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Archive 2016 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)

  
 
VanIsle
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


{{EDITED - With a couple hundred views and no comments, I would love to hear why you *didn't* care for this image. I felt positive about my effort here, but clearly it is not resonating. I would love to gain insight as to why - Your feedback is appreciated. }}

I've kinda had enough of seeing milky way shots, but it just so happened that it was in view of the composition I wanted. Blue Hour was on its way, so the MW is much much fainter than it had been an hour earlier, when I wouldn't have been able to capture any detail in the foreground, as it was a new moon.

Thanks for looking.

Jeremy






Edited on Jul 12, 2016 at 04:58 PM · View previous versions



May 08, 2016 at 02:51 PM
VanIsle
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


I would love some feedback on why this image failed to resonate. 200 views and no comments... I didn't think it was so terrible!


May 10, 2016 at 10:58 AM
Hathaway
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Haven't been on in awhile, but looking at some Vancouver Island images for ideas on locations for an upcoming trip. Since you asked for comments, I will offer a few. Take them for what they are worth as I am no professional myself but do enjoy landscape photography. I find the image overall too dark.

The foreground is dark and a bit of a jumble. It needs to be simplified so that it is not too distracting. I assume it is your subject and I don't know where to look for interest. I have plenty of these shots and at the time thought I knew what I was composing for, but when I review the image it just has no impact.

Your foreground also significantly overlaps with the mountain range in the background. I like the look of the range leading to the MW, but it is overwhelmed by the stump.

I am not sure what camera you are using but your MW looks like it is lacking in quite a bit of details from what I have been able to capture and have seen others capture. Not sure if this is due to processor or processing. If you have a more recent camera with strong sensor you should be capturing quite a bit more detail at 30 seconds. This also depends on your settings (f stop, iso, shutter speed, etc.). I tend to shoot at 1.4 or 1.8 on my Sigma 24 at 30 seconds and 1600 or so ISO. I play around with it in the field to get it bright enough for my liking.

There is a significant glow on the right side of the image. I am not sure where this is coming from. There is no corresponding glow in the sky so I can't match it up to a source.

I might have composed this from in front of the stump in the water or at the water edge and gone for a complete mirror type image with lake and sky.

Just my thoughts. Bob



Jul 12, 2016 at 03:55 PM
VanIsle
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Hi Bob. This image is terrible, I see that now
I did have some much nicer ones from this shoot. I don't know why I thought this was good enough to post! So embarrassing



Jul 12, 2016 at 04:14 PM
Gary Clennan
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


I like the image but I find a few things a bit distracting. That foreground thing on the left is not quite identifiable and kind of stops my eye from wandering through the frame. If it is a really cool feature to you, I would try to boost the shadows just a bit and see what you think. If it was not interesting, I would have probably taken a few steps forward to not have it in the image. The blue color is nice but perhaps a tweak to the WB and saturation would help make it not so intense. Also, the MW is not really crisp and dramatic. I realize that many times this can be out of your control but some advance planning can certainly help. The blue can indeed be quite intense just before first light though. An option may be to shoot the MW when completely dark and then combine it with the foreground taken just before or after. Just my two cents....


Jul 12, 2016 at 04:42 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Hey Jeremy,

Don't be embarrassed, it's only in shooting and assessing images that didn't work that we can all grow. I guarantee there will be others that view this and read the comments that will learn from this, very likely some first time night shooters that will gain some valuable lessons.

The biggest thing I see, and it's a mistake we all could make, is that tree stump and roots or branches. At night typically it's all about being simple since we lose detail both to the darkness and often to high ISO noise. This image, if you had simply stepped in front of the tree trunk and just used the log that is fallen into the water as a bit of foreground interest would have really worked I think.

Now also the Milky Way is almost invisible, was the sun about to rise, or was the moon out and too bright?

Anyway, take heart! We can all learn and improve together.

Jim



Jul 12, 2016 at 04:46 PM
Bob Kane
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


I agree with the comments about the foreground. The milky way is not strong enough to carry the shot, so other details have to support it. That said, living in the light-polluted northeast I've only even SEEN the milky way once, never mind being able to photograph it.


Jul 12, 2016 at 04:49 PM
VanIsle
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Thanks for the feedback folks.

Jim - I appreciate your kind words. It's not sharing a bad shot that is embarrassing as then asking why it sucked, when it is so apparent to me now. Normally I can tell when my images have no hope, I don't know why I was attached to sharing this one. The sun was coming up (well... in an hour or so) hence the lack of detail in the MW. And yeah, I was trying to create interest from the log, but it just didn't work at all.




Jul 12, 2016 at 04:56 PM
VanIsle
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Here is another from this outing when the sky was darker. This image received a LOT of love on Instagram, but I found it kind of boring, which is why I didn't share it here.







Jul 12, 2016 at 04:57 PM
skyraider6
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


VanIsle wrote:
Here is another from this outing when the sky was darker. This image received a LOT of love on Instagram, but I found it kind of boring, which is why I didn't share it here.


I prefer this one.



Jul 12, 2016 at 05:28 PM
Hathaway
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Ha! Don't we all fall in love with our images. There is definitely potential in the location.


Jul 12, 2016 at 05:40 PM
DaleBerlin
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


Hi Jeremy, your first image is one of the most realistic Milkyways I have seen in a while, and knowing it was shot at the start of blue hour explains a lot. I really like the effect of your timing, it is an approach to a MW shot I have not tried. I would go back and aim for that same effect, but keeping in mind the wonderful advice you received above about composition.


Jul 12, 2016 at 05:58 PM
srimmey
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Comox Lake at night. Vancouver Island, BC (added image BOTTOM of thread)


The idea of the shot is really nice but there are several flaws imo... First the blue hour is way too blue. I love shooting in the blue hour as well because it allows me to shoot longer shutter speeds, have a soft even lighting across the landscape and use stars as a minor detail in a greater landscape.

When I look at this picture I feel the focus should be on the log with the lake and milky way as a backdrop. However, the log lacks detail and sharpness. The blacks are clipped really hard and the color seems far from natural.

A few weeks ago someone posted a wonderful pic from white pocket during the blue hour with a similar idea... a surreal object in the foreground lit by the soft blue light of the blue hour. The different is how the foreground object was used

Next time pick a focus for your pic and let it be the attraction ..be it the shoreline and lake, the milky way or the log. Nail your focus, lighting and framing for that subject and let the rest give it a beautiful since of place...if that makes any since.

ps... this is something that I am very guilty of myself. It is really easy to make everything the focus and missing the point of your shot. Only through the wonderful advice of these people and constant practice am I learning.



Jul 12, 2016 at 08:43 PM





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