Pusch Ridge Full Moon V30

Title

Pusch Ridge Full Moon V30

Artist

Mark Myhaver

Medium

Photograph - Fine Art Photography

Description

"Pusch Ridge Full Moon v30" photography by Mark Myhaver presents the super full moon rising over Pusch Ridge in the Santa Catalina Mountains of Arizona. A foreground of Saguaro cactus, palm trees and light streaks form passing cars complete this long exposure night scene.

This image is a composite. To most people I think that should be obvious. I have no intention of hiding that fact. Quite to the contrary I want to be very clear about it. The main exposure was 247 seconds at f/11, ISO 100 with an 18mm lens while the moon was still rising behind the mountains. The moon was exposed separately at 1/60th of a second also at f/11, ISO 100 with a 270mm lens. I am a fine art photographer not a photo journalist or documentary photographer, though I have worn both of those hats earlier in my career. I proudly use Photoshop skills in every fine art image I create. Let me take you further into defining my vision and thus processing of this image.

I have been watching for two years for the moon to be in exactly that spot on a clear night and my schedule to coincide. Having it all come together during a Super Moon cycle was a bonus. What I envisioned is a clear sharp full moon having just risen above the mountains, at night, framed as you see by the cactus and palm trees in the foreground. It was important to me to have the correct light reflecting from the moon behind the mountains, outlining them. I waited patiently for it to be there on this night, creating the base exposure first. Then I waited for the moon to rise to where you see it for the second exposure. The two exposures were made between 9:45 - 10:00 pm.

In actuality this was a few days after the super full moon but at 86% it still cast the same amount and quality of light behind the mountains. I knew I already had the Super Moon from a few nights earlier so that being my original vision I decided to swapped it during processing. It was very easy to blend the moon with simple layer blending. The base raw exposure was double processed in Lightroom to balance the exposure of the foreground and the mountains. They were then blended in Photoshop. No special HDR software was required or used just luminosity masking, layer blending and judicious dodging. I hope you enjoy the photo as much as I did creating it. ~ Oro Valley, Arizona ~ Copyright Mark Myhaver

Uploaded

October 23rd, 2016

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