Campsite Compostion

[D. Robert Franz]

Spent the weekend camped in the lofty Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. We were camped at about 9000" We had glorious clear skies Friday night and the start were fantastic.

Captured this image from right near my campsite. I left the trees natural without painting any light just placing them in front of the milky way..

Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Shutter speed: 30 sec
Aperture: 4
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 3200
Lens: EF16-35mm F2.8L
Focal length: 16mm

[Morkel Erasmus]

Using the trees as silhouettes certainly places the focus squarely on the stars Dale...lovely moment captured. If anything I wish that the large prominent tree on the LHS was entirely in the frame instead of its end branches being cut off. :w3

[John Storjohann]

A beautiful night sky...it makes you feel small and humble, doesn't it? Beautiful capture..like Morkel I wish there was a bit of breathing room between the left edge of the frame and the dominant tree on that side..and at the center bottom I might remove that singular bright star shining through...but a great capture either way.

[D. Robert Franz]

I agree with both of you on the tree.... Sure wasn't my intent but those of you who've tried this type of photography know how difficult setting up your comps can be. It was very dark and trying to light trees to see your framing by youself is tough.. I'm sure I have other images with the tree not cropped....

[Steven Kersting]

Impressive sky!
A small campfire in the image would take it over the top for me. (with the given title)

[Morkel Erasmus]

I agree with both of you on the tree.... Sure wasn't my intent but those of you who've tried this type of photography know how difficult setting up your comps can be. It was very dark and trying to light trees to see your framing by youself is tough.. I'm sure I have other images with the tree not cropped....

You are quite right Dale, it can be very tricky especially if you are not close enough to the FG subject to apply effective illumination from a torch for focusing/composing purposes...as you know much of the critique here is for "food for thought" on what one could do next time in a similar situation. Hindsight is after all an exact science! :w3 (and I surely never can think of every single aspect to consider when composing and shooting, especially in the 'heat of the moment')

[Carl Gandolfo]

I love it!!!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Dale, good comments above and agree about the clipped dominant tree. You did a good job technically and I like the fact you made a silhouetted base. If you have another image without the tree being clipped I would like to see it otherwise nicely done...

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dale,
Tree mentioned already but I actually like the silhouette and not painting in this case! I think it was the correct choice as you had a really nice and vivid milky way! I think you do get the best opportunities at high altitude! It must have been pretty still too because you have excellent edge definition on the trees. Nice diagonal comp on this and overall.....very nicely done!

[Rachel Hollander]

Dale - nicely done. Some good points above but I really like the deep blue of the sky and the stars.

TFS,
Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Dale - nicely done. Some good points above but I really like the deep blue of the sky and the stars.

TFS,
Rachel

I agree with Rachel Dale.

[Judy Howle]

I think this is one of the prettiest night sky images I've seen because I really like the dark blue of the sky and the stars show up so well. The silhouetted trees add a lot to the composition. I give it an A+.

[Roger Clark]

Dale,

I like the composition and the tree looks fine to me. But the color balance is off. The Milky Way star clouds are not blue; they are brown (e.g. dusty). This color balance appears to have also biased the star colors, although it seems that most stars are saturated so show little color. Did you use a sunny white balance (that is best for the night sky)? One way to maintain the color in a stretch is to stretch the luminance channel in LAB mode.

Roger

[D. Robert Franz]

Dale,

I like the composition and the tree looks fine to me. But the color balance is off. The Milky Way star clouds are not blue; they are brown (e.g. dusty). This color balance appears to have also biased the star colors, although it seems that most stars are saturated so show little color. Did you use a sunny white balance (that is best for the night sky)? One way to maintain the color in a stretch is to stretch the luminance channel in LAB mode.

Roger

I choose this particular color balance for effect....

[Susan Candelario]

The blue in the sky and the vivid capture of the Milky Way are awesome!