Ghostly Grand

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
1

Ghostly-Grand-30897A700XXXL.jpg
Ghostly-Grand-30897A700XXXL.jpg2000×1333 1.54 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I went to a medical conference in Phoenix in October of 2012 and coupled it with a visit with my son who lives in Scottsdale. I then indulged myself by going to the Grand Canyon with him for a couple of days and then he had to go back to work. I stayed another few days, eventually making my way to the North Rim. The Forest Service was conducting a controlled burn on the North Rim and in the evening the smoke would settle in the canyon. This was taken from the South Rim with the light of the full moon the night before I went over. I had a number of similar shots but I liked this one best because of the meteor trail.

When I got to the North Rim it was two days away from closing. It was pretty much deserted except for the Forest Service guys. The last night I was the only one in the campground. It was pretty cool having an entire national park all to myself. All comments on the image welcome.

Technical Details

Sony A700
Minolta 20mm
ISO 250, 30 secs @ f4

2

Wow – fascinating the way the smoke settled! I love the way moonlight gives a blue sky just as the sun does, and that so many stars are visible.

I have a feeling the meteor trail is a distant airplane. At your settings only a very bright meteor would show and at least one end would be tapered as its duration would be less than 30 sec.

3

Bill, this is very cool. You’ve got good detail in the land and in the smoke along with a good number of stars. If you want to give it a bit more of a “night” feeling some burning in of the lower parts of the sky might be interesting.

4

Bill, if you had not told us it was smoke from a fire, I would have thought that the fog was shaded brown a little too much. Can’t do too much with the expossure now; however, an expossure of 12-15 seconds would have given you stars not showing any movement.
You certainly made the best of what the scene presented.