A Christmas Crescent Moon

The crescent Moon was low in the south-western sky and showing a hint of the night part of it's surface illuminated by light reflected from the Earth. Two images were used to construct the composite, one of the Moon correctly exposed for it's lit surface and another exposed for the dark part, which resulted in massive over exposure of the lit part. The extra exposure required also captured a few stars in the background, something which is impossible with correct exposure for the Moon.

Nikon D800, 300mm f/4 lens, 2x focal extender

GIMP. Colour correction, de-noise, stretch contrast.