What changed: My moon revision definitely isn’t as skilled as the offered revision. But I do enjoy the expanded canvas and contrast. Diane talked me through placing this in the conversation so a side by side comparison could be done…Thanks Diane!
Added after receiving feedback from the community.
There are certainly a lot of things you can try in Photoshop to improve this image. It may be OK as is it just depends on how much you’re willing to alter the image from a standpoint of luminosity, saturation, and general lighting. It’s a little flat so I would probably do something, experimental initially with the lighting and see what happens.
Not too dark for my taste! I assume it was a few days before the full moon so the light on the land is ambient shortly after sunset. The colors look right for that and I’m guessing the contrast may have been pushed up a little, which looks good to me. There is a hint of high thin clouds and I like the trace of color on them. If this is a crop I think I’d like just a bit more sky, so the moon doesn’t feel crowded. I would be tempted to bring out a little more detail in the moon, if possible. I like its ghostly appearance behind the clouds and wouldn’t want to spoil that with too much detail. A very lovely image at any rate!
Agree some selective dodge and burn will increase the 3D look of these mountains
If just colour graded the picture (using gradient map in PS) making the highlights a lighter blue and darks a deeper blue. I might also reduce the magenta a bit
Its a lovely image and worth spending the time post processing to the point that you feel the ambience of being there is adequately represented by the colours in your image.
Great pic
regards
Connie: Works for me and I like what @Huw_Thomas did with the image. The subtle hint of color in the sky is a plus for me. I’ve only been to DV once and only scratched the surface. This makes me want to go back.>=))>
Connie, This is a spectacular images. You sense the temperature dropping in the blue hour. Personally, I don’t find it dark at all. If it were more saturated, it wouldn’t look natural. My only suggestion would be to burn the sky a bit so the moon pops out.
Connie, this is a fine view and the darkness fits the time of day. I like the subtle colors in the sky. The touch of halo around the moon tells me that there was either some dust or some humidity. Since most DV views look west, I’m assuming that this was an almost sunrise view.
A little late here, but I wanted to comment how much I love this! I think the exposure, colors and saturation are spot on. I think it was Diane who mentioned the ambient light just after sunset; right at that time the moon is rising. This looks just like I would imagine if I were standing there.
I also agree with Diane in that I’m wishing for a tad more room above the moon. I’m not sure if you cropped, or were limited with the focal length. I don’t know if you’re up for this kind of editing, but you could easily “stretch” the canvas to provide a little more room. Another advantage doing that would be to bring out even more of the earth’s shadow. It’s subtle, but I do think even without adding more room, you could even enhance or bring out the pick/lavendar a little bit. But that’s an extra bonus.
Very interesting!! I’d love to be able to see it right next to the original, to toggle back and forth. David has made it easy now to add another image with a prompt above and to the right of your post (only you will see it). I think the added one automatically goes at the top , where it should if it’s a revision you like better. If it’s still a second place in the poster’s opinion, there is probably a way to put it below the original. (I’ve gotten behind here lately and have to catch up on some of the new details.)
I do not think the photo is to dark. I love the gradient in the sky showing the Earth Shadow and the last bit of the Belt of Venus. My only suggestion would be to burn the moon down to retain the detail of its surface like I did. I just used a TK lights 4 mask then burned it down, then used the same mask to add contrast, and the same mask to add a little brightness and adjusted the color balance to match the part of the sky the moon is in.
You might even be able to make those adjustment to the RAW file in lightroom or Camera Raw if you are using one of those programs to process the RAW file if you are capturing your photos in RAW.
I like the added canvas and the rest looks good except the moon, for my taste. I dont see any hint of the software you use, but the suggestions by @Youssef_Ismail are worth pursuing. I that’s not an option, let us know and you can probably get information that would work for you.
Most definitely not too dark for my own personal tastes. This scene has a wonderful mix of warm and cool colors both in the landscape as well as the gradation in the sky. The ambient light on the landscape looks very natural and lets those various bands of color have a life of their own. I also quite like those wispy clouds as well as the details in the moon. My only suggestions have been pretty much addressed with your revised version. Very nicely done.
Death Valley is a terrific and a terrible place. I visited twice, but my car broke down during the second time. So fly photographic projects… This picture is wonderful, absolutely. And the number of suggestions above reflect the admiration and passion of all their authors. You may add my admiration now. And a small suggestion: I feel the moon is a bit overdone in the revision. I liked that it was hazed by the very thin clouds. So, here is one more opinion. But congratulations on a wonderful picture.
Yeah, thanks Diane. I got frustrated trying to select the moon and then make the appropriate changes. I don’t have TK8, but I do have Ps & Lr classic. Now I’m wondering if using Lr (I was in Ps when I got frustrated) would do something better. You guys always give me good ideas…
I downloaded the OP, which had the moon more distinctly outlined, and the old-fashioned Quick Selection tool gave a perfect selection. But I wasn’t able to do much with the detail with a masked Curves layer. I’d try massaging a virtual copy for the best moon in raw then opening that one in PS and layering it over the otherwise-good one and masking the moon this way.
