La Sal Mountains, Utah. My first long exposure

[wrench]

Hi everyone! I've made several attempts at long exposures before (star trails, etc) with limited success. I think the shot below is my best yet. Your thought, suggestions, and opinions are always welcome!

Here is the shot straight out of the camera:

[IMG]La Sal Mountains by Big00Ern, on Flickr[/IMG]

The exposure was about 44 and a half minutes. The only editing was to remove several hot pixels from the image.

Here is my edit:

[IMG]La Sal Mountains by Big00Ern, on Flickr[/IMG]

The most obvious change was the cropping. I wanted to emphasize the sky and star trails and minimize the foreground. I also changed the white balance to tungsten. I thought it gave the image a more pleasing appearance. I'm not sure the airplane trail adds to the image. I might crop that out.

I'm pretty happy with image overall, but I'm looking forward to your thoughts.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Donald]

Ernie - I know this is not what you might want to hear, but I wonder about the removal of so much foreground. I also wonder about the balance shift to tungsten. What I'm trying to say is - I really, really like your original. First thing that came into my head when I saw it was 'Moonrise, Hernadez, New Mexico'. A completely different image, of course, but in terms of the compositional elements, not a million miles apart.

Okay, you could take out some of the foreground and still not lose the impact, but I think that original composition maybe deserves a reappraisal by you. Just a thought!

[IzzieK]

Very nice shot -- I like the original shot better too. I do not know which one is the airplane trail...

[NorthernFocus]

I agree with Donald that more of the foreground left in might be an improvement. Regarding he lighting, just pick one. Two completely different images and both are nice. Depends on what you're going for. What I see are two different seasons.

[Nicks Pics]

I think it turned out well. May I ask about ISO aperture, and if you used any accessories like filters? I thought the same about leaving at least a little more of the foreground in the image. I often turn the WB to a cooler setting in post like you did, because it better represents night, to me, but either way works for this one okay.

[kaneohebud]

I agree with Donald. The original is best.

[cuilin]

while i would like a little more foreground on the edit, that's still the version i prefer. i like the cooler white balance and the skinny crop.

[mknittle]

I like #1 better and agree with Donald about less foreground.

[Wavelength]

Patience paid; nice images

[wrench]

Very nice shot -- I like the original shot better too. I do not know which one is the airplane trail...

The airplane trail is more visible in the cropped version. It is near the top of the image and is really only visible under close examination at 100 percent image size. It is probably not that big of a deal since it is so hard to see.

[wrench]

I think it turned out well. May I ask about ISO aperture, and if you used any accessories like filters? I thought the same about leaving at least a little more of the foreground in the image. I often turn the WB to a cooler setting in post like you did, because it better represents night, to me, but either way works for this one okay.

Thank you. I prefer tungsten in this image. I had the white balance set to auto for the original. I have no idea where the orange/yellowish tint came from. My son also shot the same view with his camera (an old school camera with film) and his also had a similar tint. On second thought, the tint probably came from light pollution from town. We were only about 5 miles outside of Moab at the time.

The settings used were: ISO 200, f/3.5, and shutter was 2671 seconds. I used the kit lens, think it is a 18 - 55 on the 18 setting. No filters were used.

[wrench]

while i would like a little more foreground on the edit, that's still the version i prefer. i like the cooler white balance and the skinny crop.

Thank you. I had planned on cropping the image when I set up for the shot, but I was unsure of exactly where to crop. It appears I may have cut to much of the foreground out. I was going for the natural line that you can see in the original image where the vegetation type changes (from rough in the immediate foreground to more smooth farther out.)

[wrench]

Patience paid; nice images

Thank you!

[wrench]

Ernie - I know this is not what you might want to hear, but I wonder about the removal of so much foreground. I also wonder about the balance shift to tungsten. What I'm trying to say is - I really, really like your original. First thing that came into my head when I saw it was 'Moonrise, Hernadez, New Mexico'. A completely different image, of course, but in terms of the compositional elements, not a million miles apart.

Okay, you could take out some of the foreground and still not lose the impact, but I think that original composition maybe deserves a reappraisal by you. Just a thought!

Thanks! Would you still keep the entire sky?

[Donald]

Thanks! Would you still keep the entire sky?

Yes I would. Maybe clone out that aircraft trail. But I think it's well-proportioned, strong composition.

If there was anything I'd think about doing it would be to crop just a little from the bottom and make a 16:9 aspect ration image. That would move the horizon line off half way and closer to the bottom horizontal 'thirds' line. But I think that suggestion could be argued against.