I haven't posted anything here in a while as I've been holed up in my home office catching up on projects this winter. Well, this morning I finally took a short trip into the park and skied up to Two Rivers Lake. The clouds didn't cooperate and so I ended up with clear skies over the mountains and thick clouds on the horizon. Fortunately, there was a half-moon out and a few stars were still visible by the time I arrived to this location. I didn't stick around for sunrise as my bed sounded more appealing than empty skies and a diffused sunrise. :)
As always, I'd love your comments and critiques. I still have a lot to learn about this night photography stuff. Thanks!
Howdy Erik! Thanks for posting this interesting image to study. Lots of snow up there this year eh? Overall, I think this image is pretty darn cool, no pun intended. Its well worth building upon and might be one to make your awesome website...in the end that's your call. Considering its close to dark when you shot this one, I think you did great with the comp; it conveys a very nice alpine scene, balanced well with foreground snow, trees and worthy shadows. Not sure the wide perspective does much for the photogenic Notchtop Mountain, kinda looks flattened out but most wont care. Processing looks great as well. The white balance is spot on COOL. The stars look awesome too. And color looks like winter. If it were me processing, I would struggle with going with your above end result, or adding additional "mood" to this scene or curves to darken the snow shadows (especially the mountain shadows) a Notch, no pun intended. Obviously that might darken your tree shadows. Selective darkening would work well maybe. Just a thought, overall this one stands on its own.
Great suggestions Kane! I really appreciate it. I'll play around with your ideas and see what I can come up with.
Posted by Doug Koepsel on April 22, 2014 at 9:50 PM
Erik, the large version looks really sharp. My thought is that this is really bright for a night moonlit scene and would be tempted to bring down the brightness. The colors look good.
Doug, thanks for the comment. You are probably right. It was quite bright out there with the moon, but not that bright. I'll darken it a little and see if that helps.
Crystal, thanks for your comment. I'm enjoying your posts!
Discussion
6 repliesI haven't posted anything here in a while as I've been holed up in my home office catching up on projects this winter. Well, this morning I finally took a short trip into the park and skied up to Two Rivers Lake. The clouds didn't cooperate and so I ended up with clear skies over the mountains and thick clouds on the horizon. Fortunately, there was a half-moon out and a few stars were still visible by the time I arrived to this location. I didn't stick around for sunrise as my bed sounded more appealing than empty skies and a diffused sunrise. :)
As always, I'd love your comments and critiques. I still have a lot to learn about this night photography stuff. Thanks!
D800e, 24mm, F3.5, ISO 2500
Crystal, thanks for your comment. I'm enjoying your posts!