Clouds with Moon

Another storm shot from Central Missouri. I was facing East and the sun was starting to set, casting shadows on the lower clouds and illuminating the upper clouds. Just got lucky with the moon.

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Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
I shot this in 2010, Canon 50D, 1/250 @ F13, ISO 400, 18-270 @ 91mm.

I upped the Contrast and lowered Highlights and Whites, adding small amounts of Clarity and Vibrance.

2 Likes

What a great formation! The midwest has some doozies for storms. Did you try some noise reduction here? I think it could use it and would result in a smoother image. The colors blend pretty nicely and it’s a shame to disrupt that.

Merle, getting the thunderhead and the nearly full moon in a single shot is quite a feat and the combo looks great. The noise level says this is a scan from a slide, making it clear how much better digital capture has gotten…remember when the “experts” said that it would take at least a 10 MB digital file to give equal resolution to low speed slide films… The moon’s shape says that this was either one or two days after the full moon, which fits your description of setting sun illumination.

Kris, Mark thanks for looking. Actually this was shot in RAW with a 50D. I hadn’t tried noise reduction before - however, I just did and to my old eyes all it did was make some of the clouds seem milky. I work in Lightroom, so PS might make a difference.

Some great boiling clouds. I agree with the comments about the noise being quite noticeable. Otherwise, nice capture.

Wonderful thunderheads, Merle. I love the lighting and the angle makes it feel like I could be flying into this. The moon is a very cool bonus.

Now THAT is a cloud!!! And a well-lighted one at that! And the moon is icing.

I suspect you can do better with NR. Don’t do too much with the sliders in LR and try the latest Topaz DeNoise AI. Compare the various options. Then do any strong tonal adjustments still needed.

Very impressive Merle, that is one amazing formation.

I agree with Dennis, this looks like the type of view I would expect see from flying in an airliner.

Well seen, Merle and a nice capture.

Thank you all for your analysis and suggestions. When Elements first came out, I started with it, transitioned to LR, and haven’t used any other programs. However, it looks like time to try Topaz.
Thanks for the push to get me moving.

O.K. I gave in and moved in the next direction of technology. I purchased Topaz and this is the cleaner version of the clouds. Daaang that works well. Thanks again for the kick in the B%$#^ to get me moving.