The moon can either be your best friend or your worst enemy when shooting, it all depends what you are trying to do, with cloud movement it can make some very atmospheric shots. With star trails the moon can tend to wash them out along with light pollution.

The moon is visible every month, going through the stages of new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter and back to the new moon. The moon is full and at it's brightest for 3 days.

As far as night shooting goes, you need to know the lunar cycle within the calendar to use it to your advantage. If you want star trails it's best to shoot outside of when the moon is visible, and for other shooting you may want to shoot within the full moon.

For those of you who are interested in working with the moon in some description weather you are doing some telephoto lunar photography, including the moon in your night shots or using it for lighting, or even if you are just in to astronomy, here are the moon cycles for 2011. Note: this may vary due to where in the world you re but this is accurate to the UK.