Star Lake & Alt Image

Gallery: LandscapePosted June 24, 20185,021 views17 comments

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Coincidentally, that is the name of this lake in New Hampshire's White Mountains beneath Mount Madison (in the background). The forecast was for clear and cold on this night last week, so I figured I try my hand at the stars above. I have shot this scene before at sunrise, but I wanted something different and I rarely take night shots. Hate waking up in the middle of the night. This was around midnight, 20 mph winds smoothed out any chance for a reflection. Used my head lamp to focus - used f8 - wasn't taking any chances using infinity for this one at f2.8. A 28 second exposure at ISO 6400. I used my headlamp sparingly to give some light to the rocks, the peak was illuminated by the setting moon. I find processing night skies much like BW images, lots of room for interpretation. I know what the land areas normally look like in daylight, but the night sky essentially looks black in the middle of the night. So to see what colors the sensor can capture is always a discovery.

D810, Tamron 15-30 , ISO 6400. f8.

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on June 24, 2018 at 12:55 PM

I really like the overall composition in this image. The large protruding rocks all seem to converge into the center where the centered peak rises. There's a lot of power and energy from this composition. I would have never guessed this was shot at midnight. It looks like a dawn or early sunrise image. In fact, that's going to be my interpretation. Don't know what recommendations to make as it is a knock out image. The sky feels a bit fuzzy. I wonder if a separate shot for the sky at f/2.8 and a faster shutter speed would have helped.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Cameron on June 24, 2018 at 4:23 PM

That's a very cool almost surrealistic composition Harry. I probably prefer a little darker rendition but that's just me looking for a slightly more naturalistic approach never-the-less it is very very eyecatching so hearty congrats.

Registered on August 6, 2004, 1125 Posts, 3318 Comments

Comment posted by Barry Ashenhurst on June 24, 2018 at 6:33 PM

Works for me, Harry. Yeah, I like it. A combination of tech skills and artistry is hard to beat.

Registered on August 4, 2009, 253 Posts, 455 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on June 24, 2018 at 6:56 PM

Igor - I backed off considerably on sky and mnt horizon sharpening for the web as the stars looked artificially eye popping. I'm OK with more of a twilight look, but will play with a darker look for more of a night. Just don't want a daylight look or a muddy dark look. I don't have much experience portraying the night sky, so still in the experimentation phase. Way too many stars to look like twilight, but the average image buyer may not care.

Thanks Ian, will play with darker versions.

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

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on June 25, 2018 at 12:17 AM

If the intent is to make this look like a night shot I would remove most of the warm out of it. That's just my feeling about it. I see a lot of night images with warm tones in them, particularly from artificial light, and to me they look contrived. I particularly like the fact that the fg rocks look cool, despite the usage of artificial light.

Here is an image I made that's not nearly as good as yours but it reflects my feeling about the desert sky at night. It's all about stars and the land plays a supporting role. I'm posting to show how dark it really is out there and I didn't want to change that. As you say, there is no right way to do it. It's about what you're trying to say.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on June 25, 2018 at 1:01 AM

Very nice,
Excellent work, hard to see any noise, light is realistic.
Night photography at its best.

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

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on June 25, 2018 at 11:33 AM

Click Image for Larger View

Igor, thanks for the feedback and the desert image. Regardless of the merits of the composition, your desert night post is a bit muddy and lacks detail, despite that it is much closer to reality. My feeling is that the purpose of night photography is to showcase the night sky, maybe using land elements to add some context. Essentially giving a feel for what the eye can't see. So, I'd rather show more detail than less - I think the white balance selection probably influences the feel of the scene. For this alternate version, I did a quick BW conversion and revealed a tad of the lichen rocks of the color version using layers and eraser tool. I guess I could have revealed more of the color, hard to tell much was revealed in this version. Maybe this feels more like night since the cloud warmth or airglow or whatever the warm areas is eliminated.

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

Comment posted by Norma Tareila Matl on June 25, 2018 at 9:56 PM

Harry, amazing technical masterpiece! Beautiful hard to believe it is a photograph. You really used the camera sensor to your advantage.

Registered on October 27, 2016, 229 Posts, 393 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Lowe on June 25, 2018 at 10:02 PM

The B&W works so much better for me as it has more of a nighttime feel to it, but still has plenty of details. It just seems a little more realistic to my eye, but I also realize that it is very subjective and what you the photographer are trying to convey to the viewer. My brother Mike and I are just starting to do some night photography and it is challenging and exciting to try something new. Either way this is nicely done, Harry.

Ed

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

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on June 25, 2018 at 10:29 PM

Thanks Ed and Norma - Unfortunately, a compromise must be reached with night shots between looking like night and having the detail we expect in land forms in the photo. I can see where a silhouette tree or mountain ridge would work well dark, but FG such as this just do not. Exposure long enough to capture night sky colors are not our eye's reality to begin with, so it is just a matter of how far to go to show those other features. It's fun to play around, and liberties seem much more acceptable than traditional landscape shots.

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

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on June 25, 2018 at 11:50 PM

Very cool shot. Dig the processing all around too. BW is surreal. Way to get after it.

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on June 27, 2018 at 11:28 AM

The multitude of rocks set in the silvery blue water is what attracts me most. The long exposure had a very nice effect on the water.

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments

Comment posted by Neale Dyster on June 29, 2018 at 6:26 AM

Beautiful work Harry. Love the colour version and then I saw the B&W, think I may even prefer it, but can't seem to articulate why. Both amazing devil

Registered on February 19, 2008, 94 Posts, 738 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on June 29, 2018 at 6:29 PM

This is really sweet Harry. I don't do night shots, but I like this a lot. The long exposure worked very well to my eye. I like your comment about the average buyer not really caring about the technical details. I love your vision here along with the technicals.
Great work.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on June 30, 2018 at 12:13 PM

I like this, Harry. The layering of the foreground rocks adds a lot of interest to the scene and I like the glow on the water from the long exposure. I like your interpretation in the sky as well. Nicely done!

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on July 4, 2018 at 12:14 PM

I very much agree with your approach to night photography. Since we are dealing with the light capturing ability of long exposures, trying to make things look 'real' as what the eye perceives is not going to be fruitful. There's no doubt that even without the stars this was shot in at least blue hour lighting. The composition, rendering of the foreground rocks with the translucent water progressing into flat opaque water works very well for me.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Prower on July 6, 2018 at 10:23 AM

Amazing night scene. Real sense of depth along with those deep tones and well exposed stars - wall hanger for sure!

Registered on February 5, 2012, 24 Posts, 167 Comments