Critique Style Requested: In-depth
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
I am learning how to use my wide-angle lens, and still make big mistakes in setting it. It was not wide open for this shoot. I am glad I got a picture anyway. I wish I had chosen a different location on Moro Lake to include more foreground. Once I uploaded this photo I realized I wanted to burn some of the bright spots to the left of the frame but I don’t know how to take it down and fix it.
Creative direction
I live where light pollution obscures almost all of the stars. I hoped to capture the beauty of the sky when stars could be photographed. I want my photograph to “sing” with the profusion of stars that my camera captured.
Specific Feedback
I need any feedback you can give.
Technical Details
Sony a7iv, 14mm , f/3.5, ISO 3200, 30 sec. [The lens could have been set at f/1.8. I now know the mistake I made in the lens settings. ] I was trying to shorten the exposure time so I wouldn’t get any star movement, which I would have done if I had opened up the f-stop and let the camera and lens function at peak efficiency. Lesson learned, I hope.
Extensive processing in Lightroom RAW filter, Topaz DeNoise, and Photoshop.
Description
I took this on a Gary Hart Eastern Sierra workshop several weeks ago.
Hi Barbara — your image really caught my eye! You certainly had a perfect night to capture it. The colors are beautiful — I like the pinkish areas across the mountaintops especially. You referred to burning some of the bright spots to the left of the frame, but I honestly can’t see what you’re talking about. I am curious about the two dark reflections about a quarter of the way from the left. They are a bit of a distraction. With that said, if you lightened them up a little and darkened some of the dark reflections going into the lake to the right along the shore, it would balance out. If this doesn’t make sense, let me know and I’ll work up a sample.
To me (and I’m far from an expert!) you handled the ambient light well. It’s one of those things that is hard to avoid unless one is out in the desert!
Great question. I think they are from the tufa along the lake shore. I will have to see what I can do. Thanks for pointing that out.
I’ve been out of town a few days and came back to a major computer problem. I’m on my iPad now but hate trying to type on it. I’ll be back when I can.
To add an edited version, click the pencil icon in the LL of the OP and you get an edit screen. Just drop in the new version in that same post.
Apologies for the late reply – I was out of town a few days, then returned to dive into Computer Hell – caused by downloading a Safari update. Completely trashed the OS. Three hrs at the local Apple Genius Bar finally got a new OS installed. The guy said 3 other people that he knew about had had the same problem.
I think the bright spots to the left are from the parking lot – easy to clone out, and I would. The two dark reflections that @Susanna_Euston mentioned are reflections of tufa. I agree they might be lightened a bit. The wide angle lens gives them a stretched-out look.
The colors are very nice. It’s late in the year for the most pleasing MW shots as it is vertical and the very interesting galactic center is so close to the horizon.
Having the aperture at f/1.4 would have given you more light, but I don’t think you have a serious problem with what you captured. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I think you are not so much seeing star movement at 30 sec with such a wide-angle lens, but simple lens distortion, especially in the corners. This amount isn’t surprising, and in fact falls on the better end of the range for wide-angle issues. Camera lenses just aren’t designed to deal with stars.
And on a second look, I think you have lightened the FG with a mask, and its edge overlapped the sky in places, making a light halo, and missed some of the higher peaks. It’s always a good idea to make a longer exposure for the FG, to blend with the sky. Or maybe you did that and it is the mask for the blend that I am seeing – either way it would be the same recommendation, which is that you can probably do a more precise selection of either the sky or the mountains. I often use the Quick Selection tool, which can be surprisingly good. Then zoom in and hit the Q key to see the selection as a mask. Correct flaws as needed with the brush tool – black to paint and white to erase.
Thanks to @Susanna_Euston and @Diane_Miller for your constructive observations. Diane you are so right about masking the foreground. I used the TK9 mask sky and then inverted it to mask the foreground. I will try the Quick Selection tool as you suggest. I indeed used it a lot before PS introduced the sky selection option. I have been using the clone tool set to darken to eliminate haloes. I did not do it on the horizon in this picture. I am still kicking myself for forgetting how to use my wide-angle lens.
The mask selections in LR are similar in that they have very diffuse edges. That is a good idea for subtle adjustments, so you don’t see a sharp edge, but it has limitations for adjustments to a sky where you want a more specific selection. I often have a quick look at a selection by hitting the Q key to see it as a quick mask. If the default red color is not good you can change it by double-clicking the quick mask icon, second from the the bottom of the Tool Bar. While it is displayed I can refine it by painting on it with the brush set to black and erasing with the brush set to white. You can modify a mask next week or next year if you save the adjustment layers in your master file.
