How would you remove the moon?

I stacked the following star trail the other night, but I didn't realize the moon was moving into my frame--I thought it was going to other way. Anyway, I have somewhere around 110 raws converted to jpegs via Lightroom, and then stacked in Startrails, which is a free stacking program. I really like the trails I got, but the moon is distracting. It became a factor in shot 20 and continued to be in there through the end.

So far what I've tried to remove it is selecting a large section of the non-moon area, copying it to another layer, and blending it in over the moon. I would then try burning the blacks a little bit, but they still won't blend evenly. I kinda like the results, but I'm not getting a good seam with the trails and I can't get the shades of black to line up properly.

I've got Lightroom 3 and Photoshop CS5. Are there any tricks to getting the trails to line up and the blacks to fade together?

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/61875474@N06/6​958067781/

Personally, except for the red flare, I think that the moon adds interest to the shot. Since "It became a factor in shot 20", why not just stack 1-19, or just crop it out? Not many images need to be 2:3 format.

Moon will be hard due to the glare around it. Id be more tempted to crop.

That or use less shots before the moon is in it.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #14034423
Personally, except for the red flare, I think that the moon adds interest to the shot. Since "It became a factor in shot 20", why not just stack 1-19, or just crop it out? Not many images need to be 2:3 format.

If i don't use the last 80 shots I won't have trails as long as I currently have. I may be able to get rid of the red flare and just keep the moon. Thanks for the input, I think I will just keep the moon.

could you possibly create an the same image with less stacks, call this image 2, and use that as a layer with a larger "black" area where image 1 would otherwise have the long moon trail and use that image 2 black space to clone, heal, patch your way to smoothness?

photophilth wrote in post #14036288
could you possibly create an the same image with less stacks, call this image 2, and use that as a layer with a larger "black" area where image 1 would otherwise have the long moon trail and use that image 2 black space to clone, heal, patch your way to smoothness?

I think you're getting somewhere. I'll try that tonight

imsellingmyfoot wrote in post #14036296
I think you're getting somewhere. I'll try that tonight

there's a will, there's a way! let us know how it goes! i'd love to tinker with something like that too if you'd like some more collaboration

photophilth wrote in post #14036378
there's a will, there's a way! let us know how it goes! i'd love to tinker with something like that too if you'd like some more collaboration

If you PM me your email address I'd be happy to send some files your way. Just let me know what you want.

I'll definitely check that out tonight. The preview above looks great!

After some great pointers and a sample of what it can look like from photophilth, here is my end result, barring someone pointing out something I missed.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/61875474@N06/6​814744488/

You did well!

I think I'll probably clean up the missing spots from my stacker later.

And thanks Tony!

looks good! mission accomplished

Without reading the post, just looking at the title...

My first attempt would be with some kind of anti gravity beam, though I don't think it's been invented yet. Nuclear weapons might be able to break it up, but that wouldn't get rid of it, just make it smaller. You could hire one of those private space companies to tow it away, but given it's the size of a small planet that might take a while. All in all, I think you're best off just living with the moon.