Photograph of Venus With the Moon

A lot of people don't know that in the summer time you can see Venus in the western sky early in the night. I think I just reflexively look that way to see where it is in the sky when I'm out in the dark. I spotted this while I was taking the trash out this evening and I just couldn't resist the urge to get a picture of it. The sliver of the moon next to a bright star (not star, a planet) looked surreal with the haze in the sky tonight. The pic definitely doesn't do what I saw justice, but it turned out good enough that I thought I'd post it anyway.

I tried a lot of different exposure settings. Since I didn't have a tripod, most of my long exposure pics turned out horrible with the bright objects streaking all over the place. This one was a relatively quick exposure with the high ISO. I know, obvious, but the long exposure stuff at lower ISO showed more of the surroundings which would have really set this picture off. This one's brightness, contrast and color settings have been adjusted a little, which made the trees come out a little more. I hope you enjoy it!