Utility Moon

[Ron Kruger]

The clowds parted and I got some pix of that big, full moon last night. It's just the moon, because I plan to use various sizes of it for adding to other scenes, such as fishermen at dusk, by cutting and pasting between exposures. This, by the way, is a severely cropped and enlarged version, much bigger than I plan to use.
I did some things in PS to make it look better, but I was wondering if someone had some suggestions.

[EOSThree]

Sorry Ron, but I would try re shooting this one, it's pretty soft, it may look OK at a very small size, but at this size it's too soft to be of much use.
I don't know if this can be rescued, but a healthy dose of USM, and slightly increased contrast may help some here.

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks, EOS. It was shot with 200mm, so this is a serious crop and enlargement. I did bump the contrast, but I don't know what "USM" is?
At the original size, layered over a wide angle or normal shot, it might work, but I fully intend to take your advice of shooting the moon again, so to speak. I wanted to get this shot when the moon was still low and big, but heavy clouds moved in. Then I got a break in the clouds when the moon was high and shot this.
Clouds were thick again last night, but I might get a chance tonight. The moon will come up later, which might be better, because it will be darker, and it still should be almost full.
By the way, I shot this about 40 yards from a security light, but was off to the side of the light source. (I had to hurry before more clouds moved in.) Do you think the ambient light from a security light would have effected a hooded 200mm? At any rate, tonight I plan to get well away from any light source to try again.

[A.M.D.A.]

I agree with EOS.

At first glance it looks pretty good, but after a few seconds I noticed some softness and also some blue CA (chromatic aberration) fringing around the top edges of the moon. Background is nicely done, though.

I don't know if this can be rescued, but a healthy dose of USM, and slightly increased contrast may help some here.

I think by USM he means "Unsharp Mask", a popular image-sharpening tool found in most editing programs. First time I've also heard it called by this abbreviation, for some time I was wondering if it was Canon lens' USM auto-focus motor...

[Ron Kruger]

Caught a big, orange moon rising this evening. Contrast was better with orange than with gray.

[GB1]

Ron,

USM = Unsharp Mask. It's a sharpening tool/filter available in many PP software apps. I tink this one can probably be sharpened a ways before it will be too obvious. I can take a shot at it if you would like and repost it. I think it's a decent utility shot for adding a moon to another pic. I suggest getting several more though at different phases to add to your library: a full moon is often too ideal and might arouse suspicion.

G

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks, GB. I've had some disasterous results using shaprening tools on images I've sent to publishers. They looked fine here, but when the publisher read the file, everything was green.
And, yes, I've already made plans to capture various stages of the moon to place in my utility file. It's like watching Hollywood movies. The moon seems to be full all month, and it is so big it looks like it is about the crash into the earth. I'm aiming to much more closely mimic what the eye sees.
What I've posted here are drastically cropped and enlarged for examination. What I plan to use is the original size I got with a 200mm layed over a standard lense scene. Should give me something just slightly larger than the real thing.