Moonrise and Super Moon

Image Critiques Nightscape & Astro Critiques
1

Moonrise.jpg
Moonrise.jpg2000×1514 572 KB

MoonSept232024.jpg
MoonSept232024.jpg2000×1962 313 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

While camping up at Wilderness State Park, the Super Moon provided an interesting subject. I used my 600mm f4 and a 2x teleconverter for both shots. The moonrise was spectacular and the moon was a pinkish orange in color. I could not quite get that color with post processing. Heat shimmer was also an issue due to extremely warm temperatures and Lake Michigan was radiating a significant amount of heat at dusk. The Super Moon shot was taken on the previous night which was cool and was shot in an open field away from the lake, The next day, I looked at where I shot the image and it was traversed by power lines. I lucked out and missed them during the session.

Specific Feedback

The moonrise is a feeble attempt at night landscape photography. How do you feel about the heat shimmer?

Technical Details

I used DeNoise, Levels, Crop for Comp, and adjusted the exposure dpown to pull out additional details that may have been obscured by the brighter areas of each image.

Critique Template

Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.

  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
  • Emotional Impact and Mood:
  • Composition:
  • Balance and Visual Weight:
  • Depth and Dimension:
  • Color:
  • Lighting:
  • Processing:
  • Technical:
2

Wow – that is a great illustration of heat shimmer! It’s almost unavoidable shooting through that much atmosphere. Particles of moisture in the air seem to make it worse, almost more than heat. And now there always seems to be some degree of smoke, along with the usual assortment of mundane air pollution. Another kind of atmospheric turbulence can even be affected by the jet stream.

The colors on the rising moon look good – again flavored by some mix of pollution – and nice subtle detail in the trees. I like the sky color, too.

The higher moon has very good detail, both tonal and sharpness. Sounds like it was also low and the color looks authentic. There is a surprising difference in heat shimmer the two nights. Good catches, both!

1 Like
3

This is great Jim. I’m enjoying the heat shimmer; it almost makes the moon look like it’s on fire like the sun.

4

Thank you @Diane_Miller and @John_Williams for your comments and critiques. The moonrise was very spectacular and was amazed at the pink hue that was present at that time. So far, there has been several minor frosts with warm temps in the day. I went out looking for the comet the other night and I caught a glimpse of it through some tree branches. lots of thin clouds mad it less visible. The Hunter Moon was spectacular and I’ll post some images of that in a day or two…Jim

1 Like