Hat Creek Valley

Gallery: LandscapePosted November 8, 2015192 views4 comments

This is looking south from Hat Creek Valley, adjacent to our campsite a couple of weeks ago. Mount Lassen would be behind the trees on the right. I have been dabbling with low light / night sky / star photography lately and this is one of the products. The moon was nearly full and behind clouds. Cattails and a marsh are in the foreground. I liked the arrangement of the elements in this one with the cattails (I am thinking slightly lit by our camp lantern), the bright moon, the willows on left and right, and the clouds and stars. D800e, Tokina 16-28 @ 16, f2.8, 2 sec. ISO 1600. I would be appreciative of any comments regarding this image. Thanks.

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on November 9, 2015 at 9:52 AM

Jim, this image is another one of those that doesn't show well at 720px, but looks good in the larger version, where the details and colors in the darker regions start to show well. The moonlit cattails make a fine foreground and the shape mimicry between the clouds and the trees on the edges creates a fine sweep in the sky. Having a few stars showing adds well. In fact, I'm thinking that some selective dodging to let some of the dimmer stars show better would be a nice addition.

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

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on November 9, 2015 at 11:13 AM

As Mark said, this has to be seen large for the details in the dark parts to emerge. The cattails look very fine as they are presented here. Great to see you also captured som iridescence in the small cloud directly to the right of the moon.

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

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on November 9, 2015 at 4:08 PM

Jim,
I have tried this many times and it is never easy. The short expsoure gives you point-like stars but a rather dark foreground. If you want more light on the foreground, then you get star trails. No fix other than HDR (which I've never done, and don't really like). I think that in this case the fine texture on the tree branches "makes" the image. Perhaps I would have tried to add a bit more (artificial) light to the lower left corner. That said, I find this to be an evocative image nonetheless. I hope this helps.

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

Comment posted by Lucy Aron on June 9, 2016 at 10:26 PM

This has a nice feel, esp the curved line near the center. My eyes are wanting a little more detail in the bottom half of the image, esp the right bottom.

Registered on February 25, 2011, 189 Posts, 1160 Comments