Total lunar eclipse, 27 September 2015 - what a treat - this occurred during an easy hour (10 - 11+pm) on an all but cloudless night in Concord. My camera was on a tripod, 300mm lens, and no compensation for motion. The moon at full brightness is nice and sharp (shutter at 1/640s), while the red shots were 5s - and can see blurring in the direction of travel.
As well publicized, the red color comes from the light of the sun having passed through the atmosphere of the earth (other colors have been filtered, just as in the case of a sunset), and the light rays also are bent as through a lens to illuminate the moon. direct light from the sun is entirely blocked by the shadow of the earth, and so the moon is lit only by that light that has passed through the atmosphere of the earth, filtered as with a sunset, and path bent by the prism of the earth's atmosphere to illuminate the moon.
The red light is just becoming apparent in the third image, and by the fifth image the eclipse is total. The rim of direct light can be seen to swing from the right side of the moon around to the left as the moon begins to come out of the eclipse.
On a July late-night dog walk I noticed the full moon - very yellow, and just rising. I returned soon after with my camera - only to find no moon at all! Soon I discovered a very striking cloud cover, and moving fairly quickly.
Once the moon came into view, I realized I must choose exposure to show either the clouds or the moon. First thing was to capture the yellow moon. And then I could not pass up a regular shot of the moon - camera at f/9 1/250 sec. and then the clouds - about 1/4 second exposure.
