Prairie Night

Gallery: LandscapePosted January 17, 20153,357 views10 comments

Winter starry night on the prairie. 1/4 moon, just enough to light up the landscape. I did a little light painting on the tree with my head lamp. I am and early morning person so doing night photography is great in the winter when sunrise is late. This was taken about 4:30 in the morning. I wish the dramatic summer sky was in the winter. Thanks for your comments and critiques.

Canon 7D
Sigma 10-20
Manual
Shutter 30 sec
Aperture f4
ISO 1250
10mm
Tripod, remote shutter release, 2 sec delay
Adjustments in lightroom 4 to bring out the sky and detail in the landscape.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 17, 2015 at 9:42 PM

Awesome stars and I like the mix of snow and the tree is a pretty nice anchor (though I'd be interested to see a similar comp without the tree). Overall though the image looks washed out and washed out. I played around with it in photoshop and used levels to boost the lights and cranked the saturation a bit which helped and would of course be better if I was using the RAW file. I'd play around a bit and see what you can come up with

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on January 17, 2015 at 10:53 PM

I agree with Luke that the image has a washed out-flat appearance to it. WOuld contrast help this a little? Also, may more directional lighting with the headlamp on the tree to give the branches more definition. Looks cold and empty there, but those stars rock!

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Lowe on January 18, 2015 at 12:00 AM

Great sky and comp, Richard. Those stars make the scene for me and the light on the landscape looks very natural. My only suggestion would be a bit more contrast as already mentioned.

Ed

Registered on February 7, 2004, 414 Posts, 7115 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on January 18, 2015 at 3:24 AM

I am a real sucker for moonlit landscapes with the stars in the sky, so I like this one! I do agree with the contrast boost in the land part mentioned by the others, and I would personally remove the airplane. I really hate those in my night photos, and they are very easy to remove. Looks like a bleak landscape!

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on January 18, 2015 at 6:46 AM

I would give this a contrast boost. It looks a bir flat to me. The stars look good and I also like your idea. The comp works well, too, though I would also love to see a different view without the tree or the tree more on the left

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on January 18, 2015 at 11:18 AM

Great sky here, Richard, set off with the right amount of light on the foreground. In the larger version, the tree looks slightly bright, but that's minor.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on January 18, 2015 at 11:46 AM

Wish I could be an early riser, Richard. I love the moon lit landscape. I would tone down the light on the lone tree a bit, but otherwise very nice.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on January 18, 2015 at 1:30 PM

I really like the stars!! You managed to get an exposure that is long enough to give you many bright stars, but not so long that star trails become distracting. Nicely done!

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on January 18, 2015 at 2:06 PM

That sky looks wonderful with all those stars. I agree that the land part of the image seems to have a flat appearance so may be the contrast suggestions would help. I'm ok with the tree but think I might like it even better without it. Cool night scene!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on January 18, 2015 at 4:13 PM

I like the sky, but do agree the landscape looks a little flat. The snow looks fine, so bringing down the darks just a bit would liven this up, I think.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments