The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Moon rise over the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park in November 2022. Timing is everything, as I set up later to shoot star trails at a near by location, clouds moved in. I did come away with this image as a consolation for the 1 1/2 hour ride to the park.
Technical Details
1/25 sec f/8 ISO 400 Nikon Z7 70-200mm f/2.8 with a 2x teleconverter. Processed in PS, slight crop.
Hi Gary,
If you shoot in daylight, you can take beautiful pictures in almost any condition. But as an astrophotographer, you are absolutely dependent on the weather.
It is a pity that you could not create your Startrail image. But with this picture, you have found a good alternative.
I really like the composition with the small trees in the foreground, the beautiful mountain, and the big crescent moon.
In my opinion, your image would benefit from some noise reduction. The mountain has a lot of color noise. Additionally, the mountain peak is a bit blurry. That’s a pity because the crescent moon right next to it is nice and sharp.
I hope you don’t mind that I downloaded your wonderful image and ran it quickly through Topas Labs Denoise AI and Sharpen AI:
It’s all good, Jens, thanks for your insight. That’s why I am here.
Subsequently, I performed the same action and using a TK8 Actions luminosity panel, I brightened the datks on the landscape.
Gary, this view of the crescent moon over the mountain does a fine job of capturing the joy and peaceful feelings of seeing the just past new moon on a nice clear night. You’ve got enough detail in the mountains to show off the setting well.
A gorgeous shot! You chose the right time to get a good exposure on both the moon and the mountain. The moon is wonderfully sharp, thanks to clear, cold mountain air.
An interesting side note: I’m on the road on my laptop and I don’t see any noise in the OP. I opened another browser window and enlarged the version by @Jens_Ober and clicking back and forth, they look identical. That tells me I need to be careful with any processing I do directly on the laptop. At home, the same laptop is running a 26" calibrated NEC monitor and it’s not unusual to notice noise in posted images. I wonder how many people here work exclusively on laptops?
Fantastic composition. Was this made in one exposure? In November of 2022, the crescent was not visible in North America on the day of conjunction, so this must have been on the second day, and given its size that makes sense to me. Given that, this photo must have been about an hour or so after sunset, which means the moon was pretty bright and the mountain foreground must have been fairly dark or all dark for a 1/25 sec exposure, even at ISO 400. The issue with noise must have emerged in post-processing while trying to bring out some of the details in the mountain. I might be wrong as I am just speculating. In any case, it is a great photo and a great consolation to being clouded out for starry sky photos.
Gary, this is a lovely look at the mountain and the crescent moon. While I do see a bit of noise, I don’t see it as being enough to detract from the view.
