Moon Rise with Milky Way

[Greenspeed]

Quite a few Milky Way shots posted recently. Went out with my brother over the long weekend and was greeted with moon rising over the horizon at 9:30pm
It was fantastic to witness such a spectacle. Foreground was lit with a torch.

[Phoenix]

Got to love those midnight purple skies.
Well done Greenspeed.
Not sure that lighting the rocks add anything to the over all appeal of the shot. Think the beauty is all in the sky, moon and sea.

[Alan]

Yes, a few Milky Way photos posted recently - (I recently tried my hand again, to less than critical acclaim - it's a tough audience here in Night Photography).

Inclusion of the moon would have made it even more difficult to get the exposure/dynamic range right.

Possibly taking two exposures - one for the moon and one for the stars and blending them in PP could have been worth a try?

Agree with Jo - I don't think the foreground adds much to the final image. Maybe putting the moon further down and to the right and including more of the Milky Way would have also worked with a different crop.

It's still a wonderful image of a night to remember. I'm often torn between just enjoying the spectacle, or buggaring around with torches and tripods and guestimations of focus and exposure and ISOs - aggh

[Greenspeed]

Definitely inclusion of the moon washed out the MW. I did do PS enhancement of MW using another frame. Blended it subtly though. I wasn't sure of FG either. Will crop it out and see.
My brother has a newer camera than me - Nikon 710. You can definitely tell the different to my aging Sony A850. I m sticking with it since it still gives me usable pictures in day light.