My wife and I spent our anniversary (2/13) and Valentine's Day shooting at odd hours to witness and capture some of the best dark skies in the world. Totally worth it C&C welcome and appreciated.
I really like #1; looks like the core is making it's way back to N America. What time of the morning was this taken? You probably could darken the sky surrounding the MW and bring it out a touch but overall a great image!
I really like the composition in #2 but it seems a bit noisy in the mid ground dunes and the light painting is a tad harsh (looks straight on). I'm surprised the A7R produces that much noise. This may have been a situation where composing two shots and blending them together would have improved the IQ as the stars look great.
Love the shots! Just curious where is the first location at? I'll be heading over to Death Valley in a couple of weeks and looking forward to capturing the night sky too! Can't really think of a location in Death Valley that has such a large lake...but then again that doesn't really look like a lake either
Tim: The first image is so well done I just want to let out a primal scream; it's THAT GOOD! This is what astrophotography is all about. You've opened up a world we wouldn't ordinarily see and it's spectacular!!!
Very, very nice work, sir. Your expertise is obvious! All I can say is, "More, More, More!"
The first one looks perfect to me...don't change a thing. No complaints with the second, either. Great job on these. Nice you have a wife who is willing to spend an anniversary & Valentine's Day in DV.
Both of these images are great. You processed them very well and I enjoy how natural they appear! Just like being there in person. For taste I just might increase the saturation slightly in the Milky Way.Maybe another +15 or +20 depending on how it looks to your eye.
Brock: #1 was taken pretty close to 5 am. It was a fine line between the Milky Way rising over the mountain, and the dawn wiping it out. For #2 I tried with light painting, but the setting moon did a much better job lighting the dunes. I agree that there are some noise issues, but I think that has a lot to do with the downsizing action I have in PS over sharpening the noise. I'll definitely take a look at that since noise reduction isn't my forte.
kkcy: This was in a section of Badwater, and giving directions to it without a point of reference is difficult. I doubt this small pool (I'm bad with distance estimations, but it isn't more than 200 feet across) will be around for much longer since it's been 80 degrees in the daytime, and it's only a few inches deep in the middle. I'd suggest going up to a view point in the Amargosa Range and surveying Badwater for points of interest, then scout during daylight. This was about a 30 minute walk from the road, and we almost walked by it when we went out before dawn. It isn't a very big target and most of the landscape around it looks exactly the same.
Well done on the first image Tim. I was there that same weekend with the family and probably should have snuck out at night for some night photography too. The second image I would like better if the foreground sand wasn't so bright to give it a more natural feel.
Tuan: The levels on this shot were not adjusted hard at all. I changed the temperature in the ground layer because the moon was setting and gave a golden look to my eyes. I'll play around with this one a bit more.
Now that is a Milky Way I can get behind. Very well processed. Kept it real looking. Nice! I have never been a huge fan of extreme Milky Way processing so when pulled back a bit, like the processing here, it is a treat to me.
C&C welcome and appreciated.
