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Harvest Moon Over Washington
Harvest Moon Over Washington
levyj413


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Sky (Expert Editing)
Collection: Other shots
Camera: Canon PowerShot S2 IS
Location: National Mall in Washington, DC, USA
Date: Dec 11, 2006
Aperture: 5.6 (Monument)
ISO: 50
Shutter: 4s (Monument)
Galleries: Sky, Travel
Date Uploaded: Dec 14, 2006

 I had a great time on the National Mall on Monday night - took many shots of the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, and U.S. Capitol. I had two goals: shoot my For Sale entry as political commentary and get something for the sky challenge.

I've shot the moon enough to know that you can't get good exposure on it and things on the ground at the same time; either the moon is blown (see my For Sale entry) or the ground's too dark. Since this image had to use more than one shot, it was perfect for the expert rules.

This is a three-shot composite, all of which I took Monday night (I've listed the shooting settings for each piece)
1) Washington Monument, buildings in the distance, and ground

I used a brightness/contrast layer to brighten it up so you could see the "sky glow." Normally, that's ugly, but in this case, it lets you see the trees, which add some visual interest. I then used a selective color layer and a gradient to limit the brightness to near the ground.

The contrast enhancement raised noise not visible in the original, so I used noise reduction to control it again. A little sharpening on the monument was all that was left.

F/5.6, 4s, ISO 50

2) Moon
I used a color layer to make it orange and sharpened it a bit. The large size comes from reducing the monument piece first, then pasting in the moon.

F/8.0, 1/50s, ISO 50

3) Stars
The star field is actually one star shot copied several times with rotations and movements to fill the sky. It's really a shot of the constellation Orion, which has a very distinctive 3-star line making his belt. I didn't want people to realize I'd copied the stars, so I cloned out the belt in each piece. I hope the manipulations randomized the stars enough. Some sharpening brought them out of the black.

F/2.7, 15s, ISO 50

This was a lot of fun, and I like the way it turned out. I expect this to be a very high scoring challenge, so who knows how it'll stack up.

Statistics
Place: 31 out of 123
Avg (all users): 6.3547
Avg (commenters): 7.0435
Avg (participants): 5.8841
Avg (non-participants): 6.5204
Views since voting: 1701
Views during voting: 546
Votes: 265
Comments: 29
Favorites: 2 (view)

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-5D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 10/30/2007 08:16:09 PM
AMazing shot - and thank you for posting the how-to... I love it when I can learn from someone!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-50D
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 04/01/2007 10:05:25 PM
You should do a tutorial on night sky shots!! these are AMAZING!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS R5
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 12/23/2006 11:08:17 PM
Jeff,
I wondered if this one was yours while voting. I gave it an 8 due to very strong composition, technically difficult, and beautiful stars on streetlights. The problem I have is that the moon neither looks quite real nor obviously fake. I know this may sound nitpicky, but the orange also seems to clash a little bit with the red "eyes" atop the Washington monument. Just my .02. Overall, a very well done post-process on a difficult shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark IV
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM
 12/22/2006 10:25:25 AM
Jeffrey, Congratulations once again on your INCREDIBLE starry night skills! Wow! I truly love this one!

  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D7200
Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G
 12/22/2006 08:16:37 AM
Really neat shot. I have to learn how to do this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Apple iPhone 15 Pro
Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D
 12/21/2006 10:37:49 PM
That's cool - the big bad moon is workin' - a little more ground at the base would have balanced it a bit more IMO.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
 12/21/2006 09:44:04 PM
very very pretty!!! Crazy moon! 10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D300
Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6G VR
 12/21/2006 06:45:23 PM
For me this is truely a great capture. The color in the moon compared to the stark white of the monument and the black of the sky is beautiful.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D40
 12/21/2006 12:45:52 PM
is this real
?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 12/20/2006 01:38:48 PM
to forced. IMO
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark IV
Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM
 12/18/2006 02:35:49 PM
WOW!!! This literally took my breath away. I gasped when I saw it!

10
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D300
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 12/18/2006 10:03:48 AM
Nice image, it looks good with Washington cropped out too-kind of surrealistic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D80
Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G IF-ED VR
 12/18/2006 01:38:04 AM
sure hope you tell us how you did this one... very pretty! 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 12/18/2006 01:02:40 AM
Great
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
 12/17/2006 07:50:19 PM
Beautiful shot, love the moon here!! Thats just incredible. Great work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-30D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
 12/16/2006 08:16:08 PM
Sometimes an image hits hard the second it's viewed and this is one for me. You've taken a pretty obvious idea and made it work for you in a simply unique and breathtaking way.
Outstanding in every way and my pic for top honors.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D80
Sigma 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DC OS for Sigma
 12/16/2006 07:09:24 PM
Awesome. How????
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-1000D Rebel XS
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
 12/16/2006 04:48:42 PM
I guess you could say the sky has an effect in this one (sarcasm) Wow! Nice shot. Great colors and focus. Loads of details. Perhaps a bit longer crop to include a bit more of the city but none the less, an awseome pic. Into the ten pile with it :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D300s
Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 16-85 f/3.5-5.6G ED VR
 12/16/2006 12:54:52 PM
The scale of the moon makes this entirely surreal.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS
 12/15/2006 09:37:05 PM
Man, that's extreme :-) For me the image suffers greatly by being too tight on the bottom. Personally, I think if the moon were a thjrid smaller that would work better also. It's very nicely done.

As a nit-picking note, the "Harvest Moon" is defined as the full moon occurring closest to the autumnal equinox, so this isn't one...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon Z9
Nikon AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D
 12/15/2006 07:02:37 PM
Over did it here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Apple iPhone 6s+
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
 12/15/2006 06:58:30 PM
The concept is excellent. The first impression is WOW! The moon shot is lovely. There is a different tone to the monument shot (focus and color not quite as good). They don't quite fit together. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D800
Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED
 12/15/2006 04:32:40 PM
cool
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-6D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM
 12/15/2006 11:29:55 AM
I think you got a smidge carried away...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon Z8
Nikon NIKKOR Z 24-120 f/4 S
 12/15/2006 11:17:41 AM
Nice effort on combining two images to get the dramatic effect
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D
Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4.5 DC Macro for Canon
 12/15/2006 09:56:33 AM
Nice. Believable and not too contrived. 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D80
Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4.0 AT-X Pro DX
 12/15/2006 09:43:58 AM
Oh so nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon Z9
Nikon NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S
 12/15/2006 09:37:56 AM
This is fantastic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 12/15/2006 01:13:53 AM
Awesome..... well done.....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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