Moonrise at Mesa Arch
by johnfr

Comment by johnfr:
glad2badad,

Thanks for your comments.

I do agree with your critique as far as the stars not sharp. At 24mm it was a challenge to get the arch in focus along with the stars. At 24mm. f/2.8 the HFD was 22.3 ft. I normally use PhotoPills to determine the HFD but that night didn't have my phone with me. I underestimated the HFD and was a little to close, some 15 ft. from the arch. Before dark I had focused on the arch thinking the stars would be acceptably in focus from that distance. And yes some noise in the shadows. I did shoot this bracketed and attempted to process as a HDR. The lens flare made the HDR versions look bad. The image shown is actually the 3 stop bracket. I used it because the moon was blown out in the normal exposure image. Thus the noise in the shadows.

Sony A7Rii, Sigma 24-7mm f/2.8 @ 24mm, f/2.8, 20 sec. ISO 2000

Moonrise at Mesa Arch
by johnfr

Comment by glad2badad:
Greetings from the Critique Club!

You know what's ironic? I hadn't noticed the Moonrise reference until just now, and I voted on this image during the challenge (gave it a 6). I actual am impressed that that is the moon! How awesome is that?!

It's such an iconic location that I looked at it briefly, said, yep, about average for this challenge, voted and moved on.

Digging in a bit more now, there are two technical items that come forward pretty readily; noise in the shadows (like it may have been pushed in post) and the night sky (stars) are not sharp (20 second exposure at ??? focal length? - may have been pushing the 500 rule a little? Or, didn't quite get hyperfocal distance quite right and the focal range didn't quite get the infinity point?).

I do like the composition balance between foreground and sky, and the '*burst' on the moon is a plus.

I'll have to poke around your profile / portfolio now and see what other fun things you've been putting out there. :-)

Regards,
Barry

Moonrise at Mesa Arch
by johnfr

Comment by johnfr:

Originally posted by Farmr: Very Nice, Sun on one side, stars on the other....

Not the Sun but rather nearly Full Moon that had just rose above the horizon.

This was shot June 6, 2020. -- This is a very popular location for sunrise shots where the bottom of the arch is aglow with sunlight. I had often thought that a moon rise might have the same effect. The June full moon is known as the Rose Moon. Wind in the area had a lot of the red desert dust in the air. When the moon rose it was almost red. I waited until the night after the full moon so that moon rise was well after sunset at the end of the Blue Hour.

Moonrise at Mesa Arch
by johnfr

Comment by spencelg:
My pick for yellow in this challenge.

Moonrise at Mesa Arch
by johnfr

Comment by Farmr:
Very Nice, Sun on one side, stars on the other....

Andromeda and the Moon
by johnfr

Comment by kasaba:
Beautiful! So jealous how you photograph the stars and the moon. Both look superb

Andromeda and the Moon
by johnfr

Comment by grahamgator:
Very well done, looks so real.

Andromeda and the Moon
by johnfr

Comment by IreneM:
Wonderful image.

Andromeda and the Moon
by johnfr

Comment by Neat:
Amazing!

Andromeda and the Moon
by johnfr

Comment by Art Roflmao:
That's no moon... ;-)