Monument Valley by Moonlight

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Time for my weekly moonlit Icon. I have applied the comments from previous weeks into this one and show the results first and a non altered jpg. Feel free to download and work either image.

130328-0809-5dm3 bw sharp v.jpg


130328-0809-5dm3 sooc.jpg
 

Kyle Jones

Moderator
Here's my take. A little cooler than yours and some curves/levels to contrast the white clouds/stars against the sky. I went for a less contrasty foreground, but that obviously depends on your vision for the scene.
130328-0809-5dm3 kyle.jpg
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Thanks Kyle, I thought this was going to slide through the cracks:) Each one of these I do I wish I had shot with a darker moon. a usual, it's hard to get the stars to pop with a reduced size JPG, but your conversions says a lot about what tones and contrast you would prefer. That is very helpful.
 

Kyle Jones

Moderator
I enjoy these Ben. I am definitely taking the approach of "here's what I would do" rather than trying to pick at your conversion. I feel like night shots, even more than daytime photos, really depend on the vision of the person that creates them. We're trying to capture an image that can't been seen with the human eye, so there is no objective reality to baseline against. I like seeing your interpretations (and those of others on the board) and if mine give you some ideas then that's good too.

Your take gives me an old west vibe which is cool. I'd have never thought to go that way - maybe in part because I've never been there. It is worth exploring partial moon phases and knowing where dense groups of stars are likely to appear.
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
I enjoy these Ben. I am definitely taking the approach of "here's what I would do" rather than trying to pick at your conversion. I feel like night shots, even more than daytime photos, really depend on the vision of the person that creates them. We're trying to capture an image that can't been seen with the human eye, so there is no objective reality to baseline against. I like seeing your interpretations (and those of others on the board) and if mine give you some ideas then that's good too.

Your take gives me an old west vibe which is cool. I'd have never thought to go that way - maybe in part because I've never been there. It is worth exploring partial moon phases and knowing where dense groups of stars are likely to appear.
Thanks Kyle, yes, I am a fan of westerns, and especially the many John Ford westerns that were shot in monument valley. I am probably heavily influenced by the old film look.
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Hey Ben,

Here is a quick shot by me. It's hard at these small sizes as the pixels for selections become a real issue.

Can you try uploading a larger jpg? What happens if you try a jpg that's 2000 or 3000pix wide?

Jim

Ben 130328-0809-5dm3 sooc_a2.jpg
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Sorry Jim, they start as 3000 wide, but a test download shows 1200 wide, so they must get downsized when uploaded.
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
You are right Ben, I was thinking it was resizing it for viewing purposes, but not sure why I was thinking that. :eek:

Jim
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Hey Ben,

I had a thought. Perhaps we set up a Gallery just for Critique downloads? So anyone who wants to go edit the Critique Photo, can go to that Gallery and download the larger photo.

I just set that up, and it seems okay. So go to the Gallery and the Critique Download Category. Post the photo there and then upload it into here. Also, I would recommend uploading a larger pix, but also 300 dpi instead of 72 perhaps? I think we need to see what works best.

Jim
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Hey Ben,

I had a thought. Perhaps we set up a Gallery just for Critique downloads? So anyone who wants to go edit the Critique Photo, can go to that Gallery and download the larger photo.

I just set that up, and it seems okay. So go to the Gallery and the Critique Download Category. Post the photo there and then upload it into here. Also, I would recommend uploading a larger pix, but also 300 dpi instead of 72 perhaps? I think we need to see what works best.

Jim
Ok Jim, this is a full size 5300 wide 300dpi JPG

 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Hey Ben,

Well that worked! We just need to decide on a minimum suggested size for Critique photos then. Maybe 2000px wide at 300 pix? What do you think?

Jim
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Hi jim, I think 3000 would give enough pixels to do some decent work. But you need to decide how much bandwidth you can spare for this.

edit:

I also think you could take them down after a couple of weeks. Just the large jpg, the reworks could stay. This would make the critique forum here unique and very useful. I
 
Last edited:

Jeffrey

Well-Known Member
Hi Ben, thanks for letting me play with your fine image capture. I was going for a process that would emphasize the 'night time' look and show stars and saturated colors, but remain somewhat dark. Or else it would look like a daytime capture. I hope you like it.

benMV1.jpg
 

Ben Egbert

Forum Helper
Staff member
Hi Ben, thanks for letting me play with your fine image capture. I was going for a process that would emphasize the 'night time' look and show stars and saturated colors, but remain somewhat dark. Or else it would look like a daytime capture. I hope you like it.

View attachment 2450
Jeffrey, this is outstanding. I love the colors the saturation and the detail. John Ford would approve.
 
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