Fell in love with Mount Diablo over the past year… I posted my first attempt of a moonrise over it here (Moonrise Over Mount Diablo, California +Reposts) about six months ago. I feel like this is a big improvement - definitely not perfect, but much closer to my vision of what I wanted to create
This is a composite, because my camera couldn’t capture it all in one exposure. This was my first time doing a composite in Photoshop and I feel that it turned out okay, but could probably be better.
The composition is really good. You have a classic layered design with good tones that show a nightscape.
To me the moon looks perfect, too perfect. Hence it looks like a composite. I’m not sure that’s bad. It looks like a stylized moonrise rather than the real thing. If that’s what you’re after then that’s fine. AA kept darkening his Moonrise over Hernandez until it met his vision and had little resemblence to the actual event.
A lovely scene, with delightful colors and the trees pointing at the moon! By composite, I assume you mean you had to shoot two exposures and combine them, rather than taking a moon from a different image. That is a tricky process, but can be done well. But here the moon feels a bit clumsy – not that I object at all to compositing it – quite the contrary. But it feels too dark and contrasty, and the slight dark halo on the right edge could be dealt with. Try lightening it a bit and see how it feels. I love the subtle spill of light below it, which makes it look very real.
Compared to your original attempt I think the telephoto image works a lot better. The compression lends itself well to this scene. I would recommend brightening the moon a little. Not so much that you lose all of the detail but enough to give it a more natural appearance.
Is this an actual composite or is it just a blend of two different exposures for dynamic range?
Matthew, I applaud you for keeping after something until you could fulfill you vision of the image you wanted.
I think the composition is very well done, with well balanced proportions of sky and ridge-lines. And you lined the moon up perfectly with the most interesting tree shapes. I think the processing of sky and landscape looks excellent, with good color, luminosity and shadow detail. But here’s another vote for the moon looking out of place (too dark, too much contrast and saturation). I would try making the moon brighter and reducing it’s saturation. This should be easy to do using color range selection methods.
I think you have a really nice image here, and its worth investing some more processing time to address the moon.
I like the composition, especially the fact that the moon is only partially risen. I have mixed feeling re: the lightness of the moon. Yes, it seems to dark, but it’s also nicely balanced with the overall light in the scene. Lighter would look more “real” but I’m not sure it would actually look better.
Thank you very much for your feedback, Igor! I agree the moon probably looks too perfect and stylized. I’m not totally sure how I feel about it. If I had the ability to do it over again, I would have liked to shoot the same composition a day earlier, when it would be a bit lighter at moonrise. Then we would be able to compare the composite vs (presumably more natural) single shot. So I think this was a good experiment for myself to try out a more stylized landscape style, but it’s something I want to keep coming back to as I continue to learn
Thanks for the feedback, Diane! The moon was actually taken from a shot taken a bit later when it had risen fully above the horizon. And I agree, the moon is a bit clumsy, particularly the halo on the right edge. Next time I do something like this I will also remember to save the photoshop file with all the layers preserved so that I can come back to it later more easily
Thanks Tony, I think you perfectly expressed my mixed feelings about this image as well. Similar to what Igor expressed above - it’s more a stylized moon than naturalistic, but part of me kind of likes it!
Thank you Brian for your feedback! Yes I agree, the telephoto is much better for this. I also changed my position for this image – my first moonrise was taken much closer and looking up at the mountain, whereas for this one I moved several miles back and shot closer to level.
To answer your question, this is an actual composite – the moon did rise in the place it is in the final image, but the moon in the final image is taken from a shot I did later after it had risen fully above the horizon.
Thanks Ed! It was really gratifying to keep at it. I tried a quick edit to make it brighter/less contrasty. Now I think it has a slight light halo instead of a dark one, but maybe this is closer to natural-looking.
Really cool, image Matt! And it looks totally different from the original one a few months back! I notice everyone talking about the moon not looking like it belongs, which I can see. Have you tried converting to black and white? You probably could do a lot with it that way. Maybe you don’t like that medium but just a suggestion. It has a very peaceful feel to it.
