Using ND filter in LR

[Hill Country Hack]

My intent was to make the church and framed moon to look more dangerous/scary without any clouds in the sky. I desaturated the shot, added a lot of contrast, and a ND layer from top to bottom. Was I successful at all? I know the steeple is crooked, but I don't know how to fix that in LR. I was using the 50mm and didn't have enough crop space to make the steeple perpendicular and still keep the moon in the shot. I was already as far back as I could get without getting into the street and was laying on my back to take the shot.

I know I should only have one question, but I blew out the moon. My usual tactic for moon is to take the image 2 stops underexposed with more light in the sky and further darken the sky in PP. How else can I accomplish the same thing and maintain exposure for the rest of the image?


The goodies:
1/80
f8
ISO 100
No Flash

[graciousness]

There's been some heavy processing that has happened here. You see the halos around the church? That's the result from overprocessing.

Also I don't understand why ND filter is added in LR - if you intended to see the effect of this filter, why not use it on the lens instead of adding it on post processing?

You can correct the distortion on the steeple/church through Photoshop. I don't know how you can do this in LR as I don't use it, but from my experience and advice from others, you can only do this in Photoshop. You do have to be careful when taking photos of any architectural landscape as you can easily get distortions if not shot at eye level. You got the distortion here because you were shooting up. Use google if you want to learn how to fix distortions. I"d tell you how to do it except I don't know how to advice you at the top of my head

That moon did fail and it looks fake. It looks like it has been added on ....... and it's too small. Try using a mask over the moon to darken it and see if that helps.

Overall, the shot doesn't really work for me. Not enough church, overprocessed, and I do think it is missing clouds for a more dramatic effect. The moon is even insignificant in this shot and would only work if it's really big and closer to the church. You can't even see the cross on top of the steeple.....that should be a significant part of this photo if you wanted to add drama to it.

If I were you, I'd take this shot from across the street at a wider view, then crop later. Better to get more shot within the frame rather than leaving yourself short with the composition/crop within the shot. Do you have any other lens other than the 50mm you can use?

Sorry I'm not as helpful as I feel I should be. Hope it makes sense, anyway.

[Hill Country Hack]

Graciousness,

Thank you for taking the time with the thought out answer. I don't normally do heavy processing (can you tell? ) as it really doesn't fit my eye. I was just messing about and trying other things. As for the distortion, I see your point and will keep it as a lesson learned. I have other lenses, but I am shooting strictly with the 50mm for a while to get used to it and build my skills and comfort level.

I do see both steeples on my monitor, maybe another calibration is in order. I have noticed how things look good on my monitor, but come out darker when I print.

Thanks again

[milosh]

Regarding your intention, I would second what Grace said. To get a more dramatic mood, a bigger moon behind the church with some clouds would be great! Right now, the moon is so small that it looks like it unintentionally strayed into the frame.

There are some halos from post processing, probably from the gradient. You can try to fix them in PS, but I'm not sure how to do it in LR. I'm also not sure about correcting distortions in LR, but you could rotate this photo (will be cropped a lot). To rotate a photo in LR, press the R key, the Crop Overlay tool will be activated, and then place the mouse cursor outside the frame and it will turn into a double curved arrow. Just click and drag to rotate.

As for getting the moon properly exposed together with the rest of the shot, you could take two different exposures and blend them together (will require a tripod), or you could use a GND filter (a physical one) if the contents of the photo allows you to.

Btw, I can clearly see the second cross, so it's probably Grace's monitor that needs calibration.

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by milosh

Regarding your intention, I would second what Grace said. To get a more dramatic mood, a bigger moon behind the church with some clouds would be great! Right now, the moon is so small that it looks like it unintentionally strayed into the frame.

There are some halos from post processing, probably from the gradient. You can try to fix them in PS, but I'm not sure how to do it in LR. I'm also not sure about correcting distortions in LR, but you could rotate this photo (will be cropped a lot). To rotate a photo in LR, press the R key, the Crop Overlay tool will be activated, and then place the mouse cursor outside the frame and it will turn into a double curved arrow. Just click and drag to rotate.

As for getting the moon properly exposed together with the rest of the shot, you could take two different exposures and blend them together (will require a tripod), or you could use a GND filter (a physical one) if the contents of the photo allows you to.

Btw, I can clearly see the second cross, so it's probably Grace's monitor that needs calibration.

Yes, when I rotated the frame to straighten, I lost the moon. I could not get back far enough to give myself more space to crop from.

In LR I've seen a "stack" option but have yet to give it a try. I am planning on doing some star shooting this weekend and see about the stacking. I have the Scott Kelby LR book, but I can't find anything in there about stacking. At least not in the index.

Thanks for the feedback

[dvtldav]

I think stacking in LR is just taking similar photos and putting them in one place, like taking a group of slides and putting them in a box to keep them together. I don't think it is combining them.

If you have PS or PSE you can take a separate picture of the moon and add it to the church. I have done that and it comes out really nice.

Dave

[Hill Country Hack]

Originally Posted by dvtldav

I think stacking in LR is just taking similar photos and putting them in one place, like taking a group of slides and putting them in a box to keep them together. I don't think it is combining them.

If you have PS or PSE you can take a separate picture of the moon and add it to the church. I have done that and it comes out really nice.

Dave

No PS or PSE yet. I'm cheap that way. One of these days I may get PSE, but first I have to be able to produce consistent usable shots.