Emu and Milky Way framed by Silhouettes

[rogerg]

Seems everyone had clear sky this weekend! More posts on here with great pictures than I can keep up with. Why not add another to the mix!?

I'm struggling to bring out the diversity of colour, and correct contrast I want in these photo's from the weekend without making them look awful. :shrug: There's quite reasonable data in the original exposures. The colour changes dramatically from horizon to zenith and I think that's a large part of my problem, perhaps an occupational hazard of using such a wide fisheye? Gradient removal would be an option, but it did vary in colour in reality.

Canon 7D @ 1600ISO
Canon 8-15mm F/4 fisheye (yeah! what a lens!:D)
12 x 2 minute exposures.

Anyway, suggestions and comments on colour and contrast would be appreciated :thumbsup:

http://blog.astrophotography.com.au/2012/05/emu-and-milky-way-framed-by-silhouettes.html

[supernova1965]

NOT HERE but thanks to your photo I can atleast remember the view fondly:D:sadeyes:

[rogerg]

Well at least if it reminds you of the view that's a good thing :)

[SkyViking]

I think that's an excellent shot Roger, feels like being there! The trees provide a beautiful framing.

[jjjnettie]

I think if you removed the gradient, it would lose it's natural feel Roger.
I love the framing too. :)

[marco]

As said lovely framing and very suggestive image Roger, I don't find the gradient disturbing considering the vast fov you have. The foreground trees add a nice touch to the picture, I really like it :)

Marco

[rogerg]

Thank you Marco, JJJ and Rolf for taking time to provide such detailed and useful feedback :thanx:

[strongmanmike]

Great shot Roger

I prefer these more or less "as it would appear if you had been there" type shots with dark foregrounds over those shot with staged lighting or an over-lit foreground....of course that is just personal taste..after all, I use emission line filters to create narrowband images.. so who am I to talk :P

Mike

[iceman]

Very nice - the gradients are distracting to me. I love the yellow in the milky way.

I guess the only downside with the lens is that all your horizons are curved. Will be good for some shots, but others it will end up annoying :)

Plenty of sky though!

[rogerg]

Thanks Mike, understood :thumbsup: I'll let you know when I have a narrow-band wide field milky way with dark silhouettes :) Would be neat to do, I have to admit :) Don't have the kit for it though.

I would like to make the background in this image darker, but I haven't liked the contrasty effect that ends up having :confused2: I think I need to do a lot more tinkering to achieve that right balance. One problem is, the darker the background the yellow/red of the sky colour comes out too strong, so I desaturate that but then it looks odd. The foreground is quite natural as-is, as the landscape was reasonably well lit by the night sky.

Just wait till I throw in the foreground exposures I have with light painting :lol: I have a new gel kit and had some great fun with psychedelic trees :lol: you'll love it ;)



Yeah, the curvature definitely lends its self to some shots and not others. I have so far really liked it for astronomy where the curvature means that the foreground easily wraps and nicely frames the sky. For daytime shots I haven't enjoyed it so much - I tend to find the curvature too strong. Of course being a zoom it's nice that I can flatten that curvature quite a bit if I'm happy to sacrifice a couple of mm in focal length.

One vote for gradient removal noted :thumbsup:

[iceman]

Oh sorry, I meant are *not* distracting :)

I think it looks natural :)

[rogerg]

ahh :)

[naskies]

Nice one, Roger. I like the tree line!

[rogerg]

Thanks :)