And a RP to fix a processing glitch:
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I’ve not had luck catching the first night’s crescent moons, but thanks to @Youssef_Ismail’s images, I’ve been trying harder and this month and the last I had some success. This was the first night and 1% illuminated. (That varies somewhat month to month as the time of the actual new moon may occur anywhere around the earth.) It was wonderful to first see it, just above the trees as a barely visible eyelash. In a few minutes it got lower and I moved down the driveway where the tree horizon was lower. There were a few clouds but nothing as nice as what Youssef often gets, and no stars close enough to include. (Jupiter was off to the left a bit.) As it got darker theearthshine became visible, but was dimmed by very thin clouds.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome. There is a glitch here, though, that I just saw, on the top and left edges. When I re-focused on the tree the moon had moved a bit and the frames didn’t line up perfectly. I did a very slight Nik Detail Extractor to bring out the earthshine but neglected to do it on the tree layer underneath. No time to fix it now.
Technical Details
Focus stack to get the tree in focus. Some global tonal massaging but nothing heroic.
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2 Likes
Looks pretty good and I’ll ignore the glitch. I like how you were able to capture the darkened portion of the moon. The thin clouds present adds to the scene and provides some warmth in the lower part of the frame. I hardly noticed the silhouetted branches, but can see why you would want them in your comp. Very nice…Jim
Simple and right to the Point. Glad you left the trees dark… I think the sky is really interesting With blues and slight reddish brown clouds that goes into the trees. Lunar photography is hard to do and you always seem to get it right. Really Nice Diane. Im always looking at you Lunar and Solar images. You have that down to a science. !!!
Had to see what went wrong with the borders here. Turns out it was a Dust&Scratches filter! Very surprising. Fixed now, and then with just a tweak more saturation and better detail extractor for the earthshine. I thought I could see a trace of detail in the earthshine in the raw file (could see earthshine barely but no detail with my eye viewing the actual scene). But I was afraid I was like Percival Lowell seeing canals on Mars.
So there is a trace of detail there. This is all I can bring out without trashing the image. (Posted above.) Catching the elusive first night’s crescent is quite amazing!!
Diane,
Nicely done! Did you take two exposures for focus? I usually have to do that if I want to include any nearby objects. Its always nice seeing the Earth Shine effect on the new crescent. I usually try to photograph the crescent as soon as I can see it, and so I usually miss getting the earth shine on it as the sky is still to bright.
Thanks, @Jim_Zablotny, @Gill_Vanderlip and @Youssef_Ismail! Yes, I had to re-focus for the trees, and that made it hard to get back on the moon as AF wasn’t working with such a sliver of a subject. Gill, this frame was 45 min after sunset and looking toward the brightest area of sky, so there just wasn’t any detail in the trees. But I do like that they are silhouettes anyway.
