PhotoPills is iPhone software that helps you plan photographs of the sun, moon, Milky Way and more. I bought the software several years ago but this was the first time I actually planned a photo and when out to execute the plan.
The idea was to photograph the moon over the iconic Provencher Bridge, more specifically the Esplanade Riel bridge which runs in parallel for pedestrians and cyclists.
This idea was to have the moon right at the top of the peak of the bridge. Here is the plan.
The red pin is the shooting location and the black pin is the centre of the spire on the bridge. The thin blue line is where the moon will be at 6:09am, 2022-01-28, right over the bridge spire.
One of the tips in planning these photos is to scope out your shooting location physically to get familiar with the area before arriving in the dark, a good tip.
I thought I knew the area so I skipped the scouting trip. I’d just drive up Waterfront Drive, park near the train bridge (red pin) and I’m good to go. What I didn’t account for was the line of sight from the red dot to the bridge. I get to the spot, turn around, and I can’t see any of the bridge! It’s completely obscured by the large trees that line the river bank and I’m not up high enough to shoot over them. 🙁
So, when I moved to a near by spot where could get a good sightline to the bridge, the moon of course was now no longer in the correct position and this was the result.
The other learning was to better understand how high the moon will be relative to the top of the bridge. Photopills calculates the hight of the moon but you need to figure out how high the bridge is. A little internet searching turned up:
Top of the pylon is 57 metres (187 ft) above the bridge deck, and the bridge deck is about 11 metres (36 ft) above the water level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esplanade_Riel
So, my shooting spot is -10m from the black pin which appears to be the bridge deck not the top of the spire so I’d need the moon to be ~67m. According to Photopills the moon would be 70m higher that the black pin. So, it should have worked, but I wasn’t at the red pin shooting location but the moon seems like it would still be too low.
My next attempt will be on 2022-02-17 at 12:41am when there will be a full moon. Hopefully, the weather will be good and there will be a clear sky. This time, for sure, my shooting location is better known and there is nothing between the spot and the bridge spire.