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Top Mobile Photography Tips for Taking Photos of this Weekend’s ‘Supermoon’

With this Sunday seeing the summer’s second ‘supermoon’ illuminate the sky plus an annual meteor shower expected to make an appearance, amateur stargazers are in for a real treat. Sunday’s moon will be the biggest and brightest of 2014 making it the perfect opportunity to update your albums with photos that are truly out of his world.

The scientific name for a “supermoon” is a perigee moon, perigee meaning “closest point to earth”. It refers to the phenomenon when the moon is in its “full moon” stage, and at its closest point to earth during its yearly orbit. With the moon being closer, it appears far bigger and far brighter. Estimates believe that this Sunday’s supermoon will appear over 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter to stargazers below.

Samsung Electronics UK has devised a short guide to taking the perfect shots of your celestial sightings:

 

Get in close

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It might be the biggest one we’ve had all year, but the moon will still be very far away and you might want to zoom in to get the best shot to show your friends and family. That means you need a camera or smartphone with superior optical technology or a retractable lens which will allow you to get in close enough to make the moon the focal point of your shot without the end result being blurry.

Need for speed

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‘The moon appears suspended between the spires of the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon’
Mike Zacchino/AP

Yes it’s a moon. Yes it will be there all night. But most likely you may have to contend with areas of cloud. For all you shutterbugs who don’t want to miss your chance to get the perfect shot, shutter speed can be the difference between capturing a great shot of a Supermoon in all its glory….or ending up with lots of shots of clouds obscuring your view. Invest in a camera or smartphone with a high shutter speed to avoid any disappointing photo finishes.

Timing is everything

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‘In this surreal image, the supermoon rises behind fans during a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California’, Mark J Terrill/AP

Alternatively, if you do want more in your shot and to frame the Supermoon with buildings, trees or clouds, then the best time to get your camera out is said to be as the moon’s rising above the horizon. Select the ‘burst’ shot or auto focus option on your camera or smartphone to capture a quick succession of shots as the moon emerges in the sky, giving you lots of options to find your perfect, profile-worthy pic.

Be careful not to under- or over- expose

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Figurines on a Chinese pavilion appear as though they are walking on the moon in Beijing, China’, Ng Han Guan/AP

The moon can be tricky to photograph as it’s a very bright object offset by a dark background. Try experimenting with the different functions on your camera or smartphone to get the best shot. For example, some use High Dynamic Range to take multiple photographs at different exposure levels and then combine them to produce a photograph that is crisp, sharp, and neither under nor over exposed.

Snap and share

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This gorgeous silhouette is the castle of Somoskoujfalu, situated 123 kilometres northeast of Budapest, Hungary’,
Peter Komka/AP

The likelihood is, you won’t be the only one out there this weekend aiming to take a great shot of the latest ‘Supermoon’. But you can make sure you’re the first to share yours with everyone by using a camera or smartphone that has built-in NFC and Wi-Fi capabilities, making it is easier than ever to send your snaps to your nearest and dearest.

Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: joanne@theappwhisperer.com

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