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Thread: Earth & Sun & Moon

  1. #1
    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Default Earth & Sun & Moon

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Title courtesy of Midnight Oil, a great band that no longer exists...

    Another Moonscape taken 30 min. after sunset, a PP project as I am still finding new ways to process these kind of photos
    and trying to develop a nice night photo style. They are a challenge.
    This is a single RAW photo begun in ACR, continued in Photoshop and finished in NX2.
    Topaz NR.

    15 sec., iso800, f2.8, 14mm, D800

    002_2214bp.jpg
    Dan Kearl

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    I love the image overall, neatly combining all the elements in your title. I also like the wide angle perspective, but the heavy distortion of the rocks disturbs me a good bit. DxO Optics Pro will fix that automatically, if you'd like to try; however, I'm afraid that it might try to crop off a bit of the near left puddle, which is an important element. Maybe just toning down the distortion would save the puddle and make the rocks look a little less like elements of Dali.

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    Very nice stars and light on the horizon, and I love the FG puddle. I'm afraid the wide-angle distortion just doesn't work for me, though.

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    Hi an


    I think this is one of your best from your night time series. Its the colour and the composition using the foreground pool and the moon make this for me.. Now if you could fix the leaning rocks...

    DON

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    BPN Member Terry Johnson's Avatar
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    Dan, great image! Would you mind summarizing what you did in ACR, CS6, and NX2?

    Thanks...Terry Johnson

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Thanks, Terry,
    I'll try but every night photo I do is different and they never turn out the same....
    I start in ACR where I fix the distortion in the horizon. A fter some searching I found a fix for my Rokinon Lens that works.
    It was for the D700 but works for the D800. It fixes the horizon but not the leaning distortion.
    I use ACR to set the sky color with the little wand. Setting the color is basically to taste, no rule I don't think.
    Roger Clark, who I wish would still comment here as he is a star photographer, did not like the night sky blues
    as he thought the real color was a yellow caste, but I just can't go with it.

    I also use the ACR sliders to bring up the stars with the White and Black sliders.

    I then open in PS, save to tiff and open the file in NX2.
    NX2 in my opinion is about 10 times better than PS for most processing. You can't do all the tricked out stuff
    but it is way better for global adjustments.
    I lighten the FG in Nx2 as it is always underexposed in one photo star photos. You can do magic with D800 Files
    in that regard.
    After I bring out the foreground, adjust color, contrast etc, in NX2, I take the file back into PS where I use
    the Topaz plug in Noise reduction. It works really well I think, takes out the noise without destroying the photo.
    I use the PS burning and dodging brush at the end as I feel to bring up or darken any details.
    I save again, bring back to NX2 and spot sharpen anything I feel needs it after NR.
    NX2 sharpening is way easier to use than PS for spot fixes.
    I don't know how people use PS for bird photography sharpening and NR, it is so needlessly hard to use.
    I also spot noise reduction if I need to at the very end in NX2 as you can easily spot fix areas that you
    cannot do with PS.
    That is it, sort of complicated but not really after you do a bunch. I enjoy processing star photos, they are challenging
    and fun.
    Hope this makes sense.
    Last edited by dankearl; 02-18-2014 at 03:38 PM.
    Dan Kearl

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    BPN Member Terry Johnson's Avatar
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    Name:  Night Scene revised.jpg
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    Dan, I took the liberty of adjusting the perspective in your image. It was quick so there is some distortion at the horizon...Terry Johnson

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Thanks, Terry,
    what did you use?
    Dan Kearl

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    Landscapes Moderator Andrew McLachlan's Avatar
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    Hi Dan, one of my faves of your night-scapes...great placement of the small puddle...I am not crazy about the line that resembles a contrail though...an easy fix if you chose to evict it. Nice one!

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Late to this one, Dan
    I like the feel very much with the moon and the moon-lit scene, coupled with some stars and whispy clouds.
    The distortion was also bugging me but Terry did a great job - do tell us what you did, Terry
    Morkel Erasmus

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