Succulent Sentinel

[Morkel Erasmus]

A solitary aloe keeps watch over the Milky Way in South Africa's Karoo desert. The full moon was rising at this point and to my surprise lit up the kopje in the background quite nicely. I illuminated the foreground using an LED Lenser P17 torch bounced off my hand. This is a single exposure.

Techs:
Canon 7D with 10-22mm USM @ 10mm
f3.5 @ 25s @ ISO-1600

[Robert Amoruso]

I like your comp and overall exposure but I am finding that yellow part to be too bright.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Morkel, I like the comp and positioning of the tree relative to the milky way. Agree with Robert regarding the brightness of the yellow base.
The image is well thought out and nicely handled technically.

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks Robert & Dave...

the rising full moon actually lit up the tree as well, the rest of the lower FG was shaded by the house we stayed in. I tried toning it down initially during PP but IMHO it made the image appear a lot blander.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Morkel....I like this alot but I too feel that the yellow is just too bright ....Looks too unnatural....Maybe just tone it down a little

[Chris Ober]

That much sky detail with only a 25s exposure AND the full moon was out? Wow! Must some tremendously spectacular night-time viewing conditions without the moon. Would love a few evenings with my telescope there.

I like how the tree milky way line up.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Morkel,
Another vote on the yellows to tone them down......but nice job isolating the succulent against the sky and the milky way adds another nice compositional element. Nicely done!

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks for the comments guys...

Chris you would love it down here with your telescope :)

Roman - will see what I can do about the yellows...