Here are some photographs I have myself taken of the moon. They were taken with a Fuji camera with a 30x optical zoom.
Note that although Photo 3 was taken with identical exposure time and aperture as Photo 1 (in both cases, 1/80 second, and F/5.9), Photo 3 is substantially darker. Photo 1 was taken on 28 September 2018, 3 days after Full Moon. It is a long-documented fact that the moon is substantially brighter around Full Moon than when it near either of the half moons. This fact offers clues as to the nature and texture of the lunar surface.
One might also notice that the lunar image in Photo 3 has a slightly-larger diameter than that in Photo 1. Photo 3 was taken 2 days after the moon reached perigee (the closest point in its orbit round the Earth). Photo 1 was taken about half way between apogee (on 20 September 2018), and perigee (on 5 October 2018).
Many features such as craters often tend to stand out most near the terminator (the part of the moon where the sun is quite low in its sky), since shadows are enhanced in these regions.
General advice for people wishing to explore the moon with an astronomical telescope tends to be to begin observing some time around half moon (first or last quarter), rather than full moon. At these times the terminator (region of sunrise or sunset) runs across near the middle of the visible hemisphere of the moon, and we can look straight down on features which are in strong relief.
Particular features on the lunar surface are generally best viewed at particular times during the lunar month.
This page last updated 30 July 2020