Theresa Rice
November 2019 - Between The Horns
About the Image(s)
This image was taken on the beach at our local lighthouse the last of September/early October. The sky was clear when we set up the first time and completely clouded over by the time the Milky Way was visible.
On the second try, the area of the Milky Way was the only area of sky covered in clouds.
The third time around, the angle of the shot had to be changed to get the Milky Way between the "horns" of the driftwood and there were some really bright lights to contend with, but we made it work. Two small flashlights with tissues over them were used for the light painting.
This is three stacked images, taken at 8 seconds apiece on the Sony A7RIII with a 14 mm F-2.8 lens and an ISO of 4000. White balance corrections, cropping, straightening, and some dodging and burning were done in Lightroom and the stacking was done in Photoshop. Next year I'll work more on subduing the light painting.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
11 comments posted
I really enjoy your creative approach to capturing images. This obviously took a lot of work and planning. I like the way you framed this so that the driftwood appears to be reaching up and grabbing the Milky Way. I'm not sure that I particularly like the greenish-blue color on the driftwood, but that's just me. If you are happy with it and that was your intention, then it's just fine. Posted: 11/05/2019 19:48:02
I don't like the blue but have not been able to get rid of it. I don't know why it's so blue in these and not so much in the version without the Milky Way. Maybe it has something to do with the hideous red glare from the radar station that I cropped out? Don't know. Posted: 11/05/2019 21:03:35
It's a powerful presentation. Being there to enjoy the milkyway is always surreal. I like to emphasis the milkyway and make front subject smaller unless the subject is a well known landmark. Posted: 11/05/2019 21:52:56
The Milky Way is clearly the subject in many of my night photos but more and more it's becoming an important element in the image rather than the reason for the image. Posted: 11/06/2019 09:59:00
(Groups 36 & 67)
I love shots of the Milky Way so I am naturally drawn to this image. I really like the composition idea and the placement of the MW. I agree that the light painting may be a bit much.
While I like the image and I've been looking at it a long time the longer I look the more it just feels unnatural. The fact that you left part of the drift wood unlit makes the image look a bit fake. I know you will go back next year and try again----I wish you the best of luck. Posted: 11/06/2019 20:26:58
While I like the image and I've been looking at it a long time the longer I look the more it just feels unnatural. The fact that you left part of the drift wood unlit makes the image look a bit fake. I know you will go back next year and try again----I wish you the best of luck. Posted: 11/06/2019 20:26:58
I very much doubt if that driftwood will be there next year after the winter storms, but I will be going back to that beach and I am working on improving the light painting. Thanks for your comment and support! Posted: 11/06/2019 20:31:12
Rather than repeat what has been said, I'll make the suggestion for the foreground. If possible, get to the site before dark and take a shot. You will have a naturally lit scene to use as your first shot. Then you get to wait it out for the Milky Way (not a bad way to spend an evening though). The secret is to make sure you have everything set up on a sturdy tripod and don't move it between shots. Also, check out Erik Kuna on Instagram. He has several shots done this way. Posted: 11/13/2019 07:44:45
Theresa I'm not sure about the blue but it looks to be a white balance issue since there is the same hue of blue on the snow/water on the left . The other possibility was that your were shooting with a blue light. In any event try warming the white balance either locally or globally. Posted: 11/18/2019 13:49:32
This is one of the original images, straight out of camera. As you can see, there were a lot of different colored lights coming from several different directions. Changing the color profile to Adobe Landscape and reducing the exposure tend to make the driftwood appear bluer. I'll keep trying, but it may be a lost cause. Then again, when I get a little better at Photoshop maybe I'll just pair this sky with the earlier driftwood shot that has a good color balance. Posted: 11/18/2019 18:59:59
I am astounded that you could get this shot with those buildings in front of you!
I love shooting the Milky Way, but didn't do any this summer.
Maybe if you went into photoshop--Filters_camera Raw filter
you could try going up to the color panel and move the blue slider to the left to reduce the blue. It would be better to do it only on the selected driftwood so you don't change the sky colors. I'm not quite sure how to do that part of it.
Lovely photo, even with the blue and good job lining the Milky was up with the center. Posted: 11/29/2019 18:49:40
I love shooting the Milky Way, but didn't do any this summer.
Maybe if you went into photoshop--Filters_camera Raw filter
you could try going up to the color panel and move the blue slider to the left to reduce the blue. It would be better to do it only on the selected driftwood so you don't change the sky colors. I'm not quite sure how to do that part of it.
Lovely photo, even with the blue and good job lining the Milky was up with the center. Posted: 11/29/2019 18:49:40
Thanks, Trinda. I'm working on learning more about how to use Photoshop. Meanwhile, I've learned that adding yellow quiets down the blue. Maybe early in the new year I'll be up to just resetting and trying again on this one. Posted: 11/29/2019 22:44:51