I’ve been looking at the astro photo’s from a night long visit to a Scottish Loch and Castle yesterday morning. My vision was all about the reflections. And the fact that some mist kept rolling in just added to the magic, which I hoped my timelapse might capture.
However, it seems the loch froze over far more quickly than I realised. In fact, by the time my long exposure foreground finished shooting (there were 90 minutes until the Milkway Tail lined up for the primary composition), the beautiful reflections had gone. HOWEVER… whilst my primary camera and the timelapse was merrily clicking away, I started experimented with different approaches and lenses. The good news being, this included 50mm prime f1.4, which meant I’d needed to compose and exclude nearly all of the water, in order to get some stars - even if it meant I’d lose the much of the MW.
So having started to have a bit of a pity party about the frozen loch spoiling the shot I had been so very excited by… I now think my experimentation saved the night in photo terms. Which as stunning, despite the -6.5 degree cold.
Plus it completely captured how it felt sitting there - which was worth the 4 hours in -6.5 degrees.
What technical feedback would you like if any? Any and all.
What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any and all are welcome
Pertinent technical details or techniques: Blended LE foreground (ISO 800, f5.6 and 365") and sky (ISO2000, f1.4, 10")
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The stars are sharp and it’s a nice star field! I’d consider adding more contrast to the core to bring out more presence in the core. Perhaps a mid tone contrast with soft light or overlay blending mode. There’s also some nice cool colours in the sky. I’d add some saturation here.
There’s some white dots on the ruins which I’m assuming are noise. I’d clone a lot of that out so the foreground is clean like the nights sky
Fantastic job with the starry night sky; you’ve rendered the night sky beautifully. I think one of the keys is having that shutter speed below 15s - sure looks like the 10s nailed it.
I also think the rendering of the castle (especially the large view) is done well and matched nicely given the conditions and the moonless night.
The only comment/suggestion I have has to do with ALL of that night sky. Yes, I can see the desire to include all of the Milky Way, but there sure is a lot of sky and I think maybe diminishes the presence of the castle and loche. And a very cool looking castle!
Thanks for the back story too! Sorry, it didn’t work out as you planned, but as the saying goes, you made lemonade when only given lemons…
Congratulations on braving the cold and dark to capture this. I think the weight of the castle anchors the image well and the subtlety of its tones with respect to the land add a level of great mystery to the whole image. The sky looks great as well. I was not there so I am not sure how dark it really was, but I might add a little contrast to the sky to give the stars a little more pop. Second, upon closer examination of the larger view, there are some fences with what appear to be warning signs on the left side of the castle down at the bottom. I would consider cloning out the fencing if possible.
