Embers - RePost

Harry,
Overall, I really like this shot, but I think you are right about the RLC. I think it's a bit distracting and would darken and/or crop out most of it. 

I was impressed with the stars when I clicked on this image, Harry. I think they look great over the canyon. I think most people would like this as presented. As a photographer, however, the inconsistency between the sunset light and the night sky bothers me. I do think this is exaggerated or hightened by the sunlit LRC. I also am ambivalent about the 50/50 comp. I think I like this better with the bottom cropped to above FG cliffs, which solves the 50/50 comp, reduces the sunlight/star dichotomy, and simplifies the image. Just a personal opinion, of course, and I'll be interested in reading other comments. 

I think your instincts were spot on, Harry.  I agree with the crop suggestions and also find this image very appealing, if somewhat visually confusing.  Perhaps toning down the glow just a bit might help sell it as more realistic.  I do think that the general audience will like this a ton.  Overall a very dramatic rendition of the canyon.

Harry, This is so cool to look at and just has such a nice feel to me. I love the sky and enjoy seeing the Big Dipper which is something I always seem to look for. I think you did an excellent job with the processing here and the blend of the two exposures. The light in the canyon is especially nice! I like this as it is here because seeing the lower part of the canyon is nice, but I also like it cropped as Scott mentioned. Kind of makes a different image out of it that way and it looks great. Either way it is wonderful work!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

Well, I think this one was more of a learning process. Since the comp. -  regardless of lighting , blend, stars, colors is just not doing it for me. Crop options may eliminate the problem areas, the resulting image just not working for me. Hope to get another chance at this in the future with a better comp in mind. 
Thanks for the input, you have confirmed  my thoughts.

Dang, Harry! You are killing it with these canyon images! This is really nicely done. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are both visible. There is virtually no noise! The warm/cool color combination is excellent. I love the light on the canyon walls!
--P

Beautifully executed and processed night shot. The luminance level looks spot-on on my monitor. The afterglow on the canyon walls is gorgeous but I tend to agree that the foreground cliffs don't add much, although the one on the left is really not an issue. I would suggest trying to burn down/de-sat the lower right so that it becomes a little less prominent.

The sunset glow is too bright for the night sky for me and I am not too keen on the 50/50 comp.
Technically this looks very good, no noise and you have a lot of stars for the low iso setting and exposure.
I like the light on the cliffs, I would crop out some of the sky....

Harry, I like the sense of depth that including the cliff in the LRC adds.  The starry sky is a fine touch.  Yes, the brightness of the foreground and the sky light are not consistent with the stars, but like other's have said, that's something that it probably takes a photographer or a photo critic to complain about.  I could be tempted to crop half of the sky putting more emphasis on the afterglow and how it has illuminated the tops of the formations, but we all have different visions and without those differences NPN would not be nearly as much fun.

Thanks for the feedback. The entire sky was included to show the enature big dipper, but maybe I should have kept the emphasis on the canyon with less sky. Thanks!

Harry,

I think you've done an excellent job combining the two elements of the canyon and sky/stars.  Looks great to me; I see the "after glow" providing the lovely light on the canyons.  Not sure how to describe this, but I would like to see the sky a wee bit lighter with maybe less green?  Not a biggie though, given this is closer to sunset.

I'm torn about including the foreground cliffs. Cropping up from the bottom would clearly turn the emphasis on the night sky, and then it's just an image of the night sky.  So in the end, I think including the foreground cliffs really helps the canyon stand out - and that soft glow is really quite nice.

Overall, I think this works beautifully as presented.

Lon

Harry, thanks for the nod. I really like what you've gone for here. The 50-50 comp has me on the fence, but I can see why you want that given where the big dipper is. I would agree that reducing the greenish cast would help. The foreground rock on the BRC is a tough one. But Overall, I like this one a lot.

Click Image for Dark Background

I've taken your suggestions and applied them to the image.  I think the comp is the biggest issue - that part is hard to fix in processing!  Still like Sairam's comp better.  I tried to find his tripod footprints but I guess I didn't .  Had difficulty removing the greens in the sky, other colors where effected when I tried.

After looking for a while I must say I prefer the cropped version.  Processing looks good to me but I don't do a lot of this stuff either (no patience).

Late to the party, Harry, but I have to chime in because I think you have the makings of a really nice image here.

As for comparing the lightness/darkness issues in sky vs. land, photographers will always have individual ideas about their own version of reality vs. fantasy, so you just need to decide which way  you want to go.  (Somewhat similar to individual use of of grads and other filters to alter what the camera records, blending a night sky with a daylight landscape is where the artist has to decide where to go.)  My personal choice would be for dimmer highlights on the land, but that's just me.

Regarding the composition, of course that's all personal choice, too.  I'll offer my two cent's worth so you can see if you like it.  I would keep the whole sky, but crop the bottom so only the top (rounded) part of the LRC rock shows, and then burn it down so it does not pull the eye there.  This results in a composition with the land occupying close to 1/3 of the image.  (Not trying to follow a "rule" -- I just like the way it looks.)  Just an alternative to consider, in addition to your re-post, which I like!

Bottom line:  (Re: your comment "Hope to get another chance at this in the future with a better comp in mind.") 
  -- Go back and shoot as much as you want, but you still have a keeper here! 
 

Wile the foreground feels a little tight, especially on the left, it's a pretty small deal to me and something only photographers would be likely to worry about. While I would focus on the much more attractive distance in a future shot, this is still superb. I do think it looks better in your repost when viewed on the dark background of the large version. Looks like you dropped the green a tad in the repost?? I prefer that too.

I love the effect created by adding the night sky to the earlier lit canyons. While this may be different than the reality, it better captures the actual experience of being there; our "memory" tends to remember the canyon scene and superimposes the night sky on the memory as the light fades.