Another one I have been working on, suggestions always appreciated.

Perhaps a darker rendition?

I like this one quite a bit. I wouldn't change much.

Karen, the darker rendition lends additional drama to the road and I think that I will increase the darkness to selected parts of the image. To me it gives the road and moon additional pop. Good suggestion.

Mister Bean, thanks for commenting and glad you like the image.

Barb,

I'm a bit confused by this one ...

The moon looks like it is being illuminated from the right, yet there is this bright spot from behind the ridge on the left. Almost as if there are two separate light sources ... backlighting from the left, sidelighting from the right.

I flipped/rotated/scaled the moon to angle toward the left source, but that doesn't look right to me either. If I were to guess, I'd say this was from morning & late afternoon composted/blended ... but I'm probably way off.

Can you give guy a clue ...

Lovely image Barbara, my preference would be somewhere between your and Karen's re-work.

Whether by design or chance, I particularly like the half or dozen so tire tracks leading the viewer from the bottom of the frame into the image and over the small rise.

Regards,

Bob

Kent, you're partially correct. I am experimenting with textures. I shot the road image on one day mid afternoon, full sun, went back out the next day in the late afternoon because clouds were rapidly forming, so to make a long story short, shot several cloud images (blue skies with moon) and the textures I was using weren't working well for the image so I thought I would try using the sky image and voila. The effect you're seeing is a band of bright white clouds on the left side which gives an unrealistic impression that the sun is coming from that side (maybe I should burn it down a little). The cloud image gave atmospherics (fog like) and I really liked the effect. It's not always about realistic Including the 2 images for reference.

Bob, yes I feel the same way "somewhere between your and Karen's re-work". I wasn't sure about all the tire tracks in the image and I had initially tried to clone some of them out unsuccessfully but they do work.

Thank you for your input.

Barbara, thanks for the explanation ...

Whew ... I thought I was "losing it"

No worries @ realistic ... "plausible realism" works for me.

+1 @ tire tracks ... they make the image, imo.

Knowing the back-story helps even more...never guessed the composite! Gives me room for plenty of ideas

Bob

Well, great observation by Kent and helpful to understand more what is happening here.
First, I like the image overall and, as you know, I am partial to BW. An especially good choice where play of light and texture are the key elements.
Second, I think Karen's rework moves things in a nice direction too.
Third, I was hesitant to comment initially given the positive feedback and not knowing the reality of the scene. Now that I know, I will be a bit more bold. I think the bright area introduced on the left side is distracting, pulling the eye in two directions. And it feels a bit odd, unnaturally bright. The idea/effect is interesting. So maybe pull down the brightness or alter the blend opacity a bit.
Fourth, I like the overall image a lot I think its worth the time for additional refinements.
Scott

Kent, glad my explanation clarified things for you.

Scott, I appreciate your honesty. I agree that the area of white on the left is distracting and it is one of several tweaks I plan to make.

Bob, glad you got some new ideas. Looking forward to seeing your experimentation