Teton Barn - Nighttime

[Eric Virkler]

Looking at all Roman's beautiful nighttime Teton/Yellowstone shots reminded me that I had planned on sharing this shot from our trip there last June. This shot was taken at half past midnight (when my wife rolled over at 4 a.m. and didn't see me, she realized I'd being going straight from nighttime shots to my sunrise location). The trees and the mountains are being lit by the full moon. The barn is being lit with a million candle power flashlight that I crammed into my carry-on luggage. My plan was to show the stars prominently with the barn lit up, but the full moon erased my hopes of having bright stars. The face of the barn is actually shaded, not catching any moonlight, so the flashlight provided all the light there. I went back again at the end of my trip and shot the same thing before the moon came up just like I'd wanted to do originally. Turns out I liked this result better. 30s, f4.5, ISO 400, 34mm, million candle power flashlight

Eric Virkler

Faces of Nature Photography
www.ericjvirkler.com (http://www.ericjvirkler.com)

[Jason Kinsey]

Absolutely beautiful image Eric!!! The only thing that jumps out at me is the light on the grass in front of the barn-but that is tough not to have in your situation. If that were absent the barn would appear lit from the inside. But that is nit-picky-this is a heck of an image!!!!

[Rene Quenneville]

Well done, beautiful. Good job at painting with light.

[Eric Virkler]

Jason, I agree about the flashlight hitting the grass. I'm glad that the moon lit the rest of the grass somewhat, otherwise it would have been even more noticeable and distracting.

Thanks for the comments

Eric

Faces of Nature Photography
www.ericjvirkler.com (http://www.ericjvirkler.com)

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Eric,
I think you can tone down some of the grasses selectively although I do feel they add an interesting compositional element. Perhaps lightening the FG a touch more?.....worth a try for yourself just as a comparison. I even think the clouds add to the image and you placed all the elements very nicely in the frame. At this angle you didn't get the intersection with the Tetons.....but you did catch the tree in the back. It doesn't bother me here because it is very muted and doesn't interfere with the barn roofline so that works too.....although it would be an easy fix in post if you so choose! The moon did it's job on the trees and Tetons.....so always nice to get that in the image. I often find that people either like light painting or don't....I happen to think it adds here.....so no complaints from me! Overall.....very nicely handled and composed!

[Robert Amoruso]

Eric,

I like the standout look of the barn, but would have preferred to not seen the grasses light painted as well.

[Eric Virkler]

Roman, How do I selectively tone down the grasses? I use Photoshop Elements for my post processing, which is typically limited to cropping, levels, constrast, and sharpening (all done globally).
Thanks for pointing out that tree at the roof line, I never noticed it before. (not that I could see it in the dark anyway)

Eric

Faces of Nature Photography
www.ericjvirkler.com

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Eric,
Not really familiar with elements.....can you do a layer mask? You can then select the area you want to darken using lasso or similar and then darken using levels/curves or even brightness contrast......then you have to blur the mask to avoid any edges. You can also use the burn tool.....run it over and then just fade it or carefully do it at lower opacity or a combination of both. I'll also ask around if anyone familiar with elements can give me a better idea! What version do you have?

[Arthur Morris]

I love the concept and the execution. I do not mind having the foreground grasses lit. I would not have minded if you painted more of the foreground to the left and right of the cabin.... It looks to me as if this could use about 1 degree of CW rotation.

[Eric Virkler]

Roman, I use Elements 2.0 (I know, it's a relic). It doesn't do layer masks, but I found a thread online that explains how to do something similar. I just need to take the time to see if what they describe can be done in a version that old.

Artie, I think you're right about the rotation. I hadn't noticed it before. (I'm surprised my wife didn't point that one out to me, she always picks up on that)

Eric

Faces of Nature Photograpy
www.ericjvirkler.com (http://www.ericjvirkler.com)

[Arthur Morris]

Yeah. The cabin itself looks a bit off but we can't see enough of the bottom of it. I picked it up from the line at the bottom of the mountains on the left and the trees on the right....