photographic opportunities and challenges. There is no single "best" phase for moon photography—rather, different phases suit different creative goals. The new moon is invisible (or nearly so), but do not dismiss this phase. New moon nights offer the darkest skies, perfect for star photography where the moon's light would otherwise wash out faint stars. This is prime time for Milky Way photography and deep-sky imaging. Crescent phases are often underappreciated for moon photography. The thin crescent creates an elegant, minimalist shape that works beautifully in compositions. More importantly, earthshine— sunlight reflected from Earth onto the moon's dark side—becomes visible during crescent phases. Half-illuminated, quarter moons offer excellent crater detail along the terminator (the line between light and dark). The low-angle sunlight creates dramatic shadows that reveal lunar topography. This is perhaps the best phase for detailed surface photography. The full moon is the most commonly photographed phase, and for good reason—it is bright, round, and dramatic. However, full moons present challenges: front-lit by the sun, the lunar surface appears relatively flat with minimal shadow detail. Full moons excel in compositional photography—silhouetted against landscapes, buildings, or other foreground elements. The moonrise and moonset periods, when the full moon is near the horizon, create the most dramatic opportunities. Weather dramatically affects moon photography, sometimes in ways that differ from daytime shooting. Clear skies are essential for detailed moon photography. Even thin high clouds can reduce sharpness and introduce haze around the bright lunar disk. refers to how clearly light passes through the atmosphere. High humidity, dust, smoke, and pollution reduce transparency. Clear, dry air after a cold front often provides excellent transparency. describes atmospheric turbulence that causes the moon to shimmer or blur. Even on clear nights, poor seeing can smear fine detail. Stable air masses produce better seeing; nights after hot days often have poor seeing as heat radiates from the ground. A traditional starting point for moon exposure: at f/11, your shutter speed should be approximately 1/ISO. So at ISO 100, use 1/100 second at f/11. This works because the moon's sunlit surface is actually quite bright. When including foreground elements, you often need multiple exposures—one for the moon, one for foreground, blended in post-processing. Shoot during twilight when foreground and sky brightness are closer to the moon's. Longer focal lengths make the moon appear larger relative to foreground. The moon's position changes not just throughout the night but also from night to night and season to season. Use apps or websites to determine exactly where the moon will rise and set on your shooting date—this is essential for planning compositions with foreground elements. The moon appears largest when near the horizon—this is an optical illusion, but it is also when you can photograph the moon with foreground elements for scale. The hour around moonrise and moonset is prime time for dramatic compositions.
Scores are capped by dealbreakers — heavy rain, dangerous wind, thick fog or hazardous UV pull a day down no matter how pleasant the rest of the numbers look. Forecast data is Open-Meteo; solar and lunar values are computed for Moon Photography's own coordinates and time zone. Full details on the methodology page.