[mike.hiran]

It's strange that the rest of the picture seems to have pretty accurate colors, but the moon turned out like a neon blue? I use Paint Shop Pro x2, but any solutions you might have that can be done in other post production software would be fine also... anyways, here's the pic:

[rormeister]

No one's replied so I can't resist. Ever hear the expression "Once In A Blue Moon"?
But seriously, it seems odd, and tweaking the WB doesn't seem to correct the problem.

[AndrewShirley]

I played with it a little in Lightroom and it appears you used the brick as your white-balance. The brick is illuminated by lighting that is far from neutral so I think that's what's throwing off your moon colour. Maybe try using a different white-balance setting for whatever light source that is.

If that fails, you could easily select the moon and remove the blue. The selection is easy due to the black sky around it.

- Andrew

[augustmoon]

Your moon is blue because the color temperature of the moon, is higher Kelvin º (cooler color) than the color temperature of the architectural lighting, lower Kº (warmer in color). (The moon is also overexposed as well)

The moon would have had to have been WB on daylight to get a more accurate white, but then the architectural lighting would have been way too orange and dark.

You could do two exposures, one exposure and WB for the foreground and one for the moon, but that might be more post work than your software can handle. Some folks will do that and then when they shoot the moon, they'll zoom in to get it bigger.

It's best to expose and balance as you did for the main subject and fix the moon later. I'm unfamiliar with your software but if there is a way to selectively select just that moon area and make adjustments. If you could, then selectively altering the WB of the moon to be more in line with daylight or altering the color (color move: blue to amber, or reduce blue) and then perhaps lowering the exposure or brightness in that area depending on what your software can handle.

Brian

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

No one's replied so I can't resist. Ever hear the expression "Once In A Blue Moon"?
But seriously, it seems odd, and tweaking the WB doesn't seem to correct the problem.

Well, the expression "blue moon", when for example Elvis sing about it, comes from the occasional observations of a bluish moon on the sky, which would be blue independent of the lens in use, or if watched by the naked eye. Of course, in the past, there were no explanation to this, and hence it gave cause to expressions such as "once in a blue moon" as equivalent to a rare event. Today we know that this is caused by aerosol particles carried in the air, which scatter the light, with a wave length preference so that the moon looks blue. A blue moon can for example be caused by a remote volcanic eruption or forest fires. The famous Krakatoa eruption in 1883 caused the moon to be blue in two years! I think blue moon is also used for the 13th full month that occur once every 2-3 years because the real 27-28 days lunar cycle does not match the 28-31 day months we use. But I'm quite sure that is not the case here.

[mike.hiran]

Thanks everyone! I think you guys are right in that the white balance I set was for the lights on the monument which were more toward the halogen setting on my camera so that would explain why the moon is blue. I'll try to selectively change the WB for that area, or worst case scenario, I could copy the raw file and do another WB for the moon then cut and paste. I have a feeling, though, that the moon is grossly overexposed so it won't matter so much, but I'd like to try if possible. I suppose worst case scenario, I can just clone out the moon altogether since the sky is basically black anyway....

Regardless, thanks everyone for helping out! And to Douglas of sweden, next time there's a question on who wants to be a millionaire about a blue moon, I know who to call

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Regardless, thanks everyone for helping out! And to Douglas of sweden, next time there's a question on who wants to be a millionaire about a blue moon, I know who to call

You're welcome! Aerosols and climate is what I make a living on. And if you do see a real blue moon make sure you take some good photos and send me one. I could use it for my lectures. I never seen it myself.