How to combine these two pictures?

[trooper5010]

I want to put this moon in this picture because it's more defined.. All I did was set my camera at a lower exposure to give the moon some more definition, but when I try and blend my defined moon with the (second) normal-exposed night picture, my poor photoshop skills make it difficult to make the picture look smooth and natural.

I tried using the clone-stamp technique and some fill to try and make the sky normal with no bright moon on the second picture, then just copy and past the defined moon in there, but it looks so sloppy. can anyone help me out and tell me the technique they used?

Thank you so much!

Here's the cropped moon from my low-exposure picture:
Moon | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

My actual picture I want to replace the moon with
Actual Picture | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand my efforts :P
Complete Picture My Effort | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

if you could tell me the steps in which you took to combine them that would be awesome. If you need the whole underexposed picture for some reason, let me know!

Thanks again

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by trooper5010

I want to put this moon in this picture because it's more defined.. All I did was set my camera at a lower exposure to give the moon some more definition, but when I try and blend my defined moon with the (second) normal-exposed night picture, my poor photoshop skills make it difficult to make the picture look smooth and natural.

I tried using the clone-stamp technique and some fill to try and make the sky normal with no bright moon on the second picture, then just copy and past the defined moon in there, but it looks so sloppy. can anyone help me out and tell me the technique they used?

Thank you so much!

Here's the cropped moon from my low-exposure picture:
Moon | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

My actual picture I want to replace the moon with
Actual Picture | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand my efforts :P
Complete Picture My Effort | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

if you could tell me the steps in which you took to combine them that would be awesome. If you need the whole underexposed picture for some reason, let me know!

Thanks again

I would paint over the moon you don't like with black (that matches the background -- you should sample from around it for the correct black). Then paint around the moon you do want with the same color (to match the backgrounds). Place it as a new layer on top of the image. Now just drag it around to where you want it in the sky.

[edbayani]

another way, but a bit more complicated.. duplicate bg layer of the actual picture and adjust the middle slider of levels to the left. this will reveal some details in the black sky showing the treeline in the bg and lightening up the sky a bit some flare will show up around the moon. erase about 60% or use layermask by brushing with a very soft brush the portion of the street to bring back the contrast since this will reveal the original bg by 60%. merge. drag the cropped moon to the image and adjust the size and adjust with levels to blend with the sky. fine tune with layermask again to remove some of the dark bg of the cropped moon.
merge. adjust in hue and saturation to remove the excessive reddish tint of the street

[trooper5010]

Originally Posted by edbayani

another way, but a bit more complicated.. duplicate bg layer of the actual picture and adjust the middle slider of levels to the left. this will reveal some details in the black sky showing the treeline in the bg and lightening up the sky a bit some flare will show up around the moon. erase about 60% or use layermask by brushing with a very soft brush the portion of the street to bring back the contrast since this will reveal the original bg by 60%. merge. drag the cropped moon to the image and adjust the size and adjust with levels to blend with the sky. fine tune with layermask again to remove some of the dark bg of the cropped moon.
merge. adjust in hue and saturation to remove the excessive reddish tint of the street

damn! that looks so well put together. I'll have to try the technique you're telling me, but I will definitely have to follow what you said step by step exactly. I have less than amateur photoshop skills and need to develop them. There's just so many options, it's crazy.

Thanks so much.

Originally Posted by i speak in math

I would paint over the moon you don't like with black (that matches the background -- you should sample from around it for the correct black). Then paint around the moon you do want with the same color (to match the backgrounds). Place it as a new layer on top of the image. Now just drag it around to where you want it in the sky.

I wanted to try this but the only thing stopping me was I could still see suttle differences in the sky when I painted over the moon. I couldn't get the night sky and the painted-over section to look all the same without it looking like where I dragged my mouse. do you have any suggestions for that; any tool on PS I can use (for future references)?

[edbayani]

glad you like it. trooper. amother suggestion id to select the street, cars building and the tree on the right with quickmask, using a big soft brush brush on the street, etc. exit quickmask and press ctrl J to put the selected area on a layer. apply highpass filter, change the blending mode to overlay and there will be a marked increase in sharpemess and a bit of contrast. if too much reduce opacity and merge.
if you have questions, you can pm me.