In The Shadow Of Earth

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 12, 2014355 views13 comments

Sorry for my lack of participation here in the past few months, it's been a very busy summer for me. I took this image a few days ago, during the second total lunar eclipse of the year. I happened to be in the Tetons the morning of the eclipse and so I spent the day before scouting out locations from which to shoot. I ended up going with Schwabacher Landing, for it provided me with the possibility of a nice reflection. Since totality occurred at 4:25am I had to get to the location very early. The bright moon provided me with plenty of light to get set up and go to work.

I always struggle with images such as this since I am against straight up composites, but in this case it was needed to get everything looking real. Read my comments below for details on how this image came to be..

The Techs:
I have definitely taken some artistic liberties with this one, while trying to keep it as realistic as possible. The photograph is actually made up of four exposures, one long exposure at a low ISO for the landscape (for a clean file) at 20mm, another exposure for the stars, and two more exposures for the moon taken at around 80mm (later reduced in post to better match what I saw with my eye at the time).

Thanks for looking and for any comments, and don't forget to view LARGER! The Purchase Print link will take you to my website where this can be viewed on black..

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on October 12, 2014 at 9:57 PM

Zack,
I think you did well with the composites. It is very realistic except for the FG on the bottom right.
The Moon looks great, the stars are realistic as they were out during the eclipse, the silhouette is very nice.
I would just let the right FG go dark.

Registered on September 2, 2013, 209 Posts, 1514 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on October 13, 2014 at 10:12 AM

Nice job putting this all together. Gives the eerie feel of being there at night. The subtle details in the shadow exposure look realistic. I might eliminate the specular highlights in the FG grasses, which may actually be reflected stars. Too much of an attention draw for that part of the image for me.

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on October 13, 2014 at 10:26 AM

This is very cool. It has a very realistic look (unlike a lot of night photography). Very well done.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on October 13, 2014 at 4:30 PM

Magnificent. It doesn't matter to me how you achieved it....artistic and realistic and mysterious. Just love the deep blue with the reddish moon. The R foreground is fine for my taste.

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Prashant Khapane on October 13, 2014 at 5:03 PM

This is a lovely artistic image. I may crop the left side a bit.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 492 Posts, 4580 Comments

Comment posted by Ryan Shain on October 13, 2014 at 7:34 PM

The first thought that popped into my mind on opening up this beautiful scene is surreal. The capture looks completely natural to the eye test. It brings me back to my journey in the Tetons a few years back.

Great STUFF

Registered on February 20, 2007, 226 Posts, 4571 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on October 13, 2014 at 8:02 PM

Zack, I'm totally enjoying this image. It has a very natural look to my eye and the mood is just wonderful. Nice work with the moon on this!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Reid on October 14, 2014 at 2:34 PM

Wonderful tones and colors in this Zack and very natural processing also. The moon suits the scene perfectly for me as does the light on the scene. Super job on this.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on October 14, 2014 at 3:31 PM

Love it

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on October 14, 2014 at 4:13 PM

Dreamy and mysterious. I think you did a great job, 'artistic liberties' not withstanding. Well done, Zack.

--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Lowe on October 14, 2014 at 10:49 PM

Moody and mysterious, I like it Zack. This looks realistic to me with the overall darkness of the scene. It has enough detail to satisfy me.

Ed

Registered on February 7, 2004, 414 Posts, 7115 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on October 14, 2014 at 11:27 PM

Zach, this is a fine take on the eclipse. The color in the moon is good, the stars look fine and the mountains plus water look right. I really like the touch of fog on the right. As a minor nit, when I start to think carefully about this image, the foreground grasses are too bright...they look like they're lit by a full moon behind you. However, that's a detail that I suspect few non-photographers would notice and we all know that it's next to impossible to sell an image to another photog.

Fine job putting this together.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on October 15, 2014 at 5:28 AM

Intense and dramatic, Zack. I admire the thought and execution put into this image. It sure came together well.

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments