....And by "Stars" I meant both me and Dustin Gent, the only 2 people out shooting this night
This is, by far, the most difficult shot I've ever had to put together. Low light, multiple exposure , 11 shot focus stack with annoying tiny moving flowers between each frame. Enough problems to cause hair loss.....Luckily the end result calms me down and I can sit back and enjoy the photograph, soon to be on my wall.
This turned out very nice Justin. My only suggestion would be to darken down the shadows a bit. I think you might be concerned with showing too much detail in the shadows, so they end up a bit on the muddy side. Don't be afraid of those dark pixels — after all, this is a night photo.
Man, 11 shot focus stacking would try my patience for sure. The results are pretty damn crispy though. I do find the one Anemone flower on the far right edge of the frame to be a little distracting with how it's clipped by the edge of the shot, but otherwise this is money bro.
roguecoolman wrote:
Wow Justin. This is an amazing shot. The Focus stack really works here. Do you stack the focus first then process the multiple exposures?
Jason
Thanks Jason. I have found the order depends on the situation. If nothing is moving, I find it better to blend first, then stack. However if there is movement like in this shot, I stack each exposure first, then piece in shadow areas and areas without movement.
Ben Horne wrote:
This turned out very nice Justin. My only suggestion would be to darken down the shadows a bit. I think you might be concerned with showing too much detail in the shadows, so they end up a bit on the muddy side. Don't be afraid of those dark pixels — after all, this is a night photo.
Thanks Ben, I totally agree. However when I posted my previous night photo (https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1233386) I don't think many people saw it the way I intended. I purposely edited this web shot to show a lot of shadow detail, to avoid having huge black areas that don't show anything. It will for sure have lots of dark pixels when I print though
BryanSwan wrote:
Man, 11 shot focus stacking would try my patience for sure. The results are pretty damn crispy though. I do find the one Anemone flower on the far right edge of the frame to be a little distracting with how it's clipped by the edge of the shot, but otherwise this is money bro.
Curious how long the exposure for the stars was?
Thanks man, I was thinking of either darkening that flower, or just warping it out completely. I haven't decided yet And the stars were shot for 20 second.
jbledsoe wrote:
That's an amazing photo, everything works in it. I'm sure you both are pretty happy with your work this night.
Im definitely happy. Dustin seems to be holding out on us, but I know he got some sweet shots though. Plus he could capture more stars then me and my F4 lenses
Came out awesome Man! Really nice. I'm not sure what you talking about in the message you wrote me, but you seemed to have figured it out. Looks great! Keep it up
Awesome shot. A lot of people see this images on monitors (laptops!) that crush the shadows quite a bit so I think it was a good choice to open them up for web purposes.
Thanks again guys. Im glad this shot is showing a bit better for everyone then the last!
Steve Dublanko wrote:
Really sweet shot Justin. I love the dark tones of this image and am inspired to try something similar soon. Well done my friend!
Yeah man, I think I'll just stick with shooting these types of shots when I get disappointing clear skies. Its hard not to come out with something original looking when shooting twilight. Give it a shot!...preferably without moving things
Man... focus stacking at night like that... I am surprised you have any hair left... 