He Had a Crooked Tree

[Chunk]

Every time I go past this tree I start humming about crooked men and crooked houses...

[Knight]

Great capture ,like the colors of the sky with the moon . I C the leafs are starting to come back , good sign , summer`s on the way in

[opus]

The tree is awesome, but the sky is even better! LOVE that purple vignette!!!!

Great capture!

[gahspidy]

Great Shot , Chunk. Subtle colors and silhouette of an interesting, crooked tree And the moon in the scene really completes the shot. As a very minor nit, I'm wondering if it would have been a bit stronger without the branch overlapping the moon. Regardless, this is a pic to frame.

[Seb]

Every time I go past this tree I start humming about crooked men and crooked houses...

Chunk,

This is a neat shot for all the reasons already mentioned by others members.
However, I am wondering if it wouldn't be even stronger if the lower part of the frame was slightly darker. I can distinguish the tree trunk against the dark background and I find this to be almost distracting somehow. But then, maybe not...

Seb

[Nina]

Funny how your brain reacts to what it sees. You see the tree and start humming about crooked men and crooked trees. Funny how human nature can be. I do find this to be a great shot due to its simplicity. Love that moon in the background.

[Old Timer]

Very well composed. Love the blend of colors from the blue to black at the bottom of the frame. Getting moon with the tree against a blue sky was a real nice catch. I would have liked to see the moon a little left and a shade higher in the sky, but hey if cows could fly. The shot is great just as it is. Thanks for sharing this moment with us.

[shesells]

And they all lived together in a little crooked house! lol

OT this is fabulous! Did you take it within the last week? I ask because there was a beautiful full moon this wek and i took some pics of it by a barren tree also! My problem is that the moon was blown out.. What is your secret for exposing it just right? I love the colors in this shot also, were you using any filters? It's just perfect to me!
Kit

[Chunk]

Did you take it within the last week? I ask because there was a beautiful full moon this wek and i took some pics of it by a barren tree also! My problem is that the moon was blown out.. What is your secret for exposing it just right? I love the colors in this shot also, were you using any filters? It's just perfect to me!
Kit

Thanks to everyone who posted responses to this, I appreciate the time you spent and your opinions. When looking at the exif data for this shot prior to writing this response, I noticed that I had not changed the white balance from the manual setting (incandescant 60 and 150 watt hardware store floodlights on white posterboard) that I had been using the night before. I guess that gave a bluer/more purple result in the colors of the sky.
Kit, I took this on the morning of the 26th (tuesday?). I shot in Aperture priority, f8, iso 80 - metering in the sky or on the moon (they gave pretty close times and I'm not sure which I used for this shot) and it gave and exposure time of 1/80 second. I had a -1 exposure compensation set to keep the light toned down to minimize foreground detail and the keep the sky colors strong. ( I usually have a -1/3 exp comp set on this camera)

If you have spot metering just meter on the moon. Depending on atmospheric canditions, you can usually just figure that the moon is an object being illuminated by sunlight and the exposure your camera gets should be somewhere around the sunny 16 exposure as a check. I usually like photos from this time of day to be a bit dark to feel right. If you are metering on foreground objects, I'd expect the camera to try to make them look well lit which would overexpose the sky and moon. If you bracket by a stop or two, you could use image blending to effectively expand your exposure latitude and have the well lit moon in the scene with the well lit trees.
Post one othose shots somewhere.

[shesells]

Chunk, thank you for that very simple and precise explanation.. I can tell right now where I made my mistake by your info. I did expose for the tree in the foreground and the moon... was way out there .. lol... I did use exp comp and everything else in the shot was great.. the moon was... ugh blown out beyond repair.. It was a full moon too, the 24th, and i wanted the craters to show etc.. I'll try your method next time. thanks..

Hey thats funny about the white balance being set to incandescent! you never know, it turned out very cool because of that. Just shows, its good to experiment with settings that arent meant for the circumstances..
Kit

[villenadecorte]

Chunk what a beautiful shot. The comp on this is fantastic, and the colors as everyone else has mentioned are amazing.

[Chunk]

Thanks Rebekah. I wish they'd all come out as well.

[Liz]

Chunk,

The composition is right on. The lighting and the color are awesome. I love the moon - it sets it off perfectly. Beautiful image - hope you hang it somewhere so others can enjoy it!

Liz

Every time I go past this tree I start humming about crooked men and crooked houses...