Shoot the Moon

There is only one word that describes this shot of the Moon: epic! Andrew really captured the majesty of the moon in awe inspiring detail. The close crop of the Moon gives a sense of scale while at the same time allowing the viewer to focus in on its texture. It’s almost like you can reach out and touch it. The image also gives proper attention to Copernicus, one of the more prominent craters on the Moon’s surface. The region of the moon around Copernicus is also where the Apollo missions landed. A fantastic shot both technically and compositionally! Would be a worthy shot to grace desktop wallpapers around the world.

I love natural Lunar silhouette images and this one was my favourite in the pack. While Lunar silhouettes can definitely run amok with unnatural looking composites of two elements that didn’t naturally come together, this image counters those with a beautifully natural scene with the trees in sharp focus being backlit by the rising Moon. The soft warm light coming off the moon gives the scene a welcoming feel while at the same time providing a little bit of mystery and perhaps spookiness that comes with the dark. I applaud Diane for her simple clean approach to using the Moon to backlight a scene.

This image shows off a fantastic Moondog! These are somewhat rare occurrences that are caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere or by specific types of clouds. I loved this image compositionally as the grass in the foreground grounds the viewer to Earth. It allows you to easily place yourself in the scene as the observer. Moondogs, or Lunar halos, always remind me of freezing cold winter nights here in Canada, especially when the Orion constellation is visible. The image captures both night sky objects together in a wonderful final result.

I loved how Rene captured in a 2D image how spherical the Moon is. In this image the Moon appears to stand up off the page. There is this gentle highlight right near the centre of the Moon that gives us a sense of depth and where the light is coming from. Capturing the Moon when it’s in the gibbous phase will give this effect as the Lunar terminator will have a gentle fade that shows off its shape nicely. The contrast in the image and the level of detail should also be noted. Well done!

I loved what Maneesh did with the composition in this image. The Moon is our focal point in the centre of the image and the landscape gives us a frame of reference. This image made me think I was there sitting on the beach. The wispy clouds also give this dream-like atmosphere that I think we can all relate to when thinking of the Moon. This image was an escape for me and the Moon played a key role in making this scene as beautiful as possible. I also give Maneesh credit for not over processing the image. I feel like this is how the scene would look if I was viewing it with my eye.

This is a wonderful natural dreamscape put together by Kelly. It showcases the Moon nestled amongst the clouds almost like it was an egg in a nest. The light is soft and calming. Nothing is over or under exposed and there is enough contrast in the Moon to give some detail. Kelly uses the rule of thirds nicely to place the Moon at an aesthetically pleasing place in the frame. This image is also a great example of shooting the Moon when it’s not completely dark outside. The lighting gives something really unique to the image.

This image is all about scale and the relationship of the Earth and the Moon together. While incredibly small in the image, the Moon plays a vital role in the story of this picture. It’s almost a reverse of the classic ‘Earthrise’ image and carries a similar quality to it. This image acts as a point of reflection for the observer to think about their place in the world. We see in this image how the size of the Moon in the shot doesn’t matter when trying to tell a compelling story.

This is really an interesting shot and definitely has a sense of wonder and presents and interesting mood. The foreground ruins are nicely placed in the composition and the fog rolling over the hills is really pleasing to the eye. I think this image takes Lunar composition too far however. I love the fantasy these types of images try to achieve, but for me that sense gets lost when you attempt to make something very unnatural look natural. I think it’s better if you don’t try and fool the viewer and post process the scene further so it becomes clear that the intent isn’t to present something real. The viewer is then able to invoke their imagination fully and completely. Go full fantasy, or less is more in my opinion.

There are a couple things I really like about this shot. The first is the how the Moon is coupled with Venus showing how the Moon can play with the planets and the stars in our night sky and create a really nice final composition. The second is the exposure of this image allows us to see some Earthshine. When you over expose the bright part of the Moon you’ll see the darker portion of the Moon lit up slightly from the light reflecting off of the Earth. I really enjoyed the fact that both elements were present and composed nicely into one image.

Mr G captured the Moon in stunning detail in this shot. The Lunar terminator, the transition from light to dark, on the Moon’s surface has this soft fade and it gives a sense of intrigue and mystery to the Moon. The image was perfectly exposed to give depth to the craters and the contrast brings out minute details for us to see. It’s almost like if you ran your finger across the screen you’d feel the ridges of the craters and smoothness of the Lunar mares. This image is an astrophotography gem.

I really enjoyed this nightscape as it placed me right in the scene like I was walking along that path. However, my suspension of disbelief was paused because of some slight overcooking of the image in post-processing. I like the light painting effect in the foreground to give some interesting light, but for me the colours felt a little unnatural and therefore broke me away from the scene. There is some magenta hues casting across the midground that played a big part in this. The starburst around the moon was really even and added a little bit of a fantastical element. I’d definitely like to go on a hike here.

Right to the point, I love crescent Moons. There is something magical about them. When you look up at night and there is this thin sliver you can’t help but point it out; at least I can’t. This image captures that thin sliver of a Moon so nicely. The shadow of the terminator was really nice and soft and the size of the Moon in the frame was fantastic. For me the image was lost slightly amongst sensor noise. This could be simply due to the camera being used, but overall some of the size could have been sacrificed to avoid seeing so much detail in the noise. One thing to be sure of, is to shoot images like this in RAW with a reasonable ISO that you won’t introduce so much noise. You can bring up the exposure in post processing and hopefully eliminate it further.

Did I mention I love crescent Moons? This image captures a lovely thin sliver of a crescent Moon in really nice detail. The lit portion hints at what’s there and you can’t help but wonder. These classic Moon slivers are etched into our brains by childhood books and stories about sleep and dreaming. The detail in this shot was fantastic as was the exposure. My only question, why 3 Moons? I would have loved to have seen a single sliver up in the top third area of the screen with the rest being pure black. Less is more. Great capture Alan!