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Depth and Luminosity
Depth and Luminosity
strangeghost


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: D&L (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon EOS-10D
Lens: Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon
Location: Near Brooklyn, WI
Date: Aug 27, 2005
Aperture: f 2.8
ISO: 400
Shutter: 120 seconds
Galleries: Sky, Astrophotography
Date Uploaded: Aug 28, 2005

 This challenge, essentially a free study, presented an opportunity to obtain another Milky Way shot and finally try out a pure astronomy shot in a challenge. These shots are very difficult to process and present but this was the best I could do on the one night available to me in this challenge period. Thanks to Kirbic for coming over to shoot some astrophotos with me, we had a great time and will do it again!

2 minute exposure with camera on top of a tracking telescope. Over the two minute period, the camera moved enough to blur the trees and dome of the observatory, which I hope won't lose me too many points.

Post processing was extensive due to the nature of the shot and the light pollution near the horizon:
-Raw Conversion (no sharpening)
-Crop and rotate
-Levels adjustment layer - stretch histogram to darken background sky
-Noise removal
-Desat yellows for light pollution
-Curves to enhance sky contrast
-Duplicate layer, gaussian blur, decrease brightness, blend in screen mode (essentially an unsharp mask routine)
-More curves to enhance contrast
-Early on I also selected out the observatory to keep it from darkening too much in the subsequent adjustments.
-Finally, a USM at 35/200/5 to pop the tones and give a final boost to contrast.
-Resize and save for web

Statistics
Place: 107 out of 200
Avg (all users): 5.4585
Avg (commenters): 6.4211
Avg (participants): 5.1157
Avg (non-participants): 5.7727
Views since voting: 1328
Views during voting: 416
Votes: 253
Comments: 22
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 09/04/2005 08:40:32 PM
Perhaps a crop out of the foreground would've helped.

This was an amazing shot, really. But that foreground did distract from the beauty of your astro subject.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
09/04/2005 07:32:54 PM
Hey, those trees are blurry :-P Ignore me, sour grapes 'cause you're beating me, LOL!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 04:21:14 PM
Wow! How long was the exposure? A 10!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/04/2005 08:31:38 AM
Very Nice; i wish the foreground wasn't so blurry though
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2005 07:36:44 PM
I ike the sky, but the image would be better with the observatory cropped out IMO.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/03/2005 03:14:12 AM
Amazing. I look forward to seeing the specs. on this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/02/2005 10:02:11 AM
While this is cetainly better than I could do with my equipment, the motion blur of the foreground distracts. The title is a bit of a stretch as well. I'll give you a neutral 6.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2005 12:34:24 PM
O_O
This is a realy sky?!?! Where did you shoot this picture? anyone knows where I might be able to see such scenes? I've never seen stars like that.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 09/01/2005 08:07:07 AM
wow, amazing. You'll need to let us know how you managed this one. Great pic.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2005 11:40:40 PM
Wow, this seems exciting and scary to me at the same time, just imagine that is right above us and most of us can't see it that way. I am not too crazy about the color in the bottom half of the sky, but I don't think this is anything you could control ( or at least I couldn't ) so I won't let that effect my vote. Wonderful shot to have in your collection.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2005 08:29:40 PM
Wow, spectacular shot! I look forward to finding out how you got this. Strange thing about this shot is there appears to be movement in the trees but not the stars -- from the wind? Or you had the camera mounted on a telescope with a motor drive. In any event, a 10.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/31/2005 02:28:27 PM
was this taken withought a tripod...or it might have been on a windy day? Lots of movement in the trees
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 05:28:32 PM
Wonderful sky, motion in trees is distracting. 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/30/2005 02:07:18 AM
Woow this is amazingly beautiful ! Shame the bottom of the photo is out of focus,it spoils it a bit.Still a 7 from me!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 08:07:24 PM
neat night capture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 02:19:28 PM
Wow, what an amazing shot of the sky/spce! Really cool
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 11:47:43 AM
wonderful capture of the heavens.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 09:47:34 AM
Good attempt, but the motion blur of the trees and the object in the foreground takes away from the feel of the image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 08:49:19 AM
This is pretty incredible when you think about it. The vastness of the space above us is actually a multitude of lights and colors and wow - you really nailed it. The blurred silhouettes of the trees may be due to dim lighting, but I almost think you could remove that portion, except for maybe just a small bit for perspective and you'd have an almost perfect image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 05:22:08 AM
Love the sky, but the little "dome?" up front distracts my vision. Trees also seem blurry....
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/29/2005 03:31:32 AM
Thats a pretty amazing sky. I wish the foreground was a little less distracting
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 08/28/2005 09:11:52 PM
I am not sure why but I get the feeling this isn't real.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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