Intergalactic portal

I had hoped to do something similar last year at Mobius Arch, but I arrived at twilight and couldn't find the arch until near dawn..

I like this, especially the shooting star, and I'm always a fan of twilight+star blends - but there's a definite halo around the whole mountain line and the edges of the arch. Maybe rather than painting in the actual star exposure, you could just overlay it on top of the twilight starless sky as a Lighten mode layer, as described by Floris Van Breugel in his tutorial, then mask out the landscape areas so they don't get stars on them. The only problem I usually have with this approach is getting the stars to pop and look smooth, but I find that blurring the star layer helps smooth the stars, and using extreme contrast curves on it helps the stars pop through via Lighten mode.

Other than that, I have no complaints, although I would maybe try a 16:9 crop from the top down, removing the bottom - might send the eyes up to the sky more, and place your horizon around a third. Just a thought.

Pretty crazy...how long in between the two shots? Bet the blend was nuts. Killer result

aF

The stars where not really noticable from the thumb, so opening this image was a great suprise! Jsut a wonderfull job on the beldn, the sky looks fantstic, and the stars is an added bonus!

Great concept and brilliant results of a very challenging scene.
I didn't even notice the halos, until Alex mentioned them,
too much other good stuff going on for me to look at.
Great result of a well planned shoot.

Peter - I really like this version. The light balance looks perfect - gives me the feel that is night which I like. The shooting star is a nice addition. Hope to visit this some day. The overlay must have been a challenge.

Thanks Alex, I can't say I see the halo above the mountains, but do notice it slightly above the arch. I haven't tried a lighten mode layer, might play around with that though. However, I was going for the more sprinkled star look rather than having them pop. The only part I wanted to pop was the shooting star.

Aaron the exposure times were about 1 hour apart. The twilight image was done 20 minutes before the official sunrise giving off a nice blue tone.

Thanks everyone!

Very nice comp, Peter. The shooting star definitely adds interest. Yes the halo around the arch is obvious, and there are some halo above the mountain also ( especially on the left side).

Composition is very nice, but I too noticed the halos. Also, the edges of the arch are darker than the rest of it, which looks as if it's the result of the blending method used. If this were mine, I'd tone down the blues a bit. I'm a sucker for arches, and this one's on the list.

Killer work! This shot is definitely worth working to perfect the blend!

Rather than the haloing, the first nit that I noticed was the dark edge where the mountains meet the sky.

Cool. Great atmosphere with those deep blues. The shooting star is a nice touch.

Very nice image, and comp, IMO. So glad you were able to capture the shooting star! Brings the photo to life, if you ask me...

I do have to say, I am seeing the halos as well, but mostly just in the smaller image. TFS!

I've never seen the arch portrayed this way. I really like this, Peter.

Here is a repost with a few things. First I tried my best to get rid of the dark edges of the arch (I think that made the halo more apparent) and also lightened up the mountain peaks a bit. I didn't want them too bright so they don't take the emphasis off the arch itself. I also toned down the blues with a levels adjustment, but just a bit. Let me know what you think.

Lovely. What a wonderful addition the shooting star is.

The repost looks great. I know I didn't mention the blue cast, but now that you've toned it down, it does look more natural. Looks good!

Thanks Nathan. Are you still seeing the halo in the image? I've heard from a few others it was still quite evident, but I maybe see just a bit on the right side.

Peter,

Excellent rendition of Mobius. I'm really enjoying the very cool color balance. Terrific night sky and I think your processing and choice of darkness/detail is fitting for the moment. Also, enjoy the view of Whitney - small in the frame, yet so prominent.

Glad to see you came home with some keepers on your Eastern Sierra swing.

Lon

Thanks Lon, I was pretty happy this shot ended up working out. A nice little send off before getting home. Hoping to return again. I'll be back in California at the end of July, but up in the redwoods and heading to Oregon and Washington right after.

Stargate! Very unique image, I love it. The repost looks good, only still a very small halo is visible.

Sure, there's a bit of a halo around the arch towards the right of the frame. I really don't want to pick on this image---I just tried doing an image blend around twilight, and found out just how difficult it is (I may post it soon)! That said, the processing here is outstanding... Hope you enjoy your trip next month. Sounds like the destinations are something to look forward to!

Thanks Nathan I appreciate it, I'll have to get that right side fixed. The blends are quite difficult especially trying to keep the tones natural throughout the scene. Looking forward to your upcoming post. These are becoming my favorite types of images.

Nice comp and blues in this The shooting star is like icing on the cake.

This is a beautiful shot peter! Very unique shot from this area. The repost looks much better, but I still feel that there is some more work to be done. The shooting star is a icing on the cake!

Thanks Chikku, I think I finally got it to a point where most of the kinks are worked out. Definitely one of the most difficult images I have worked on.

Wow this is stunning, a style we don't see often. It almost feels cartoon-ish, but I mean that in a good way. It's very vivid and magical looking. The shooting star is the cherry on top.

Thank you Kory, the shooting star really helped make this one over the top.