Stockton Sky

Since I haven’t been able to get out to shoot at night I thought why not try a composite.
I’ve only done a couple and would love some feedback on this.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Does the sky/foreground match, how do the colours look and is there anything you can spot that would help add to the image?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

anything you’ve got, fire away

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

Foreground shot was originally taken in the day with a blue sky, to make it night I used camera raw. Camera raw was used for the Milkyway also as well as dodge/burning with TK actions giving me a hand

Day/Night blend is quite nice and natural looking, maybe a touch bright for what would have actually been captured as a single frame in camera, but close enough I don’t immediately call ‘composite’. Maybe try to bring up the sky a little and dodge the shadows along the horizon a little to increase the contrast between horizon and sky.

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I’m no photoshopper myself but I can appreciate a nice image when I see it. So: looks good!
Grt, Ingrid.

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The sand dunes have some very sweet lines and ripples, making them perfect to play the role they do in this image. I like the color of the dunes, it has a night feeling without going too cool. I like having the parallel diagonal lines of the MW core, and the ridge of the sand dune.

I think the blend is okay, but something feels slightly off. It’s not haloing, but I think it’s got something to do with the sky near the horizon being darker in luminosity than the sand dunes. I might ever so slightly increase the luminosity of the dark blue part of sky, and slightly decrease the luminosity of the dunes, to balance this out a bit.

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To follow on with Ed said, I’ve been known to throw a little extra ‘light pollution’ (soft light or screen) layer with some luminosity painted in right on the horizon to aid in giving the sky more separation to the ground if they’re too close. Leaves the core of the MW from having to be brought up, but helps trick the eye a little extra.

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