We’ve been at the beach for a week but I hadn’t managed to drag my sorry self out of bed for sunrise – until this morning.  I was well rewarded.  I’m kind of picky about when I’m willing to get up – tides, weather and sunrise time play a role.  I looked at the weather forecast before heading to bed last night and decided it would likely be a good chance for photos.  We’ve got some clouds rolling in today with a chance of thunderstorms this afternoon and overnight.  Tomorrow might be a good morning too, we’ll have to see if I can motivate myself two mornings in a row. 😉

I like to photograph the moon on the night before the “full” moon because there is still enough light in the sky, and on the foreground if you have a foreground, to illuminate the landscape and provide some detail.  Sometimes, like Tuesday night, the rising moon is actually more full than it will be on Wednesday night.  Of course the part that gets all the press is the so-called “Supermoon.” (because now we have to name everything) which “officially” happened this morning, but the moon wasn’t visible here at that time.

According to The Photographer’s Ephemeris, the moon was at 99.65% at moonrise last night and will be at 99.49% at moonrise tonight.  What does that get you?  Add a couple of bucks and it gets you a cup of coffee.

Photographing the moon rising over the ocean can be kind of boring and usually works better with an interesting foreground.  We have some nice trees in front of our rental condo here in Hilton Head, SC.  So I was able to have my camera on the balcony while we were having dinner, and managed to take a few shots between bites and sips. 😉