The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.
Self Critique
Seems good enough as a first impression - the foreground - not separately exposed in this one - I do have a blue hour shot that I can use.
Does the foreground need further development ?
Creative direction
Just looking for a realistic astro- landscape photo - more on the foreground rather than the night sky
Specific Feedback
anything is welcome
Technical Details
f/2.0, 20 mm, 15 secs at iso 6400
Description
Simply a lovely night in the Alabama mountains in Lone Pine, Ca
Hi Karl,
that is a beautiful nightscape image. I love the composition. You did a really good job in aligning the Milky Way Core with the awesome rock formation in the foreground.
In my opinion, your foreground looks good for a single shot. At least in the resolution you provided here. You can see good details in the rocks but no noise. The only thing I notice is that the horizon line looks a bit blurry. But not a big deal.
Was there any form of light source there? It looks like some light is hitting the rocks in the foreground. And they cast some shadows.
Your picture makes me want to spend a night under the stars again. Your location looks like a real playground for photographers. Must be fun to shoot there.
I think just a bit would be helpful. I personally don’t do many blue hour blends but you could have just done another much longer exposure, say, ISO 1600 for 3-4 minutes at f/2.8 and then blended that in. It’s a classic composition, and you executed it well.
Very dramatic scene! I think the FG is very pleasing, but wonder about a slightly darker sky. Very hard to know without a direct comparison. The lens shows some corner aberrations – have you tried stopping down a bit to see if they improve? You could probably stop down one stop without increasing the ISO, and bring it up in post. Most sensors these days seem to be ISO invariant at high ISOs. I admit I haven’t tested the R5 – just put that on my ToDo list.
Hi Karl
I think that’s a beautiful image, with a dreamy composition. The foreground is interesting. The rocks on the left lead nicely to the milky way, and to the arch / rock intersection with it. That worked really well for me, just love how you composed it.
I also love the details you managed to extract from the core, and the stars look sharp.
Personally, I always find photographing the MW a bit tedious, technically. Keeping everything sharp is tough when the fgnd is close. At this resolution everything seems sharp, but seeing you used f/2 I wonder if everything is sharp in the hi-res frame too. Doesn’t impair the viewing experience here, anyway.
Overall a really nice image, and I think getting everything - with the lighting and all - in a single shot, means you really know your stuff.
That was a 1.8 lens - hence tried 2.0. Tried to take advantage of that faster lens - F4 would compromise the iso too much imo. - Alternatively i could use F4 at 12,800 iso for 6-8 secs - 20 shots+ and focus stack
BTW - invariant ISO I believe is at a specific iso for each camera - For the Z9 it is 500, D850 is 400 or 450. Canon does not have this and Sony does - hope I got this right
