Photograph of the moon.

[Dinarius]

I have a shot of the moon taken last night - about 3/4 full.

I want to cut it out of the file and paste it into a shot I took at dusk last week.

1. What's the best tool to use to remove the moon from the file?

2. How do I then add it to the other image.

Please explain in detail!

Many thanks.

D.

[teddillard]

Here's one way:
http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/moon/moon.htm

Also this, and note Katrin Eisman's book on the right...  pretty definitive work on masking and layers.
http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/re...unds/index.html

[DarkPenguin]

Stephen Johnson would like a word with you.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

[Wayne Fox]

If the shot of the moon was taken so the sky was black ... a pure moon shot, and if the place the moon is going in the new picture will have nothing in front of the moon, you often can place a small square containing the moon as a new layer into the shot, and set the blending mode to screen.  Can work very well, instant, no mask required.

Sometimes the color of the dusk sky shows through in the moon a little.  This affect may be acceptable - it will appear similar to how it would have looked if you had used a double exposure technique on film.

If you don't like that affect, you can add a mask to the underlying layer, and paint black where the moon is, preventing the underlying layer from showing through.

[bill t.]

Remember that a 3/4 waxing full moon will be a fair ways up in the sky at sunset, and pretty close to exactly opposite the sunset.  There's a 2009 calender on the stands with a 3/4 moon hovering over the sunset.  The photoshopper must have flunked astronomy 101 (he did make the cover, however).

Basically, cut out the moon in a small crop, select the sky with an amount of feathering in line with the overall sharpness of the photograph.  Expand or contract the select as needed.  Clear the sky.  Copy the image, and paste it in over your masterpiece.  Be attentive to size, the moon is much bigger in the mind than in the sky where it covers a mere 1/2 degree.

I often replace blown out moons with specially exposed moons, but shot at the same time as the overall photograph and in the same position as the real moon.  Or pretty close.  I generally associate a date with all my moon photographs to preempt astronomical and/or Photoshop truth squads.