re: In light of the moon landing anniversary. Can someone explain this to a non space geek?

You can see this if you have a bright light in your yard. Go outside at night and focus your phone's camera on the area lit by the bright light (as in the moon pics that you posted) and it will struggle to pick up stars in the night sky.

If the astronauts had been trying to take pictures of stars they would have focused on the "sky" and extended the exposure time so that the camera could capture more light