Stunning Photo Captures Unique Moonbow During Total Lunar Eclipse: "I'll Definitely Do This Again"

Earlier this month, a A total lunar eclipse could be seen from all over the planet. And the U.S. was ideally positioned to witness the finest part of this incredible spectacle late on March 13.

Over several hours, stargazers watched in awe As the moon's shadow gradually moved over the lunar landscape, transforming our closest heavenly body into a deep crimson hue.

Billy Buchanan ( Narcoleptic Nightscapes He successfully captured both an impressive total lunar eclipse sequence and a seldom-seen moonbow at Cumberland Falls State Park in Corbin, Kentucky. When asked via email, Buchanan said, “I have never attempted anything of this sort before, but rest assured, it won’t be my last.”

What is a moonbow?

A moonbow, also known as a lunar rainbow, is an uncommon sight that happens when light from the moon is bent, reflected, and spread out by water droplets in the atmosphere, similar to how a regular daylight rainbow forms.

Since moonlight is significantly weaker compared to sunlight, moonbows typically appear white or quite pale in color. They are most visible on dark, clear evenings. the moon is vivid—usually occurring close to a full moon. Unlike daylight rainbows, photographing moonbows necessitates using long exposure times. reveal their full spectrum of hues to the human vision.

Everything wasn't smooth sailing.

This last picture demanded not just careful planning and extensive post-processing but also persistence, a touch of fortune with the conditions, and quite a bit of physical effort!

"I want to recognize and express my gratitude to Mike Shaw and Glenn Randall for assisting me in refining and thinking more critically about what it would take to make this happen and what possible obstacles could sabotage the concept," Buchanan stated to GudangMovies21.

Even though the weather prediction indicated cloudless nights from March 13 to March 14, Buchanan encountered a storm warning featuring powerful gusts and hail when he was roughly 20 miles away from his selected photographic location.

"When I began hauling everything I needed to my intended setup location, the rain started pouring down. In total, I was transporting approximately 135 pounds worth of equipment and supplies, including 40 pounds dedicated solely to weighting down the tripod—which held the panoramic head—to ensure complete stability," Buchanan mentioned.

The cloud cover to the north lasted longer than expected, delaying Buchanan and preventing him from achieving his original concept of a blue-hour foreground photograph.

Capturing the ultimate moonshot

To create this breathtaking panoramic shot of the total eclipse lunar eclipse and employed a moonbow, Buchanan utilized a Nikon Z9 A camera equipped with a 20mm wide-angle lens along with a specialized panoramic tripod attachment to merge several photos into one. The end result is an amalgamation of various exposure settings applied individually to the sky, the foreground, and the moon.

For capturing the night sky, Buchanan employed a brief exposure time of 10 seconds to capture the stars while ensuring the landscape remained sharp. In contrast, the foreground demanded significantly longer exposures—up to two minutes—to illuminate the finer details under dim lighting conditions. As for the moon, varying adjustments were necessary through the lunar eclipse; he started with a lower ISO of 200 prior to totality and switched to an increased ISO of 800 during totality to maintain optimal luminosity.

Since the moon traversed the sky during the night, Buchanan explained that he needed to meticulously combine several photographs to form its trajectory in the concluding panoramic view. Certain lunar pictures were replicated and subtly altered to preserve the seamless sequence.

The process entailed combining the images with the help of specialized software called PTGui, tweaking the brightness and hues to align various parts of the sky seamlessly, and minimizing noise to improve sharpness.

Buchanan doubted his ability to depict this scene as he had originally imagined.

Buchanan explained, "To include the moonbow in my composition, I realized I had to employ a panoramic technique. However, merging the challenging moon exposures with this method was tricky; doing so without overexposing either the moon or the rest of the scene required careful consideration."

At first, I thought about taking a panoramic shot at every interval and then overlaying all these combined panoramas to hide the movement of the moons," Buchanan went on. "But even with all the people walking around, flashlight beams, and glowing phone screens, I soon realized this approach wouldn’t work. Therefore, I changed tactics and decided to photograph the foreground, sky, and moons individually before merging everything into one image.

Ultimately, this approach proved spectacular, enabling Buchanan to produce an image surpassing his initial expectations. He remarked, “The moment I viewed the first rendition with the moons integrated into the sky sections and the panoramic pieces combined, I realized immediately that it exceeded my original vision.”

The relative sizes of the two arcs effectively symbolize the significant difference in scale between human experiences and our interactions. Earth "And the immense size and magnificence of 'GudangMovies21' compared to our nearest neighbor," Buchanan said.

Editor's Note: Should you capture a stunning image of the nighttime sky and wish to feature it for GudangMovies21’s audience, please forward your photograph(s), along with any remarks and details such as your full name and whereabouts, to GudangMovies21photos@GudangMovies21.