Saguaro Night

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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AGY2402-saguaro-national-park-night copy.jpg
AGY2402-saguaro-national-park-night copy.jpg1334×2000 2.07 MB

Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.

Questions to guide your feedback

I’m interested in your initial reactions to this shot. This is not the typical kind of shot I make (using flashes with colored gels for night landscapes), but I had a lot of fun making it and may like to try some more.

Other Information

Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.

Image Description

I shot this at Saguaro National Park while visiting relatives in Tucsan. I scouted this location on a day hike with relatives and liked the nice looking group of saguaros that extended up into the sky.

I had also wanted to flash illuminate some of the other saguaros out further in the background, and had composed the scene with those further saguaros positioned nicely between the foreground saguaros, but I realized that I would have to flash them from quite a distance off to the side to keep myself out of the frame. Perhaps I was too lazy to try very hard. It was a bit spooky walking around in the dark with so many sharp catcii about!

This is a composition of 2 or 3 shots. One shot included shooting my portable flash 3 times from the left with red gel. A second shot included 3 flashes from right with blue gel. And then I made another shot for the stars. If I remember right, I don’t think I needed the 3rd shot because I found that the stars were sharp already in the blue flash shot, so I made a 3rd image from the second shot RAW file with a different white balance for the sky. The first two shots were combined with a “lighten” blending mode in PS. Did lots of masking to bring the sky exposure in.

I think the flash illumination at night really highlights all the sharp needles of the cacti and create a lot of texture in the foreground bushes/dirt.

Technical Details

Sony 7RIV, 16-35mm lens at 19mm, about 1 minute for each of two exposures, f/5.6, ISO400

Critique Template

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  • Vision and Purpose:
  • Conceptual:
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Brad, the foreground Saguaros look good against the night sky with it stars. The mix of red and white lights makes it clear that you were “staging” the view, which is fine. I do think that the dark area at the bottom is not adding anything and wonder about getting some light on the two saguaros at the back. Clearly lots to try here assuming you can get back easily.

3

I like this, it reminds me a bit of some of Nick Carver’s work.

I wonder what a square or 5:4 crop might look like, but appreciate you’re probably trying to get as much sky in as you can

4

A really nicely staged photo. I like the expanse of the sky and the lights used to light the foreground sagauro’s. I wonder if the closest area on the left could have been lit as well, as it is so dark compared to the area on the right. I wish I could see the darker Sagauro in the background on the left a little more, if you could light that just slightly I think I would stop trying to look for detail where there is none. Overall I do really like the image, it’s very different for me and enjoyable to look at.

5

Hi all,

Thanks for your very helpful feedback!

I did intend to light up a few of the background saguaro, which I had composed between the foreground saguaro, but found that I would have to flash them from quite a distance away in order to keep myself out of the frame, and walking around a bunch of prickly cactii in the dark was starting to freak me out a bit.

Dom: Yes, making this image was inspired by Nick Carver’s work from a few years ago.

Cheers all!

6

This is a very nice idea that works for me! It’s fun shooting the elements of a scene like this and then assembling them. I think you have room to play with some subtle dodging and burning, but I’m enjoying it well enough as is.