About 2-4 times a year, the Sun, Earth, and Moon all align causing the moon to be plunged into temporary darkness. This is called a Lunar Eclipse.

Most of the time, the moon only passes through the Penumbra.  This is called a Penumbra Lunar Eclipse.
The moon will still have some sunlight shining on it, so a Penumbra Lunar Eclipse can be difficult to see.

When the Moon partially enters the Umbra, the darkest part of the Earths shadow, this is called a Partial Lunar Eclipse.

When the Moon fully enters the Earths Umbra, this is called a Total Lunar Eclipse. When this happens, the moon glows a deep red color because it is being illuminated by the refracting light passing through the Earths atmosphere. This phenomenon has been coined a “Blood Moon”  The earths atmosphere stops the blue and green light from being refracting but passes the red light through. This is the same reason sunsets are red, light refracting through the atmosphere.

If you were standing on the moon, looking back at the Earth during a Total Lunar Eclipse, you would see every sunrise, and every sunset on the planet all at once. I wish I could see that. What a sight that would be.

It might look something like this:

Camera Settings:

When taking pictures of the moon, it is surprisingly bright. You can get away with using a fairly fast shutter speed, but the blood moon is much dimmer.

• Shutter Speed: anywhere from 1/2 second to 1 second.
• ISO 800
• Aperture: f4, for a larger Depth of Field to make sure you get the whole moon in focus.

Other things to bring:

• Tripod, to guarantee a sharp picture when using a slow shutter speeds.
• Remote release, to reduce camera shake and be able to control the camera from a sitting position.
• A fold up chair so you are not standing next to your tripod for several hours.
• Binoculars, it is safe to look at a lunar eclipse with the naked eye.
• A warm drink, it can get cold out on a clear night.
• Somebody to share the view with.

Shooting with a telephoto lens:

The moon is surprising small in the sky. A zoom lens such as the 70-200 will get you closer, but it will still be small in your frame. The blood moon photo at the top of this post was shot at 400mm on a crop sensor camera, and it was still small in the frame. I had to crop in to get the moon larger in the frame.

When zoomed in on the moon, you will see the movement of it through the sky. You will need to shoot with a faster shutter speed to freeze the moon in place. Using anything faster than a 1/2 second increases your chances of blurring the moon.

Shooting with a wide angle lens.

The moon will be extremely tiny in the frame when shooting at a wider focal length. This kind of image can still be interesting. Find a cool location where the moon can be in the sky above an old building, or next to a mountain.

It is still suggested that you use a tripod when photographing the blood moon with a wide angle lens. This allows you to use a lower ISO for a better image quality, and a slower shutter speed to pick up any ambient light.

Creating a composite

It is fun to take several images of the solar eclipse take at different phases and combine them into a single image. This creates a stunning image showing all the phases of a Lunar Eclipse.

When do they happen?

Fortunately it is very easy for astronomers to calculate for when another eclipse is going to happen, the sun, stars, planets, and moons, etc are all very constantly moving. Astronomers know when all the eclipse are going to happen for hundreds of years into the future.

Resources for finding the next lunar eclipse.

• Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events
• Sky and Telescope: The Essential Guide to Astronomy
• The U.S. Naval Observatory Lunar Eclipse Computer – To show you the exact path of the eclipse, and when it will be directly over your location.
• The Photographers Ephemeris – To show you when and where the Sun and Moon will set wherever you are on earth.
• Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide – An awesome list of every eclipse over the next 10 years.

• Solar and Lunar Eclipses Worldwide – Next 10 years

Now you are ready to get some great shots of the next Blood Moon. The next Total Lunar Eclipse takes place on September 28, 2015. Make sure not to miss this one, the next one won’t be until 2018.