Night Watchman !! Repost of #2 !!

Adding to the night photos.

On a quick trip to Zion, I extended my day to take some photos in the setting moon. With the Milky Way visible, thought these came out ok.


!! See Repost of #2 on 8/16 !!

A closer view from the parking area.

And the East Temple from the bridge. I wasnt sure about this one - its sorta flat lit. But several friends like it, so here we go.

I like the compositions Karl, with the second one being my favorite. It's a personal thing, but I'm not a big fan of night shots that look like it's the middle of the day, especially with the sky so blue. I played around with the 2nd image and by adding black to the sky the stars pop out considerably and then selectively darkening the rocks a little it makes it look like a night shot a lot more. Of course that is just personal preference, I know some do like these exposures. Regardless you have a great base image to work with.

Very nice, Karl. Well worth the effort. I'm in the same camp as Scott; my personal preference is for these images to have the dark sky we expect at night, yet what you have now is also very interesting. I hope to experiment with some night shots at Zion as well in the next month or two. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks!

I did a quick draft darkening the skies in #2 with Vivesa. Yep, bigger pop. Not sure its doable in #1 with the clouds. I'll have to look at #3.

But for now the day job is calling. Look for a repost later this evening :)

Really like them...#2 particularly...hoping you post as others have suggested to see the difference.
Joe Rogers

Nice comps Karl. I look forward to the edits. The rock faces in #3 seem too bright as to fight for attention with the sky. I'd probably try to keep the highlights in those stars and darken & saturate the land and sky.

Karl- This is closer to what I was thinking for #3.

Thanks Bob. I'd be interested in feedback on this variation.

I'll be delayed on edits. I spent a couple hours last night setting up a sky mask when I noticed my ColorSpace got changed to sRGB somewhere before this point in the workflow. I got to finish prepping for a photo/video media gig - so out of time for the moment. Maybe in the hotel room :)

The second one is also my clear favorite and I look forward to seeing a repost from you.

Thanks Bob. I'd be interested in feedback on this variation.

I'll be delayed on edits. I spent a couple hours last night setting up a sky mask when I noticed my ColorSpace got changed to sRGB somewhere before this point in the workflow. I got to finish prepping for a photo/video media gig - so out of time for the moment. Maybe in the hotel room :)

Karl, #2 has my preference. Do you have a little bit more sky to add above in #2? Like others have said, darker skies would be better for all the images.

Yeah, #2 rocks it! Not real crazy about 3

A repost of The Night Watchman #2

Additional thoughts welcome

Notes
Completely masked the sky in PS
Vivesa Bright -27 Contrast +40 Saturation +10 Structure +28
Recomposite
Then further minor adjustments to rocks, shadows, and clouds.

I like the skies much better on this revision.
Your first version wasn't bad. It's quite subjective.