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Archive 2017 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

cruscher
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done. ~ Vincent Van Gogh

Three nights in a row, working on a series as an homage to Vincent. While hiking up looking at the cloud cover I was thinking oh well, love the journey. But after scouting a couple of locations most of the clouds cleared. Loving the capture/adventure/inhale and loving the development/stillness/exhale resulted in something well done. Thank you Goddess of Photography for inspiring me over and over.

Tech Info ~ 124 images for a 4 portrait frame stitch at 16mm, 4 - seven minute photos @ f/4.0, ISO 800 for the foreground & 4x30 photos ran thru Starstax - 25 sec. @ f/4, ISO3200 for the sky. The city light from Sedona illuminated foreground & the clouds on the left while the clouds on the right are illuminated from Flagstaff lights.

http://www.absoluteinspiration.com/Starry-Starry-Night/i-73SCcV8/0/X2/StarryCibolaPhotoPrintReady-X2.jpg

Jan 18, 2017 at 01:36 AM

gpelpel
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

WOW!

Amazingly creative. Out of this world, for sure, but it works.
It sure is a lot of work.
Congratulations.

Jan 18, 2017 at 01:48 AM

erielake
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

very cool and imaginative post work......nicely done

Jan 18, 2017 at 07:44 AM

douter
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Wow was the first word that came to mind for me, but since that has been used...
Gorgeous!
Douglas

Jan 18, 2017 at 08:15 AM

ckcarr
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

I'd expect mixed reactions on this.

My take.
This would go over well in a gallery with pedestrian non-photographer shoppers.
Fellow photographers may like, or dislike, or be ambivalent depending on their leanings toward the type of work they themselves produce and enjoy. Perhaps pure landscape or digital art on the bell curve. It's kind of like being a cook and you might have added a little too much seasoning...

To me, it looks like two completely distinct images. That may be because of the foreground appearing a little too bright for the scene, which might be easily solvable. But that would only be for my taste, so it's just opinion is all.

Edited on Jan 18, 2017 at 09:55 AM · View previous versions

Jan 18, 2017 at 09:48 AM

EGrav
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Looks like a nuclear-processed illustration for the Hobbit movies.

Jan 18, 2017 at 09:55 AM

triggermike
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

I think it's pretty cool! There's a lot of hard work here and it paid off.

Mike

Jan 18, 2017 at 11:39 AM

JohnC
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Amazing and fitting homage to Vincent.

Jan 18, 2017 at 12:11 PM

mullysr
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

This is fantastic. It inspires a long look and thought even after reading your post. Really pushing the boundaries.

Jan 18, 2017 at 12:37 PM

AmbientMike
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Wow! That is AMAZING

Jan 18, 2017 at 12:53 PM

Don George
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Must say it's creative for sure. You lost me half way through your processing description. I would be happy to have half of your software knowledge. Great 👍 image.

Jan 18, 2017 at 03:52 PM

spoupard
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

I'm dumbstruck! Beautiful image.

Jan 18, 2017 at 04:45 PM

gpelpel
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Took more time today to reread your comments.

The amazing part is that, aside from stacking 1 hour worth of shots (star trails), it is the result of in camera work. I have done some night photography as well but never thought of creating a pano stitch of 4 images. The effect is quite stunning.

I know that the common star trail technique in the digital world is to stack a series of 15-30 seconds images. For the first time last October I tried the old film era technique of leaving the shutter open for 2 hours to record the trails in one shot instead of stacking a bunch of them. To my surprise it turned out pretty good although my friends were surprised I didn't fry my sensor. So far the D810 still works fine

Back to your image the only thing I may adjust is the bright glow from Sedona on the left side. It tends to pull the viewer's eye to the left edge. By burning these highlights, and may be adjust their color balance, you should get a more balanced image. Just a thought.

Jan 18, 2017 at 05:36 PM

Timmeh
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

You've really got some slick processing on this, and the lack of noise in the sky and the ground layer is really nice. The style is certainly reminiscent of Van Gogh, but I have to agree with Craig about the levels looking off in the ground layer. Looking at it for more than a second makes it seem superimposed on a black night sky. The image is further fractured by the bright light and the dark tree coming into the edge of the frame. I'll add to gpelpel's idea and think that cropping off the left to get rid of the bright light would make it a much stronger and more cohesive image.

Tim

Jan 18, 2017 at 08:24 PM

savingspaces
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

I love it - great work.

Jan 18, 2017 at 10:42 PM

WiseTioga
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Sorry to disagree, but I personally feel that the Star Trails ruin what I feel would otherwise be a very good shot of Cibola Pass. Have never been a fan of this type of photography and think in this case you have totally overdone it. Again I think the foreground would make for a great panorama as either a nighttime shot in the moonlight or a daytime shot. No disrespect intended, just how I see it and feel about it.

Jan 19, 2017 at 12:34 AM

cruscher
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

Thank you all for your replies and comments. I too agree in many ways it is overdone. The point of this exercise was for stretching and pushing my creativity expression by tapping into Vincent Van Goth expressively/emotionally and leaning more toward painting and leaning less way from photography. I watched many videos about him and his paintings as part of this exercise. I knew just doing a one off would be easily dismissed by my internal critic, therefore a series was needed. I find interesting new creative places within my passion by assigning and completing something out there. I find it wonderful that we have a place (FM forums) to get a variety of responses not riddled with attacks and not sugar coated. I love the idea of the weekly and monthly assignments although I don't do them here I do my own.

I now see that the foreground in most of the series is too bright. As for cropping this on the left I wanted to give the far left cliff side breathing room and did not want to crop into it. And you are correct the bright side on the left doesn't work. Luckily I live only 2 miles away just have to wait for a better night and shift the composition by finding a better location in the area.

I can just pull single frames and make one without the star trails. Well kind of the stars will have shifted by 15 mins. in each relative frame although with good blending as long as you did not compare specific star locations it will look ok.

Thanks again for the feedback.

Jan 19, 2017 at 01:47 PM

Tim Knutson
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

If you change your work to match what everybody thinks, and to make everybody happy with your art. Your art will become just another, in a long line of very nice images. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

But, it is nice to see something fresh once in a while. Good for you. You should print it big, on metal, and hang it somewhere for the world to see.

Jan 19, 2017 at 06:37 PM

gpelpel
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

I second Tim Knutson's comments. You can please everyone and end up with 'been there, done that' shots or you can express yourself and produce unique images as this one is.

As per my earlier comment of burning the highlights on the left side, I agree with you that cropping would damage the composition balance. It is just perfectly balanced as it is. The burning suggestion was just that... a suggestion. It may work or it may not. As it is now you could imagine the left side highlight to be the explosion that triggered the star movement toward the center of the image, ending in a downward spiral before crashing back to earth in the center right explosion.

I think the foreground lighting works very well with the rest of the image. Art doesn't have to be reality, it is supposed to be a representation of your creativity. You surely succeeded in this regard.

Jan 19, 2017 at 06:57 PM

JimFox
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Starry Starry Night Cibola Pass

This is pretty cool. Different, but cool. The biggest thing is the stars. While I prefer static stars, there are times when star trails are cool. When I have done star trails I usually have avoided in the composition where the trails curve outwards, and have aimed for when the stars are all curving into the frame. But I like how in the curves of the polar north and south circles that the stars seem to be spewing upward and outward like a galactic fountain. Which is probably what I would title this if it was mine. Anyway, thanks for this as it has given me some ideas for some shots in the future.

Jim

Jan 20, 2017 at 04:39 PM

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