I photographed the “supermoon” on Saturday night at Gasworks Park at the tail end of a Google+ photowalk here in Seattle. I wasn’t expecting to get too much, especially with a hoard of photographers on the same hill alongside (basically photographing the same thing) but I think I came out with a pretty cool image.

Photographing the moon can be challenging, since it’s a ball of light that is significantly brighter than the surrounding foreground and sky. So to balance the exposure of this scene I created three exposures: one for the houses and water (30 seconds), one for the sky and clouds (4 seconds) and one for the moon (1/20 sec). Then I used Photoshop to mask and blend the images by hand.

I photographed the “supermoon” on Saturday night at Gasworks Park at the tail end of a Google+ photowalk here in Seattle. I wasn’t expecting to get too much, especially with a hoard of photographers on the same hill alongside (basically photographing the same thing) but I think I came out with a pretty cool image.

Photographing the moon can be challenging, since it’s a ball of light that is significantly brighter than the surrounding foreground and sky. So to balance the exposure of this scene I created three exposures: one for the houses and water (30 seconds), one for the sky and clouds (4 seconds) and one for the moon (1/20 sec). Then I used Photoshop to mask and blend the images by hand.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

17 Comments

  1. Aaron May 7, 2012 at 10:07 am - Reply

    Very nice.

  2. Robin May 7, 2012 at 3:48 pm - Reply

    So, it sounds like you didn’t bracket? I’m trying to picture how you would move the camera to meter the different parts of the scene and return the camera to the exact same position.

  3. Paulette May 7, 2012 at 4:48 pm - Reply

    beautiful!! any reason you prefer to blend manually as opposed to the hdr tool?

  4. Brycia May 7, 2012 at 4:52 pm - Reply

    Very nice! At first glance this reminded me of a Charles Wysocki painting, I guess it’s the way the houses are stacked.

    • Rhonda May 14, 2012 at 7:51 pm - Reply

      Brycia, I was going to say the very same thing. My immediate thought was of a Charles Wysocki painting!

  5. Lynore May 7, 2012 at 5:56 pm - Reply

    This photo is wearing more makeup than Victoria Gotti.
    But it’s a beautiful composite

  6. Tim Buckner May 7, 2012 at 6:43 pm - Reply

    Awesome job Nicole.

  7. vamapaull May 8, 2012 at 12:35 am - Reply

    That is awesome!!
    I love the reflections in the water!

  8. kumar ss May 8, 2012 at 11:20 am - Reply

    Excellent depth and nice light! Love this!

  9. Tasty_Tart May 9, 2012 at 6:58 am - Reply

    this is really beautiful. I loves what you did with the light.

  10. rohit kothari@click kudos May 9, 2012 at 12:28 pm - Reply

    Amazing picture and a nice detail i am in luv with this picture

  11. mrme May 10, 2012 at 2:38 pm - Reply

    I love the way you edited this image. It’s lovely.

  12. Anna May 11, 2012 at 11:19 am - Reply

    Wow, that’s beautiful! I watched the supermoon, but without a tripod I had no chance to capture it. I’ll need to remember your steps the next time it comes around….whenever that is :D

  13. Patricia Davidson May 18, 2012 at 3:32 pm - Reply

    So beautiful! Great job Nicole!

  14. Shut Up & Cook May 19, 2012 at 8:19 pm - Reply

    This is an incredible photograph! And so fun to find another Seattle blogger to boot.

    By the way, saw that you’re attending BlogHer Food in Seattle next month…it’s my first time going…very excited for it. Hope to meet you there!

  15. John McKay May 21, 2012 at 1:03 am - Reply

    What a fabulous photo, front to back its just perfect.

  16. Nisha June 4, 2012 at 8:43 am - Reply

    omg, gorgeous. what a sight!

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