Morning moonset at Haystack...

Here is my first post here and one of Oregon's best know features. Shot back in March, on a freezing cloudless morning. I look forward to your critiques. Thanks for looking!

20D, 10mm, 15s, f18, 200iso

Really, really like it, but the star, IMHO make it feel kitchy.

Do you mean the star effect around the moon, or did you think it was a star? The small apeture definitely magnified the effect, but I kinda liked it. I appreciate your comment, I'm not really sure what "kitchy" is though.

"kitchy" has me lost as well. Maybe something similar to gimmicky, but I could be wrong. The ol' 'sun-star' (or moon-star in this case) effect has it's fans and it's haters. I don't think Mark is one of either really, but anytime you post an image with one you can expect at least someone to voice their displeasure with it. If you like it, great. I like it here too, quite a bit actually. The star effect creates much more impact in an otherwise vacant sky. I pretty strong image all around IMO.

Kitchy: tricky, cute, common, similar to gimmicky.
It has it's place, I just don't feel this is it.

No, I didn't think it was a real star.

Jeremy,
I find this to be a well composed, attractive image. I like star effects if they fit, and if I'm not seeing them all the time (I know, I know...I should judge each image on it's own merit). I think it fits well here, and think it draws the eye in nicely.
Great first post!

Marc,
You could mention my name as one that does not like it. But it is not so much the effect, as it is being so overdone lately.

I think here it helps to add interest to the sky.

Hey Jim - did you notice my last post featuring the sun did not have the star effect? I've seen it quite a bit lately too. I also posted another sunrise shot with no sun-star.

I made the comment and told a story about when I was in Photography school and it was like I was bringing the nature photography ideal to its knees.

Overall a nice image. Maybe a little off the bottom would work better. As for the star effect, I do think it has it's place. An example would be say if the sun was setting between two close together objects. In this image I think it would work better if you could make out a half or crescent moon. IMHO

I don't know about the kitsch. Maybe I'm too new to photography to think so! I think it just puts more emphasis on the moon itself as opposed to the landscape... Depends on your intent. Have you tried a panoramic crop? I'd be proud to have this shot..

Thanks for the honest feed back guys.