The Oval

I was fortunate enough to take a spontaneous trip to Death Valley a couple weeks ago, where I was finally able to visit the Racetrack in the DV backcountry. Although I had timed my trip to try and capitalize on a snowstorm, by the time I actually made it to this location, the system had moved East leaving clear skies behind. I had originally envisioned a different shot from here, but soon realized conditions were perfect for this type of night shot instead.

This location has become rather iconic and I HAVE seen star trail shots from here so nothing new there, but I wanted to use the slight crescent moon to illuminate the FG a bit more and try to bring more detail to the intricate patterns of the Playa (or Dry Lake Bed). Since I had lost most of my equipment to a close encounter with the Pacific Ocean (described in an earlier post),I had pretty slim pickings on this trip in terms of gear. I had no intervalometer to time out exposures, so used a piece of masking tape with my camera's Bulb setting to time out ~4 minute exposures. I was able to get about 18 exposures before the moon began to make the stars fade, but also lit up the playa where I made a longer 6-8 minute exposure that was moonlit and also had some very slight predawn glow. Usually I don't go for such a well lit FG, but I decided to use a little more artistic liberty in this case.

All thoughts and critiques are welcome in hopes of improving this image and my processing in general-thanks in advance!

Tech Notes:
Canon 5dmk2
Canon 17-40mm L
18 ~4minute exposures at ISO 100 f/4 focus determined beforehand a little off infinity
1 ~6-8 minute exposure at ISO 100 f/8 focus predetermined for FG rock
Blended in PS using Floris VB's algorithm to reduce gaps in trails (Thanks Floris!)