Moon, Barn, and Meadow

--Lannie

Lannie,

I think this is the best one yet. It's bright enough to see and yet you were able to keep the color the moon has when it is just rising.

Thanks, Diane.  This one, however, was less manipulated:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=11985754&size=lg

--Lannie

To be honest, I don't think any amount of editing can fix this one. Maybe this should have been part of the exercise in editing your images. Let me explain why. Regarding the composition, it appears that it was not conceived very well, if at all. Maybe stopping at the side of the road when you saw the moon rising? There is a huge piece of sky that hold no detail and little visual interest. Tree branches poking into the frame. The barn is barely discernable. The fence is cropped in such a way that it looks cut off. The processing of the trees appears that the shadows have been brightened excessively, and look washed out. The moon is an interesting component in the scene, but it doesn't help out the image enough for me. Since you had a 200 at tthe far end of your zoom, a stronger image may have been a zoom on the moon.  Hope this helps, my intention was to improve your images though it may have sounded too harsh.  Not my intent.

Regards, Harry

Thanks, Harry.  The fact is that it is part of a series of exercises as to how to get the moon's detail without having to shop in a separate exposure of the moon.

I agree with most everything you say, except that I rather like the sky.  The reason?  The purple is the shadow of the earth, and the pink above is the "good light" that we love to get just before sunset.  There has always been something about the earth's shadow climbing the sky just after sunset that fascinates me--the "deep purple" effect.

--Lannie

Lannie -  While I agree that the shadow effect makes for a great touch in a photo, there seem to be a lot of distracting parts to this image that prevent me from appreciating that part of the image.  A zoomed moon creeping into the pinks, or in the transition zone would have allowed you more detail in the moon, which is difficult to see at this size in the image and also would also have allowed you to highlight that part of the sky.  A simplified image may have better achieved your goals in this instance.

Harry

You have a good idea there about getting the moon in the "transition zone," Harry.  As for the rest, I have discussed on the other shots how it came to be that I took this shot in the first place. 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=11985754

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=12002470

For the moment I will keep it posted, warts and all.  I won't try to defend the quality of the photo.

--Lannie

Get a load of this one by Aldemar A:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=12021150

--Lannie