Full Moon Over Half Dome

Posted by Don Smith (California, United States) on 24 March 2008 in Landscape & Rural.

This past week I've been playing with a new software from Nik Software called Viveza, and have been reworking some of my older images. This image of a full moon rising over Yosemite's famed Half Dome was made during a fall workshop which I co-taught with Gary Hart this past October. The salmon-colored sky was produced by the last visible rays of the setting sun illuminating particulates from various control burns in and around the park. The lack of wind allowed the particulates to gather over the park - sort of like stagnet air. This was always a difficult image for me to properly bring up the intensity of the moon without washing out the beautiful color in the sky. Viveza allowed me an easy means of selelcting the moon and bring out its detail without putting an unnatural line around my selection. This image is truer to how my eye saw the scene. To check out more of my images, book and workshops, please visit my website at http://www.donsmithphotography.com