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Morkel Erasmus
07-06-2010, 02:44 AM
We were on our way home last Saturday from visiting my mom in hospital in the city and drove by this scene - I had to get out and capture the vivid full moon rising over the corn fields of the South African Highveld.

This is yet another image where I replaced the moon I captured with a closer shot of the same moon. It might be a bit big but in this case I went for how I "experienced" the scene rather than how large the moon physically appeared in inches or centimeters http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB3/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

I shot 3 exposures for the dynamic and tonal range of the gorgeous "after-sunset" light, and then attached my 100-400mm lens and captured a detailed underexposed shot of the moon at 100mm. Even then when bringing it back in as a layer I had to downsize it significantly to a proportion which resonated with what I wanted to achieve with this shot.

All feedback most welcome!

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM @ 22mm
f9 @ ISO-200
Cloned out some power lines running right to left in the scene...

Roman Kurywczak
07-06-2010, 10:53 AM
Hey Morkel,
Hope your mom is OK!
Well.....I like the tree lean and even the corn field doesn't bother me.....but why did you chose that location for the moon? I think it would be stronger compositionally..... slightly smaller and on the r bottom ROT position. Just a thought to explore. Now.....I like the color in most of the scene but the greens in the tree look a bit too magenta.....I think bringing them back some more to green will help balance the colors a bit more also. I do like the whole thought process.....as the WA tends to diminish the moons presence....so going to the 100-400 and merging was a good thought IMO. Tweak this one some more......although let's see how others feel about the moons placement for some other ideas.

Morkel Erasmus
07-06-2010, 11:05 AM
hey Roman - mom is better thanks but now it's the 3 months with back brace lying in bed :)

I placed the moon where it was in the original shot as well...placing it more ROT in-camera brought some power-line poles into view...will look at the colour you mentioned.

David Thomasson
07-06-2010, 01:58 PM
Another winner, Mork (and you rarely produce anything else -- at least that you post here! :D) I like
the original, but it's 100 degrees here, so I thought I'd stay cool by playing around with Roman's suggestions.
I like that as well. I also darkened the blue of the sky a bit (selective color, increased black levels in
the blues and cyans). Oh, and I removed that red clump of whatsit in the tree.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3897/moonrise.jpg

Morkel Erasmus
07-06-2010, 05:44 PM
thanks a lot Dave - both for your very humbling comment and also your repost which is very nice! I like the distinct green and blues now...the OP was more or less how the warm last glow of sunset was falling on the tree from behind me, but I do prefer your version after all, PS Guru! the piece of gunk is an abandoned bird's nest.

David Thomasson
07-06-2010, 05:53 PM
the OP was more or less how the warm last glow of sunset was falling on the tree from behind me, ...

Yes, that was my impression from the reddish/magenta cast on the corn and foreground grass. So, the green of the tree would naturally have the same cast. That's why I thought the original image didn't look odd.

Bob Miller
07-06-2010, 07:23 PM
HI Morkel...Love the title and the image. I do think moving the moon over as in Dave's repost helps the image alot as well as the color adjustments. I like it alot!

Dave Mills
07-06-2010, 08:26 PM
Hi Morkel, very simple but effective comp. Good suggestions by Roman and Dave's repost highlighted some of those ideas. Now that I see the suggested moon placement I like the repost's version.
I too thought the reddish cast in the trees was from the late light but I like it either way.
Good eye and creative...

Morkel Erasmus
07-07-2010, 11:24 PM
thanks Dave & Bob...

Hilary Hann
07-12-2010, 05:27 AM
Morkel, you have a very artistic eye for landscapes and this was well thought out and executed. Like it a lot, both the OP and the re-post.

Morkel Erasmus
07-12-2010, 09:32 AM
thanks for the kind compliment Hilary...