Bridge Take 2 - no moon

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Here's an attempt at shooting the same location without moonlight. Not entirely happy with the outcome and I actually prefer the ones under moonlight. The night didn't start off the best for two reasons. Arriving at the bridge after a 70 min drive, I realised I hadn't packed the Samyang 14mm lens in the car. On top of that, fog was starting to form around the bridge, being over the creek in a gully. Fortunately, I had a 50mm and 135mm lens packed to take widefield shots after shooting the bridge with the 14mm, so it wasn't a completely wasted trip! So these two were taken with the 50mm lens - hardly a wide angled lens on a crop sensored camera! The first is a sigle frame, the second is an eight panel mosaic which was a real challenge to merge. It's a skill painting a foreground subject with a torch without making the scene look too artificial and I don't think I did a very good job at it but it is what it is with what I had to work with. Better luck next time as they say.

[Anth10 (Anthony M)]

Your intent and idea looks very promising Mick- was worth the try- Rho makes a nice shot and the bridge in the foreground is quite impressive albeit very bright almost taking the attention off the milky way.

I know you will be back next time with hopefully the correct lens packed hey…

Anthony

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Thanks for your comments Anthony. Finding the right balance between foreground (subject) and background (stars) can be a real challenge. I guess at times it can be a matter of which you want to emphasise. Darkening the sky can highlight the foreground, a dark foreground will highlight the night sky. It can be what you're trying to achieve that determines the way it's presented. The wrong lens gave me less to experiment with, so yes, returning with the right lens would help but I think I'll leave this one for someone else and move onto another location.

[astronobob (Bob)]

Still decent results Michael, one does not have to stick with a super wide 14 - 20mm for nightscapes, ive seen some pretty awesome compo's with 80,100 and 135's over the years, and the reason I mention because the Lagoon and triffid steals the show in your 1st, very nice take in my books..
Your write-ups are good too because you identify key areas relevant to working and improving skills etc,,
A good show indeed

[JA]

Hi Mick,

I really like them both for composition and the subject.

If you really feel you want to have the bridge in the first image a little less prominent you could go in to photoshop or equivalent and select the relevant area (with a soft/graduated edge) and locally reduce the exposure perhaps a couple of stops, thereby leaving the sky brightness unchanged.

Best
JA

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Thanks for your compliments guys. Bob, fair point about the longer focal length lenses. They can zoom in, so to speak, on interesting features hidden to the wider lens. The Lagoon and Triffid are certainly eye catching objects. JA, thanks for the tips to try in PS, yes I could select the bridge structure with a suitable feather applied and darken the area to simulate lesser exposure.