Crossing the Supermoon
By Amethel Parel-Sewell
NIGHTSCAPES HEAD JUDGE & CURATOR
I live on Mt. Helix and every day, I admire the cross — a landmark at the peak of our mountain. I used PhotoPills to determine that this supermoon, the Cold Moon and the only supermoon of the year, had nearly perfect alignment with the cross in early December 2017. I scouted the area for ideal vantage points for shooting. I even rented a Tamron 150-600mm lens from Nelson Photo.
While the supermoon was 100% full on a Sunday, I planned to shoot the night before because the moon was rising right before sunset, giving more ambient light. The moon (about 97.5% full) would rise at 4:19pm and the sun would set at 4:38pm. However, with the elevation of the Mt. Helix cross at about 1,375 ft., the moon wouldn’t rise above it until after sunset. I just hoped that it would rise before the end of the blue hour so I could have a hint of ambient light. As the sun set, I kept adjusting my exposure and pushing my ISO as I eagerly waited for the moon to rise above the mountain. Finally, it did and my heart jumped!
As soon as the moon appeared, I could see that I was off center in framing the cross. So I quickly sprinted up the street and repositioned myself. With my heart speeding, I shot as many frames as I could with the cross centered in the moon. Because I wanted to get some details on the cross and mountain, my initial frames were too overexposed for the moon. The moon moved so fast that I didn’t have time to bracket. I waited a couple of minutes for the moon to move past the clouds directly above, then I took exposures just for the moon. The final image is a blend of the base exposure and the moon. The size and positioning of the moon are straight out of camera.
EXPSOSURE BLEND / Canon 5D Mk IV / Cross/mountain: Tamron G2 150-600mm @ 600mm / 1/80s @ f6.3 / 3200 ISO
Moon: Tamron G2 150-600mm @ 600mm (tripod in same position, shot a few minutes later for exposure blend) / 1/160sec @ f10 / 3200 ISO
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Amethel Parel-Sewell is the founder of Light Chasers, and the head judge and curator of the Nightscapes competition and exhibit. She lives in San Diego, and her job is based in Chicago, but she considers herself a world citizen.
After a turbulent migration from the Philippines to the United States when she was young, she discovered her love of photography and found solace in it when she was nine years old. She pursued photography with vigor and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Photojournalism, with dual minors in Graphic Design and Folk Studies (research and analysis of societies and culture).
Amethel’s interests in social justice, education, the arts, travel, and exploring the unknown led to a career as a leader in strategic, visual, and editorial communications. She is inspired by her multi-disciplinary experiences as an editor-in-chief, photography editor, photojournalist, graphic designer, multimedia producer, writer, entrepreneur, consultant, and mentor. She is the Editor/Creative Director for Brilliant Star, an award-winning agency serving to empower kids, youth, parents, and teachers around the world. When Amethel is not fervently juggling the demands of work and family, she’s tending to her succulent garden or she’s chasing the light, the stars, or the moon.
https://www.instagram.com/amethel_lightchaser/