The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I was away from the forum for a few months over the summer while other things in my life took up all my attention. Nevertheless, I did manage to get out to Lassen Volcanic National Park. The park is still recovering from extensive forest fire damage from a couple of years ago, but the western side of the park was mostly spared. The nights were clear so I did some night photography.
Specific Feedback
Any thoughts on the composition and editing choices I made? I thought having one of flowering plants that were in bloom in the foreground added some interest. Also I decided on having a somewhat blue cast to the sky to provide some color contrast with the greens and yellows of the plant.
Nice to see you back, Dean! You have a very nice MW capture here, subtly done with some ambient light (moonlight?) giving a nice blue in the sky, and very nice stars with almost no distortion. I really like the hint of gold light on the horizon just where the MW ends, with the interesting trees there, with one larger and nice spacing between the smaller ones. I wonder if you did a version without the Mule’s Ear in the composition?
The light painting on the plant is nicely done and subtle, but for my taste I would prefer it to be off to the left a little more, or not there at all. If the trees and light at the end of the MW were the focus of interest, I’m guessing you could have had the camera higher and not aimed up quite so much, giving a little less keystone distortion. At any rate, you have a wonderful DOF with lovely sharpness and detail everywhere.
Cool! I have no input on the technicalities, but the stars and MW look great. I could see cropping a bit off the bottom (making it more pano oriented, cutting off the bottom of the mule’s ear plant. It’s nice you could get out to Lassen - it’s still a lovely place, even if a lot is burned over.
Thank you @Diane_Miller and @Bonnie_Lampley. Alas, I only did one version with the Mule’s Ear (thank you both for identifying the plant!) as the central foreground element. I’m hoping to get back to Lassen again in the not too distant future. It will be interesting to see how things have changed by then.
@DeanRoyer, if you’re coming up this way, send me a message. Maybe we can meet up at Lassen. You might not want to wait too long, they’re already getting snow!
I love the composition as it relates to the trees and the Milky Way. The plant in the foreground is a bit distracting to me, but, if you had turned the camera vertical, backed up just a tad and shown a bit more foreground, it might be really cool. I might have turned down the green saturation a bit but increased luminance on the yellow flowers to really make them show up. Flowers in the foreground of a Milky Way has been my nemesis due to wind, so I definitely like the image! Technically, the sharpness and noise levels are amazing!
