Wolf Supermoon 2026

Just a few days after the New Year, photographers were greeted with another show. This time a celestial show. The first supermoon, the Wolf Supermoon, would happen on January 3rd, 2026.

Planning

Location

I as eager to try to catch the supermoon and was looking for locations. After doom-scrolling on Google Maps in the morning, I finally found a location where I could photograph the moon and checked the weather forecast. I decided on the Münsing Tree. It is an over 100-year old Oak Tree near the village of Münsing. After doing some research, I found that the tree also has a Facebook Fan Group.

Weather

My main concern were clouds. If there are clouds, you won’t see the moon. I knew from various weather sources that the best conditions would be south of Munich.

I checked multiple sources and it was questionable if there would be a clear sky. Weather services predicted a blue sky throughout the day at the location, but right when the moon would be at the ideal location, some of the weather models forecasted heavy cloud cover, even on the horizon. Something I don’t want at all.

Visualization

Satellite View also helped. While checking the alignment locations PlanIt provided, I saw some where behind a small mini forest and I would most likely not be able to see the tree from there.

For shots like this, you want to use a long focal length to compress the image. My longest reach is 600mm on my Canon R5 MkII. You can select your camera body and the focal length in PlanIt as well to give you a nice VR preview. 

So in theory everything looked great and I decided to give it a shot. The weather looked great, some clouds were in the sky and I just hoped they wouldn’t impede my view to much.

On-Site Scouting

I arrived almost two hours before moon rise. This locations seems to be a favorite as many people came here and just walked the dirt roads to get some exercise in. Parking wasn’t to bad. There was a big gravel area where I was able to park. 

I started to take the trails and see which of the marked locations would give me a good view of the tree. Unfortunately there was a forest area behind the hill with the tree which had large trees and obstructed the view partially. I was hoping to only have the tree on the top of the hill and me below in the field and just the moon behind it. 

Remember the small forest area from where I would be shooting from. It actually helped to be there, as I was able to set up my camera behind some trees which would block the wind and reduce the camera shake by wind. The lens is huge and the wind was blowing pretty strong and would have definitely ruined the shots.

There is a location where you could get that shot with the tree all by itself on top of the hill, but that wouldn’t align with today’s orbit of the moon.

But while walking the trails around the area, I also saw that there is a small barn on the hill and this location would get the moonrise a few minutes before the tree would get it. 

New plan was to go get that shot first, take a few photos and then move over to the other location which was maybe 400ft away. So not to bad. While scouting the area, I left my gear in the car so the batteries would stay warm and charged and I don’t have to carry the heavy gear around with me. 

After having my plan set for the moonrise, I went back to the car to warm up. I didn’t bring heavy enough gloves with me, so my fingers were a bit cold. 

Sunset Photos

As the moon would rise about 30 minutes after sunset, I was also able to capture the sunset before changing my lens to my big boy to get the moon shot. It was even worth it to come here just for the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset. Not much red in the sky but still beautiful. It would have been a better picture with no clouds in front of the mountains, the German Alps. 

Luckily these clouds were opposite to where the moon would rise and I kept an eye on the incoming clouds while waiting. They all vanished and wouldn’t make it to where they would be in the way of my shoots.

The Wolf Supermoon

Thanks to PlanIt Pro, I know precisely when the moon will be high enough in the sky to be visible behind the hill. About ten minutes before the moon would be in position, I started the short trek to my first shooting location. A couple was coming back from the same trail and was curious what I would do with my “big gun” as the guy called it. We had a quick chat that I am waiting for the moon rise and that it is a supermoon today. They were totally unaware of it and just said “cool” and went their way. While continuing onto my first shooting location, I also noticed that the wind almost died down completely. I was so relieved about that, as my first shooting location would be in the middle of the field with no protection.

I set up my tripod and framed the barn. A tiny sliver of the moon was already visible as the moon kept on rising above the horizon and on into my framed picture. Since I have such a long lens and only my travel tripod with me, I can’t touch the camera to take pictures but thanks to the Canon Camera Connect app, I can control my camera via Bluetooth and trigger the shutter. There is also the option to fully control the camera via the app, but triggering the shutter was enough for me. I checked the settings and adjusted it as it got darker and darker because of the sun already being below the horizon. I took a bunch of photos at this location before moving on to the Münsing Tree location.

Same procedure here. I set up the camera and framed the tree and waited for the moon to be in the right position. As mentioned earlier, the trees of the forest behind the hill would block some of the view but wouldn’t be an issue. I was just hoping to have nothing in the background. Also from the angle, I had to take the pictures, there were a few more smaller trees also in the frame. They were not next to the tree as it looks like in the photos but rather along a path in front of the tree. Check out the map. Not a big deal either. They are far enough apart and fill the negative space of the image.

Conclusion

It was totally worth it to take the trip to this location. Might need to come back here when there are no clouds in front of the alps. The view from the top of the hill towards the mountain must be amazing. Also Starnberger See (Lake) is not far from here either.

What do you think about the pictures? I wish I had like a 800mm or 1200 mm lens to fully cover the tree with the moon. However, that wouldn’t have been possible today anyway because of the small forest area form where I was shooting. For that, I need to move off to the side to get the tree in frame but this needs to match the moon’s orbit as well and will it be a supermoon then. So many variables. I will definitely keep it on my to-do list.