Blue Moon

[ST1]

One from this morning, I was hoping for a little more colour in the lower sky and how I wished I had set the moon on a third vertical. Still who said rules were made for breaking

[Mark von Kanel]

Hi Peter,

Lovely colours and mood but for some reason this one doesnt quite do it for me, cant quite put my finger on why... maybe the lack of sharpness in the silhouette. could also be the moons a little small for the image??? dunno....

[IzzieK]

Hey Peter Stockton -- all you have to do is get another shot of the moon you can enlarge and dump it in (merge) behind the third side of those bushes (where the chimney is...) and wallah! you have a great creation shot. I won't tell it is a composite if you don't.

I like the sillouette though...it has a lot of possibilities...

[Mark von Kanel]

Hey Peter Stockton -- all you have to do is get another shot of the moon you can enlarge and dump it in (merge) behind the third side of those bushes (where the chimney is...) and wallah! you have a great creation shot. I won't tell it is a composite if you don't.

I like the sillouette though...it has a lot of possibilities...

OOOO Izzie for the first time i find myself disagreeing with you!!! The sky colour in that area would be wrong so that would need changing, and i dont think the perspective of a larger moon would look right.... worth a try i suppose though.

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Peter,

I am fairly certain that the camera 'shook' or moved in the vertical direction, during the exposure, which explains the soft foreground silhouette and the wider edge to the lower crescent edge. I don't think it was a lack of focus problem.

EXIF Canon 5D3, 115mm on the 70-200mm/f/2.8L, 1/4 second, f/8, iso 400 - handheld? - or perhaps mirror bounce? IS not on?

I was hoping for a little more colour in the lower sky and how I wished I had set the moon on a third vertical.

I believe selectively enhancing just the warmer colours along the horizon could be quite easily be done in LR, well it could in ACR and they're pretty similar.

In PS or Elements, the moon could be moved with the clone tool easily enough, here's an example where I 'clone moved' the plane slightly (less than it's own length) to be in a better location with respect to the moon and the frame edge. I think I do recall having some issues with the blue gradient, but I seem to have resolved them.

However, unfortunately the aforementioned camera shake would still spoil this image, unless you also used Focus Magic or a similar tool (I think PS CC has one) to remove the vertical smear too - it is possible to improve shake issues like this somewhat - you dial in the angle and number of pixels slippage and it does the 'magic', if not quite right, undo and try again with slightly different number(s).

You would probably learn a lot trying out these 3 techniques - and as you can tell, I have
Not saying I use these 'skills' often, but it all helps, or may do one day, even if 'only' here at CiC.

I can certainly see why you took the shot and the exposure is good.

'Next time', rather than grab one shot, grab several (you may have), and think about the potential problems - all easy for me to say in hindsight and not under external pressures you may have been (e.g. on your way to somewhere else). Not that I want to discourage you, or anyone else, from taking grab shots, which I am assuming this was), but I have to admit to having (almost) given up taking them myself - because I find if I don't really think it through and give it the time it deserves, I end up with disappointing results. On the other hand, how else are we to learn

Cheers, Dave

[Mark von Kanel]

How about a few stars?

[ST1]

Thanks everyone who took time to look and comment, your thoughts are most welcome.

@ Dave first of all thanks for such a detailed response, you were spot on with your detective work.

Hand held - yes
Grab shot - yes
Other pressures - yes, it was minus 3.6c outside and I was stood at the open window in just my Channel No.5
IS off - I wasn't sure about this but...I have just checked the lens and you are absolutely correct the IS was switched off

@ Mark, the stars have rescued my poor rendition of the scene, thanks

[IzzieK]

OOOO Izzie for the first time i find myself disagreeing with you!!! The sky colour in that area would be wrong so that would need changing, and i dont think the perspective of a larger moon would look right.... worth a try i suppose though.

You'll never know what you have until you've done it. I have in one of my animation that uses something similar sillouette as the foreground and a very large planet (or moon) right behind the sillouette that is why I said what I said. Then the rest of the blue was like misty. I wish I can upload it here but it was not my work, the animation, I mean...