Author Topic: Tender is the Night  (Read 1414 times)

David Paterson

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1500
  • Retired, but not tired, photographer
Tender is the Night
« on: April 03, 2017, 13:39:08 »
Still chasing auroras which don't show up, so I take the opportunity to improve my night shooting skills and, especially, how to process the dang things.

All shot with the D600 and 28mm f2 AIS.

Akira

  • Homo jezoensis
  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 12468
  • Tokyo, Japan
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2017, 14:06:45 »
The first one is absolutely phenomenal!  Beautifully contrasting bluish night sky and the red tree.

#3 looks very slightly hazy, which should be unusual given it is shot at "as low as" ISO 800 on D600.  Did you underexpose excessively to save the highlight?
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

elsa hoffmann

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 3822
  • Cape Town, South Africa
    • Elsa Hoffmann
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2017, 14:13:06 »
Those dang things look fine.
"You don’t take a photograph – you make it” – Ansel Adams. Thats why I use photoshop.
www.phototourscapetown.com
www.elsa.co.za. www.intimateimages.co.za

Hugh_3170

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 1996
  • Back in Melbourne!
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2017, 14:16:43 »
Elsa is right - they do look dang fine.

Love the night time look of your house and garden (complete with its daffodils).  Is that a meteorite meteor in the last image?

EDIT:  As per Dave's clarifications.   ;D
Hugh Gunn

David Paterson

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1500
  • Retired, but not tired, photographer
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2017, 16:32:38 »
Thank you, Elsa, Akira and Hugh, for the kind comments.

Hugh - that is indeed a meteor (I was corrected about this not long ago, so I'm passing it on - a meteorite is a meteor which has made it all the way through to the earth's surface); a little earlier while moving camera position (of course!) I saw a spectacular one which flew all the way across the sky.

Akira - what you see is probably down to my uncertain and experimental processing. Also I have learned that the night sky can be very different in tone and colour, depending on which direction - n, s, e or w - you look, and whether the moon is in the sky. To the eye it all looks pretty much a dark background with pinpoint white stars, but the camera sees something quite different, and the longer the exposure the more the image will differ from what we actually see. 

DougB

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 54
  • I IS NikonGear
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2017, 16:50:21 »
All nicely done but the last one should be printed & hung!!!

armando_m

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 3528
  • Guadalajara México
    • http://armando-m.smugmug.com/
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2017, 17:11:35 »
Very nice results

Processing the night sky is challenging, and very easily looks over done, IMO you did very well
Armando Morales
D800, Nikon 1 V1, Fuji X-T3

Akira

  • Homo jezoensis
  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 12468
  • Tokyo, Japan
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2017, 17:37:51 »
Akira - what you see is probably down to my uncertain and experimental processing. Also  have learned that the night sky can be very different in tone and colour, depending on which direction - n, s, e or w - you look, and whether the moon is in the sky. To the eye it all looks pretty much a dark background with pinpoint white stars, but the camera sees something quite different, and the longer the exposure the more the image will differ from what we actually see.

Thank you for the explanation.  Good for you that the sky in Killin is not marred by the light pollution.  I tried to shoot the night sky in Tokyo at a night in winter.  The sky was crystal clear and black with stars.  Shooting the sky at that time at ISO 1600, f2.8, 15sec, I got a beautiful beige 24MP color patch!  Man, there was a heck of light pollution from sodium lights!
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

David Paterson

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1500
  • Retired, but not tired, photographer
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2017, 18:27:43 »
Many thanks, Doug, Armando and Akira.

Akira - we do have sodium street-lighting, of course, even in Killin but the effect is minimal. When the lights can cause a problem is if low-ish clouds come over - they pick up the sodium colour very strongly - and when a bit of stray light escapes and illuminates something in your shot, a tree, for example. This will turn bright orange-red and I used to try to remove that colouration. Now I just go with it, as in #1 which you mentioned, or even make a feature of it.

Alaun

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 411
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2017, 18:48:51 »
You are a fairy tale teller with pictures. Wonderful!
Wer-      Dro-
      ner         ste

Andrew

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 408
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2017, 20:00:05 »
Dang good!
Andrew Iwanowski

Øivind Tøien

  • NG Supporter
  • **
  • Posts: 1689
  • Fairbanks, Alaska
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2017, 23:12:24 »

+1 for # 1 ,  #2 is also very nice.

Good catch of the meteor, I like the star-bursts around the lights. I wonder if it would have more impact if cropped a little at the top?

Øivind Tøien

David Paterson

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1500
  • Retired, but not tired, photographer
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2017, 23:22:48 »
Thank you Andrew, Alaun and Øivind - the meteor was just luck and the star-bursts happen whether you want them or not, so actually I contributed very little to that image.   ;D  The composition is a bit strained; I'm in love with those big starry skies but that image could easily lose a little off the top edge.

Alaun - thanks especially for that comment; it's something I always try for - to tell or hint at a story in a single image.

Mongo

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 844
  • You ARE NikonGear
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2017, 00:09:15 »
WOW David. Individually, they look great. As a collection on a common theme, they look fantastic to Mongo.

The only thing Mongo noticed was the slight lack of contrast in #3.

28mm f2 Ais - used it for years. wonderful lens but ultimately too heavy and bulky for long term carrying around. Glad to see you still enjoy and honour this great lens.

David Paterson

  • NG Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1500
  • Retired, but not tired, photographer
Re: Tender is the Night
« Reply #14 on: April 04, 2017, 03:35:09 »
Mongo - many thanks for your generous comment. However, you made much the same observation as Akira concerning #3 so I have taken another look at it, and you were both right - it needed more contrast especially in the sky.

Here is the new version -