Bannockburn 10.05 am. 9/12/2022, moon 320˚ azimuth , 1.45˚ elevation
Did it look like this in reality?
Not to the naked eye, as everything is too small, but it would with a telescope, or even someone with brilliant eyesight really concentrating, except the moon would be very faint through the low level haze, even on a very clear day. The photo was underexposed to cut through the haze and the contrast on moon surface increased to bring it out.
Is it fake? Why do the hills appear so close and the moon so big?
The compression distortion is a result of the large distance from the near subjects, rather than the telephoto lens, you'd get the same result, except for quality, with a massive crop of an ultra-wide shot. It's entirely natural.
At 5km, the castle becomes a tiny speck relative to the hills, so when everything is magnified to be visible, the hills appear relatively large and thus close.
Similarly, at 33km away, the hills shrink, relative to the moon, which thus appears relatively large. Once in the next five years, the moon will set for enough north to just appear between the hills, which would be nice.

5* for the photo and 5* for the expalantion!

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