Old Paria [+junk]

What a colorful image for a night shot. Very clean it appears in regard to noise. It feels like night, wonderfully executed.

This is just a superb night photo.
A lot of detail in the land, a strong anchor with the formation and a nice milky way.
Very well executed.....

Seen larger this is great!!!! So love the entire area!

The combination of a great landscape and beautiful night sky add up to an outstanding image.

Excellent job blending - the ISO doesn't seem to detract the image quality at all (and I like seeing this since I have the exact same equipment). Not crazy about blending images taken so many hours apart - but I understand the need to.

Hope everything is alright, John. I've missed your posts and glad you're back. This is phenomenal . You've captured the essence of this beautiful plateau and it's wonderful evenings and even better nights. Just outstanding, it feels like night and the colors are so sweet. I can almost smell the sage. Welcome back

The exposure levels looks very even from top to bottom so from that point of view I think the blend is successful. The overall scene and colours looks good too. But...that mountain looks slightly pop-up to me, I think because the images were taken so far apart and look unnatural put together. So aesthetically it appeals but on some level it does strike me as somewhat unnatural looking.

Most excellent John, beautiful composition, color and light, one of the best night shots I have seen, like it alot. Very well done.
John

Gorgeous image John. As fine an example of night photography as I've seen. I like it a lot.

pat

John, I'm enjoying this very much! Excellent work bring this one together.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

I'm usually not a big fan of night sky shots because they are seldom shot or processed to where they look even halfway realistic, however, I really like this image. IMO, I still wouldn't mind the landmass being a tad darker, but overall this is one of the best night sky images I've seen. Makes me want to be there.

John, although dark, heck it's night, it really came out super for the all around exposure and processing. Glad the sky cooperated after the second effort too......very nice work IMO.....

Excellent image John. The larger version looks great. Fairly low noise and the star movement looks minimal.

A very eye catching image John. I like such photographs because they show a very subjective rendition of the natural world and they show something "new". The large version is impressive. That said, generally, I think I prefer photographs using daylight - for their more natural feel and I guess the key here is to get the processing right. I think you managed very well anyway.

Wonderful image, John. Just the right amount of light on the landscape, IMO. Really well done.

The larger version really shows off the details and subtleties well. Well envisioned and processed. Thank your brother for getting you up.

A stunning image, but on closer inspection I have to agree it feels a little unnatural, but that's personal taste.

Thanks for all the comments! Interesting points, especially those discussing time-blended photos and how to get a natural nightscape. My night vision is not that good; I have a friend I've done a lot of outdoor stuff with who sees much better. To me, a natural photo would look like the above. This is the jpg of the sky shot. My dilemma is that I find "natural" in this case to be artistically unappealing.

When photographing, I was worried that the Milky Way raw image would contain little detail in the shadows. (This turned out to be correct; see the raw version of this jpg below.) I could have used the "Bulb" camera setting for a longer exposure, but the stars are borderline streaky as is. Any longer, and I would have lines instead of "almost" circular. I suppose I could have taken two images, one for the land with the Bulb setting, and another for the sky, so that they were less time separated. I worried, though, that reciprocity type issues might still leave the land shot with excess noise and elected to try the moonlit blend instead.

In the end, my personal priorities are artistic followed by realistic, rather than the other way around. I fully realize others have varying comfort levels and preferences, and I appreciate and respect the differences of opinion. I suppose that's why we get to call it an art, as apposed to just a science.

(A final thought; my opinion is that night shots are much easier to nuance with a black background.)

Here's the raw image of the sky photo, with aggressive shadows/highlights and curves to open up the land. It's really noisy, and contains little color or detail.

And just for giggles (in keeping with the spirit of my last post), here's the jpg of the land shot taken with moonlight. (My hand is blocking out the moon.)

Fantastic image. High quality night exposure and processing and a stunning composition to boot.

Great shots and post work. Final product was worth the work.

For all the technical concerns, I'd say it's the fine composition that makes this special. Really nice play between the flow of the stars and the anchoring of the rock and foreground.

Nicely done, John. This works for me.

--P