Moonset Over the Dunes

[ccphoto]

[bnnrcn]

Is this a composite image Chris ? The moon seems as if it was cut and pasted from somewhere else

[ccphoto]

Nope

[ccphoto]

This, however, is a composite using the moon from this shot over another, much smaller moon in another shot.

[Wavelength]

They are two superb images....

[bnnrcn]

The moon in the NEF file looks better and more natural Chris, IMO too much sharpening created that pasted look of moon in the JPG image. You might reduce the overall sharpening a bit and also remove some of the sharpening at the edges of the moon with a brush ( with a preferred opacity)

Nope

[bje07]

Both are nice.
The only remark would be why having centered the moon?

[ccphoto]

It's one of those images where locating the moon off center just never worked right. If it had been lower to the horizon, I think it would have worked better.

[ccphoto]

The moon in the NEF file looks better and more natural Chris, IMO too much sharpening created that pasted look of moon in the JPG image. You might reduce the overall sharpening a bit and also remove some of the sharpening at the edges of the moon with a brush ( with a preferred opacity)

I don't sharpen. I may have gotten a bit too hard on the contrast so will have a look.

[Mike Buckley]

Perhaps two reasons the centered moon's position is so attractive to me is that the moon itself is full and located so nicely above the mound in the ground.

[ccphoto]

The moon in the NEF file looks better and more natural Chris, IMO too much sharpening created that pasted look of moon in the JPG image. You might reduce the overall sharpening a bit and also remove some of the sharpening at the edges of the moon with a brush ( with a preferred opacity)

I went back to the raw file and figured out what happened in ACR. Too much dehazing. This is the final image and the work flow I used. I don't generally do too much to an image in post.