Along with the many excellent points made so far, the moon phase is also important. It's natural to see a full moon and say, I want to shoot that, but actually this is the least interesting phase for photographs. It is like shooting a portrait with strong on-axis flash -- no shadows, looks flat. One of the things that makes
wildman's photo so good is the extra contrast and detail that comes from having shadows.
Worth experimenting with f/5.6 to see if that gives better results than f/8. DOF is not a concern here! Focus bracketing also a good idea, if you don't have live view.