The Story Behind the Photo

July 2025: Member’s Choice

Ryan Thom

This photograph was taken on the evening of August 19, 2024, after about two weeks of planning. Using the app Planit Pro, I mapped out the exact time when the full Moon would rise directly behind Seattle’s Space Needle as seen from Ursula Judkins Park in the Magnolia neighborhood. Planit Pro has a great feature that allows you to line up city landmarks with the Sun, Moon, and other sky objects, and I’ve included a screenshot of the original plan to show how it works.

The photo was made with a Nikon D850 and a 200–500 mm lens at 500 mm. My settings were 1/8 second, f/7.1, ISO 1250. Exposure is always tricky in a scene like this because of the extreme difference between the bright full Moon and the much dimmer cityscape. Careful use of the histogram helped me avoid clipping highlights or shadows and capture both elements cleanly.

Processing in Lightroom was fairly minimal but did require some careful balancing. I applied noise reduction for the low-light ISO, cropped to tighten the composition, masked the Moon to lower its brightness, and brightened the foreground so it would balance visually with the Moon.

A fun fact about this image is that it won Photo of the Month in an online community. The prize was a beautiful framed print, which I still treasure. The encouragement I received from others on this photo continues to inspire me to keep going out and chasing moments like this.

Image on the left is after noise reduction but before balancing. Image on the right is a screen shot from the Planet Pro app.