I call this image Moncure Moon

This is a coal ash recycling plant in Moncure, North Carolina.

My first photo of 2025. I was in the little town of Moncure, North Carolina for a round of disc golf on New Years Day. When I was leaving I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the moon and sunset were so I decided to go back the next day with my camera. There are several plants along the road there and I noticed one of them aligned pretty well with the moon. I got set up a few minutes before sunset and then waited for the moon to fall into place.

This photo is a composite of sorts. 70mm wasn't quite wide enough to get the entire plant in frame, so I decided to do a panorama and crop in. I did not want to shoot super wide and make the plant look small, so I decided to shoot it this way instead. This is a 5 shot panorama shot at 70mm iso 320 70mm f/5.6 1/80 sec. Then, when the moon was lower in the sky over the plant, I shot it at 180mm and blended it in to my main shot using the lighten mode in photoshop.

I merged the pano in Lightroom and did some basic adjustments. Then composited the moon in photoshop. Then I used Elia Locardi's software Radiant Photo to add some contrast, color enhancement and exposure. Then did some refining in camera raw.

The sunset was kind of crazy that day. The sun was already below the trees when I got there so I'm not exactly sure where it set but it had to be somewhere behind the plant. Once it was set it created this wonderful glow behind the plant that seemed to last forever. And as it got later it created this wonderful gradient in the sky. I have 3 different versions of this photo that I really like. They are in my profile if you are interested.