Who hasn't wanted to try for a killer moon shot? And honestly, getting a good photo of our favorite satellite is pretty straightforward.
Since it reflects a ton of light, the settings you need are pretty simple: low ISO, a medium shutter speed, wide-open aperture, and use the screen magnifier to nail focus. A tripod helps a lot, but you can absolutely shoot the moon handheld just fine.
The hard part is finding a scene that actually works with the moon so the photo has some personality—but sometimes less is more.
Taking advantage of a “blue full moon” in June, I got this shot and then played with the colors based on what was trending. It's called a “mineral” Moon , because it brings out the more-or-less natural colors of the different lunar regions.
This one's our satellite in a crescent phase. I tweaked the settings a bit to get more surface detail.
I got a little carried away with this one. Same night as the first shot above, I also grabbed a long-exposure night shot of the area to catch the light trails from cars on the highway. Then I composited the two so the moon sat in the highway frame—but I kept the apparent diameter and the color straight from camera. Honestly, if I'd waited about two hours, the moon would've been right there anyway, but it was late and I just shot them separately. Still, the photo's pretty honest, okay?
Last up: this waning-phase shot, handheld, with similar settings—but it wasn't full night yet, just blue hour. I actually got some fantastic detail. The earthy color is a personal choice; nudge the white balance a little and you can get cooler or warmer moons.
Photbones you can mention that the most important thing is for the atmosphere to be as clear as possible and to be in the right place at the perfect time.
I'll give you that one.