Mirrored Crescents

My virgin voyage to the iconic Mesa Arch was not a let-down. I arrived 1 hour before sunrise, and already 3 other photographers were there. They had already staked out there positions,clustered toward the center of the arch. After surveying the various angles, I preferred a foreshortened view townd the right side. While the arch was still in relative darkness, the underside began its transformation to an orange glow. I wanted to include the moon if I could, as it mirrored the shape of the arch and would hopefully add a little extra interest to the image. I took 5 vertical images using a slight zoom which made the moon larger in the image and gave more prominance to the distant La Sal Mnts. and Washer Woman Arch. I exposed for the yellow area toward the center of the arch opening. I used my head lamp to add some additional illumination to the rest of the backside of the arch. Some unwanted moon movement was corrected due to the long exposure. Shadow details were regained after processing the RAW file, and color adjustment was based on later exposurers when the arch was more fully illumnated.