Friday, July 3, 2015

Full Moon Rising: A Night in the Mountains

As I have already written in my previous post, the full moon that was hovering above the city was calling out to me. So my sister, Beni and I packed up the photo gear and around 8 o'clock in the evening drove up the local mountain slopes. On top, almost mysterious sights greeted us. As the sun was setting and night started to approach the most vivid colors could be seen in the sky. At some points I didn't even know where to turn my camera.

click on the images for a bigger view



How to get here:

In order to get here you need to divert from the main M-17 route that goes through Mostar and drive to the lookout spot "Fortica" from which you continue driving to these plains, sometimes known as "Podvelezje", meaning "At the foot of the mountain Velez". Roads here are few and narrow. They pierce through the stony hills and make their way over the valley all the way to the foot of even bigger mountains.



The shots above and below where the last ones I took while some light from the sunset was still in the sky. After this we drove further inland and during that time dusk started approaching, and a heavy blue color was dominating the sky.



We spotted some trees on the side of the road, that were ideal for some more shots, since they added much needed subjects until the star of the show, the full moon, was close by.


Night here almost doesn't seem like night. It's as if the color stay in the sky much longer then in the city. And you can see that there is darkness in the valley below the mountains, but here blue and pink hues were still there. As we drove further the moon showed itself finally. It was high above a mountain village. I parked my car again, and set up my tripod to take the photo.


Turning around I had this gorgeous sight in front of me. The trees through which I peaked out to the moon previously were now back lit by the colors in the sky.



As night approached fully here, we returned back home, but not before I set up my camera a couple of times more. I took multiple exposures in order to get some details in the full moon, and later on combined the two exposures in Photoshop. I think you get a very surreal look that way, but also (in a strange way) a very realistic shot, since this is how I saw the landscape with my naked eye.



We drove back into the valley of Mostar, and a night in the mountains came to its end.



49 comments:

  1. The moon is fine but the fourth picture is brilliant it steals the post.

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  2. The colors you captured are breathtaking, as is your images of the moon.
    It sounds like you had a wonderful evening chasing the moon. Great post!

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  3. Such gorgeous sights and magical light, fantastic images, Mersad!
    Love little Benny, what a heart throb! :-)

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  4. Beautiful photos all of them, but the fourth is magic!

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  5. Atemberaubende Fotos, Mersad!
    LG

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  6. Oh my, what stunning photography! Brilliant colours.Dropping by from Skywatch Friday.

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  7. Gorgeous pics, have a happy day, here weather very hot and no wind,best regard from Belgium
    http://louisette.eklablog.com

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  8. Lloks like you ar ontop of the world and image four is SPECTACTULAR. Love your very patient dog just waiting quietly while you photograph. The colours in the sky shots are amazing.

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  9. Wonderful series of photos and you're right - the colors ARE amazing!
    Thanks for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/06/falling-water.html, and please stop by to visit a memorial to my father at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2015/06/remembering-dad.html

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  10. I agree with Adrian, the fourth is amazing. It has such depth of colour.

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    1. Thanks Valerie, glad you liked it as well.

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  11. Another series of beautiful landscapes but of course the third photo is my favorite with sweet little Beni anxiously awaiting his human's return so he won't be all alone in that big huge universe!

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    1. My sister was with him in the car, so he wasn't alone :) But yes, he is always on the lookout.

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  12. Awesome colors... and one of my most favorites is the car on the hill.. beautiful and of course sweet Beni who looks a little worried... Daddy was outside and he wanted to be to...

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  13. Another great post of outstanding photos. I particularly enjoyed the trees.

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  14. Hello Mersad, gorgeous captures of the moon and the lovely sky. The colors and the views are stunning. Love the cute Beni too. Have a happy weekend!

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  15. Very beautiful countryside you have captured in the twilight hour. I don't live in California anymore, but the colors in your sunset and twilight remind me so much of the evening sky in The Central Valley in California.

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  16. beautiful views of the moon

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  17. You captured some spectacular sunset colors! And your moon shot are amazing.

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  18. Awesome skies and fantastic captures as always, Mersad!! These today truly took my breath away!! Thank you for sharing the beauty! I do hope you have a beautiful weekend!!

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  19. Powerful photography! That first shot was just the start of amazing after amazing! :-)

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  20. That third shot with the sunset colors and the hills! Magnificent. Enjoyed all, though!

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  21. Einfach traumhafte Fotos! Diese Farben sind fantastisch! Wunderschön!

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  22. You've done an excellent job with the moon shots; but I, too, was overwhelmed by the fourth image. Number 10 was right up there with my favorites, too.

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  23. Wow, these are super shots with magical light and fascinating colors. I especially like the fourth image.

    Yoko

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  24. Exceptional photos, Mersad. Lovely light and colour!
    (PS: are you aware of the new silhouettes meme:
    http://nixpixmix.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Saturday_Silhouette )

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  25. Oh my goodness! BEAUTIFUL photos, Mersad! How magical!

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  26. As someone who lives in the land of the almost-midnight-sun I wish that I had your skies: we seem to be plagued with cloud this year. I'm with Adrian in that I think the fourth picture steals the post.

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    1. Thanks Graham, I hope the clouds will at least clear up there.

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  27. Very nice photos of the moon and the other fine features of your visit, Mersad!
    Truly enjoyable!!
    Have a Beautiful Day!
    Peace :)

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  28. This is a gorgeous set of photos--I especially like the large horizontal photo with orange band running through the sunset. Beautiful.

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    1. Thanks Brooke. Glad you enjoyed the photos.

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  29. what absolutely gorgeous photographs!

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  30. Beautiful, as always. I Love every image.

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  31. Beautiful captures of the moon, the sunset, and the mountains.
    Happy Sunday.
    :-)
    Traci

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  32. Who can resist the call of the full moon? (A visit to my blog and a comment from you would be appreciated. Thank you.)

    Tangled in the Shade

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  33. Very nice pictures. Love it!

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  34. Beautiful Inspirations

    FOLLOW my Blog!!! Maybe we can follow each other!!!
    http://rimanerenellamemoria.blogspot.de

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  35. Beautiful sky and colors! I love it when things get so intense you don't even know where to point your camera! Doesn't happen often, but sure fun when it does!

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  36. Wow, beautiful shots!

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  37. Was für grandiose Farben! Die Natur ist doch der beste Künstler und du hast sie exellent festgehalten.
    Liebe Grüße
    Gusta

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  38. when I was young, and going for walks, the moon always seemed to be following me.

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