August full moon 2021: how to photograph the blue moon on your phone or camera with the right settings

Guardian Australia picture editor Carly Earl explains the dos and don'ts of taking pictures of this month's blue moon, also known as a sturgeon moon

With a blue moon rising on Sunday night, many people will pull out their mobile phones to try and get an Instagram-worthy photograph of the August 2021 full moon, also known as a sturgeon moon, but unfortunately the moon is really challenging to get a great photo of.

Two reasons: it is very far away and unless you have a telephoto lens (which makes the moon appear closer than it is) it will always appear as a very small glowing dot in the frame.