Use ON1 Photo Raw to Add the Moon to Photos

I originally purchased ON1 Photo Raw to get the ability to easily substitute interesting skies for boring skies in landscapes. Besides just using the sky images included in the ON1 installation, the editor lets you easily add your own skies.

Another great way to make photos much more interesting is to include the Moon in them. If you have ever worked on planning shots to include the Moon, you appreciate how difficult it can be to achieve. Being in the right place at the right time is rare, and those clouds can still move in to ruin your best laid plans.

Is it real?

If you use a really big lens for moon/landscape shots, you’re well aware of how it’s typically impossible to get the foreground and the moon both in focus. If the moon is low in the horizon, then atmospheric effects ruin the sharpness.

Your substitute ‘sky’ can just as easily include the Moon. In this case, you could shoot photos of the Moon with a longer focal length and also take the shots when it’s high in the sky to get better details. It’s also a good idea to take both landscape and portrait-orientation shots for more options while editing later.

The ON1 editor is pretty good at masking complicated images, which allows you to even have tree branches partially blocking the Moon.

Have you ever taken landscape shots with wide-angle lenses, but you wanted to have the Moon appear larger in those shots? With substitute Moon/sky shots, now you can finally combine wide-angle landscapes with a large moon in them!

I should mention an old article I wrote that gives you the details on how to add your own custom skies to the ON1 editor. If you don’t know how to do this operation, then this article  should help.

A Moonset shot that never really happened

Notice in the shot above that the Moon is partly hidden by tree branches. The ON1 editor is capable of pretty sophisticated masking.

Inside the ON1 editor

The screen image above shows how I adjusted the sliders to control how a Moon shot was combined with a landscape. The landscape here was shot at 32mm, while the moon was shot using a long telephoto.

Once I find the desired Moon ‘sky’ and add it where I want it, I can then go over to the ON1 Develop tab to edit the shot further.

A typical Moon shot to add to the ON1 editor

I have many Moon images added to my ON1 editor in its sky-swapping feature. I took my Moon shots while the Moon was high in the sky, so that I got rid of most atmospheric sharpness-killing effects.

There are several controls in the ON1 editor Sky feature that let you have some control over where the Moon gets placed. This way, you don’t have to add too many shots into your ‘custom sky’ library. These controls include Position (left-right flip), Shift Horizon (vertical shifting), Level (small horizontal/vertical movements), and Magnify (size change).

The Moon adds a little spice to this harbor shot

How the Moon’s reflection got added

For a more enhanced realism, the ON1 editor even lets you add a reflection if you want. I tend to prefer this particular shot without a reflection, but with this feature you get to explore adding a reflection or not.

Don’t go there

Please avoid getting too outrageous with big moons, just because you can.  I suppose you could be working on some sci-fi assignment…

Summary

I know many photographers cringe at the thought of altering their shots in any way. If that’s your personality, then this technique is certainly not for you.

The ON1 editor has lots of fun and creative features in it, and using its sky-swapping capability to add the Moon can really make some blah shots a bit more interesting.