Moon.

Okay I get home from work one night and realise the moon is almost full and it would be a shame not to use this as an opportunity to take some shots through the trees in the garden. Considering I'm thinking of going with the whole 'Trees/Wood' theme for my final six photographs, it seemed silly not to. I hadn't really taken any night time shots, so it was also a test to make sure I got all the exposure, ISO working well. The only problem was getting the right angle, as the moon was quite low, which looked great through the branches but it also meant that the lawn may be seen on some of the snaps. Obviously I could crop this...but then the moon seems a bit low. Anyway...I experimented...

F/5.3  Shutter Speed: 3 Sec  ISO: 800 

F/4.5  Shutter Speed: 3 Sec  ISO: 800

Here I cropped one of the photos I took as there seemed to be to much going on. The trees in the foreground need to be chopped down...If I had the full Photoshop instead of Photoshop Elements, I would try get ride of the fir trees and just concentrate on the silhouetted ones in the background. I also changed this photo to black and white as the clouds seem to stand out more.

F/5.3  Shutter Speed: 6 Sec  ISO: 800

I have manipulated the colours on this image and also cropped it. I decided to cut out the trees in the foreground and also just focus on the branches of the trees in the corner. I also got rid of the moon on this one. I like this photo as it is fairly abstract and it reminds me of a map. It also reminds me of a barren Planet such as Mars, or a dried up river bed.

I used my tripod for all of these shots as it was impossible to take decent pictures in Manual Mode at night without slowing down the Shutter Speed, and for this I had to use the Tripod so camera shake was avoided. I do quite like these shots. If I had to change them in any way, I wish I could have got the moon more sharper. I did try and do this by trying to get the focus right...but for some reason it does come out as a blurry light instead. Maybe I would need a different lens for this.