My SOOC Super Blue Moon

[Darcy Grizzle]

Here is my shot and below I will post my 1st two edits. The moon seems too bright to me in the 1st one and the second where I took down the highlights & saturation, it looks funky to me with the cloud in the moon. Maybe you guys can help me.

DSC_0593-2

• Darcy Grizzle
• Feb 1, 2018

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

1st edit moon too bright? I love the color in this though.

2nd edit funky cloud in moon after bringing vibrance down.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Darcy, I am a bit busy at the moment, but my suggestion would be for something in between the 2 edits. I think you went too far bringing the vibrance down. But I would suggest using the Saturation adjustment in photoshop and not vibrance. With the Saturation adjustment you can adjust colors individually which makes it very powerful.

 

[AlanLichty]

Kind of a quick hack but I used ACR in photoshop to use a targeted decrease in the luminance and saturation of the moon. I also added a gradient to drop the brightness of the moon just a bit and then a spot removal tool to eliminate the distracting moving light just to the right of the beam above the Luxor Hotel.

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Kind of a quick hack but I used ACR in photoshop to use a targeted decrease in the luminance and saturation of the moon. I also added a gradient to drop the brightness of the moon just a bit and then a spot removal tool to eliminate the distracting moving light just to the right of the beam above the Luxor Hotel.

View attachment 5639

Alan that looks much better. I like that it didn't make the cloud funky that is on the moon. I will have to take it back into photoshop & try this. I also removed the plane . If I can figure out how to target the moon only!

 

[Ben Egbert]

Here is my take, I liked that cloud and let it get more prominent. Anyway, you will find as many different ideas as there are people and what matters is that it's your image, your call. We just supply options

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Here is my take, I liked that cloud and let it get more prominent. Anyway, you will find as many different ideas as there are people and what matters is that it's your image, your call. We just supply options

View attachment 5641

Yes I know! But its nice to see different versions. That is a very different direction, making the cloud darker .

 

[JimFox]

Here is my try at this. As Ben said there is no right or wrong, it's simply which matches your vision of it best.

I selected just the moon with the quick select tool. I expanded the selection by 1 pixel and then feathered it by 1 pixel. I then did like 40% Highlight recovery to pull detail back into the moon.

I then applied a Photo Filter, a Cool filter at about 18% to cool down the image to give the Blue moon a Blue cast. I did apply it to the whole image as I liked how it took down that excessive warmness to the sky (my opinion).

3rd, I made a layer mask and light painted along the spear of light from the one hotel with a layer below it which I had increased the brightness about 20% to get that beam of light in the sky to be a little more pronounced.

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Nice Jim, you guys have all given me something to play with more & get it how I want it. Just something about that cloud in the bottom of the moon, but I noticed when I zoom into mine, the moon is really lit up from the bottom inside that cloud and it is just making the cloud funky looking to me. I may try blurring it some!

 

[JimFox]

Do you have a shot where that bottom cloud covering the moon is different?

 

[Darcy Grizzle]

Do you have a shot where that bottom cloud covering the moon is different?

No the other ones my shutter was open too long & it elongated the moon as it was moving so very fast.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I like Ben's edit. Emphasizing the cloud and making the moon less luminous balances the image well.