The Lunar Realm of Divinity

[Dawid Loubser]

When I imagine a time before the rhyme and reason of science,
before a man has taken a camera to the surface of the moon -
seeing it like this perfectly explains mankind's reliance
on mysticism, the holy, and the divine.

The Lunar Realm of Divinity


Technical: EOS 1D Mk IIN @ ISO200, EF 200mm L @ f/4, HDR merge of two bracketed captures

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

This is absolutely stunning in its depth and color-did you do any color enhancing?
it almost looks volcanic
and also the very depths of the oceans even with the moon
divine-for sure!
it looks angry but also benevolent as well
a huge strength of the absolute earth- I love this shot

Charlotte

 

[Dawid Loubser]

Thank you Charlotte - this is the first High Dynamic Range image I've done. The colour is quite natural, the only enhancement is a slightly increased saturation, and cooler white balance - it was a beautiful "blue" moon, and the warm tones are the city lights reflecting off the clouds. This is quite how I saw the scene (with our eyes' amazing dynamic range...).

When one does longer exposures at night, it's usually amazing how vivid the colours are, compared to what our eyes see. I guess, in the day, there is so much light reflecting off everything, that it tends to mix to a greyish colour. At night, with so few light sources around, they exhibit their "pure" colour.

I was thinking, this might look very good printed large, and mounted on a light box, to recreate the luminescent feeling. I might try it sometime. The 200L stopped down to f/4, together with the low-ish ISO and the MkIIN's wonderfully weak AA filter, means that the details on the moon are quite razor sharp, so it should stand up to some decent enlargement.