Last Light - Long Exposure

[Stagecoach]

This image is one I had planned and waited a couple of weeks for weather, tide and time to be right. I had considered it a candidate for long exposure but the results were not quite as I hoped.

Hopefully I will get another try before it gets moved.


75mm, f/14, ISO 100, 5 minutes exp, a few minutes after sunset.



Comments or suggestions welcome as always.

[ST1]

Whilst you say it wasn’t quite what you had hoped for, it looks good to my eyes Grahame.
My only comment is could you have composed the scene such that the Tree didn’t cross the horizon line.
I was just wondering what it would have looked like if that had been possible.


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[Manfred M]

I see why you want to shoot this scene. Lovely location and the lighting is gorgeous. With the short Blue Hour you are dealing with at your latitude, that makes it doubly tough when you add in the weather and the tide.

When I look at it, the first thing that strikes me is that you have two images in one here; the dead tree and the mountains and together they are conflicting with each other. I wonder if working with the left hand side of the image and having a less interesting topography might not give you a stronger image?

Unlike Peter, I feel that having the tree cross the horizon strengthens this shot, as it ties the water and sky together.

I've tried to build up the left side of the image, with limited success, with Content Aware Fill, but it gives the idea of what I think might be a direction worth exploring the next time...

[Geoff F]

A tricky scene and long exposures are fraught with potential problems; but this does work for me. Although part of the tree does cross the horizon line I think it is a small enough area which doesn't distract from the overall scene.

I agree with Manfred's suggestion about a tighter crop and there are several variations which would look good. For example, you could include about half of the distant hillside.

[Stagecoach]

Whilst you say it wasn’t quite what you had hoped for, it looks good to my eyes Grahame.
My only comment is could you have composed the scene such that the Tree didn’t cross the horizon line.
I was just wondering what it would have looked like if that had been possible.


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Thank you Peter. One of the things I learnt was not to have things (such as this tree) stopping at the horizon line but with this image I would not have been able to get the camera high enough to get it below.

[Stagecoach]

I see why you want to shoot this scene. Lovely location and the lighting is gorgeous. With the short Blue Hour you are dealing with at your latitude, that makes it doubly tough when you add in the weather and the tide.

When I look at it, the first thing that strikes me is that you have two images in one here; the dead tree and the mountains and together they are conflicting with each other. I wonder if working with the left hand side of the image and having a less interesting topography might not give you a stronger image?

Unlike Peter, I feel that having the tree cross the horizon strengthens this shot, as it ties the water and sky together.

I've tried to build up the left side of the image, with limited success, with Content Aware Fill, but it gives the idea of what I think might be a direction worth exploring the next time...

I agree Manfred that the tree is competing too much with the island which gives two options, one which is to only include the tree as your edit, or possibly shooting from a lower perspective with the tree cutting through the island.

My plan now is to go to the area during the day with a longer focal length with the tide out and take a number of compositions to compare.

As for your edit, the content aware did a pretty good job.

[Stagecoach]

A tricky scene and long exposures are fraught with potential problems; but this does work for me.

Thank you Geoff

At the start of this exposure the tripod legs were on dry ground and by the end submerged around 3 inches. But one advantage is that the image was not affected by the herons constantly flying around and also landing on the tree

What is also apparent when enlarging is the considerable amount of sensor noise coloured dots.

[mugge]

Just my two cents worth. Go back and do it again. Do various combinations. This scene is worth it.
Cheers Ole

[rpcrowe]

Grahame... I like this image quite a bit! I would consider cropping the image a TAD to turn it into somewhat of a pano? Like this...



IMO, this crop accomplishes two things:
1. It eliminates the distracting (for me) bright area of the water lower image left
and
2. It transforms the driftwood into a leading line pointing towards the mountains in the background.

Of course, there are probably as many ways to crop any image as there are people viewing that image. This is just my personal idea...

[DanK]

I like the original. The wood crossing the horizon line adds interest, IMHO. I don't see a problem with having the mountains and the wood. In fact, even though the wood is the dominant subject, it acts as a leading line to the mountains, which then act as a frame.

I lean in the same direction as Richard. I think I would crop a bit top and bottom, although perhaps a bit less than Richard. In particular, I would want to reduce the white areas at the bottom.

But all in all, a very nice image indeed.

[LenR]

Grahame... I like this image quite a bit! I would consider cropping the image a TAD to turn it into somewhat of a pano? Like this...



IMO, this crop accomplishes two things:
1. It eliminates the distracting (for me) bright area of the water lower image left
and
2. It transforms the driftwood into a leading line pointing towards the mountains in the background.

Of course, there are probably as many ways to crop any image as there are people viewing that image. This is just my personal idea...

Agreed. I would also include the distant island/mountains in the image.

[rpcrowe]

Since, I seldom print my images, I am not constrained by "standard" print sizes... This frees my cropping considerably...

[DanK]

Since, I seldom print my images, I am not constrained by "standard" print sizes... This frees my cropping considerably...

I print a lot, and I don’t pay much attention to “standard” aspect ratios either. Seems
To me that the image ought to dictate that. This does add to the cost of framing, however.


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[Stagecoach]

Richard, Dan and Len

The conclusion I have come to with this image is that there's a number of crops that will work and it very much comes down to personal preference. Personally I have no concerns about the foreground light areas or non conventional crop ratios.

What has been more fun are the sheer number of processing possibilities, harsh, soft, colours and tones. My view on this is that if the image was to be printed for display, it's colour and mood could be adapted to complement its setting.

For info, here's the image with no processing shot at short speed just 8 minutes before, yuk



Grahame

[Manfred M]

Grahame - I totally agree with you regarding the different post-processing approaches. I find my tastes change over time and when I occasionally run into an older image and don't like what I did with it, I will reprocess it so that is more to my current taste. I often find my images evolve over time; I rarely finish things in a single working session. I will take things to a point where I am 60% - 70% done and then sit on the image and study it from time to time. Sometimes I might finish it the same day, but more often I will take a couple of days of coming back to it and working out the final details. Occasionally, it will take me a week or more to get it to the point where I find it is "good enough".

Like Dan, I print a lot, but unlike Dan, I tend to stick to 4 or 5 standard sizes, based on how I plan to display the final print. I compose my images so that they will work in one of these standard sizes. What I like is that I have a regular supply of mattes and frames that I change once or twice a year.

[mugge]

Your original image may be yuk but the scene is not
Cheers Ole

[xpatUSA]

Richard, Dan and Len

The conclusion I have come to with this image is that there's a number of crops that will work and it very much comes down to personal preference. Personally I have no concerns about the foreground light areas or non conventional crop ratios.

What has been more fun are the sheer number of processing possibilities, harsh, soft, colours and tones. My view on this is that if the image was to be printed for display, it's colour and mood could be adapted to complement its setting.

For info, here's the image with no processing shot at short speed just 8 minutes before, yuk



Grahame

A dramatic scene indeed!

I see a prehistoric lizard walking away while looking up at the bright clouds upper left ...