Skies were brighter than usual tonight, thanks to a full moon. This New Year’s Eve full moon is what’s known as a blue moon, because it’s the second full moon in a month. Last time this happened on a new year’s eve was 1990. Regular blue moons occur about once every two and a half years, which is the origin of the saying “once in a blue moon.”
The key to photographing the moon is a sturdy tripod and a long focal length lens. I used my trusty Gitzo Carbon Fiber tripod, my brand new Canon 7D, and 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens. I photographed this photo at 200mm which is equivalent to a 320mm lens in the film world. The other key is to underexpose this photo because the sky is so dark, it fools the camera’s auto exposure matrix meter. You can compensate this by, first Spot Metering to meter the moon only and ignore the rest of the sky. The other option is to meter this photo with any auto metering mode with a exposure compensation turned on. I photographed this photo with a -2 stop setting. Finally, you can use manual metering mode.
So, give it a try in the year 2010 and photograph your own moon! 
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