The Monolith

[Kyle Jones]

I shot this in February in Joshua Tree with our very own Jim Fox. For some reason I never processed it, so here it goes!

This is a single shot with my EOS R and Samyang 24/1.4 lens, likely at about f/2.4. I used ISO 4000 and a 20s exposure to prevent star trailing. I double processed this in Lightroom so I could optimize the sky and ground independently and then combined them in Photoshop.

Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[AlanLichty]

I like the result. Neat scene.

 

[Anatoly]

Stunning shot!

 

[Ben Egbert]

Really neat shot, it appears like sunrise is starting while the MW is still visible. I like the amount of light on the ground layer.

 

[JimFox]

Super cool Kyle! This is a great one to find in the hard drive that had gotten skipped over. It was certainly fun to be out shooting with you.

I wonder with the Milky Way being much more vertical now if I should make a run out there and see if I can get a pillar of the MW standing next to a pillar of rock?

 

[Kyle Jones]

I wonder with the Milky Way being much more vertical now if I should make a run out there and see if I can get a pillar of the MW standing next to a pillar of rock?

It would be at a different angle (you'd have to look more south), but that should work.

 

[MonikaC]

Outstanding, Kyle. One small nit: I find those bushes on the left a little distracting.

 

[Jim Dockery]

Great work, esp. the double processing, I really like the rock & ground lighting. The only thing I might try if it were mine would be a bit of rotation to the right. I figure you shot it true, so this might be reality, but it feels tilted because of the monolith and the clouds.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Really neat shot, it appears like sunrise is starting while the MW is still visible. I like the amount of light on the ground layer.

Thanks Ben - I particularly value your opinion on that aspect of night shots! Sunrise definitely t
was starting to encroach at this point.

Outstanding, Kyle. One small nit: I find those bushes on the left a little distracting.

I wondered about that, I'll take another look. Thank you Monika!

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice Kyle. Love the balance of light on the ground and sky. I would likely try a crop losing about 20% from the left.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Great work, esp. the double processing, I really like the rock & ground lighting. The only thing I might try if it were mine would be a bit of rotation to the right. I figure you shot it true, so this might be reality, but it feels tilted because of the monolith and the clouds.

Good call. I'm pretty sure it the horizon was level, but I agree it looks a little titled. I gave it a little twist below.

Nice Kyle. Love the balance of light on the ground and sky. I would likely try a crop losing about 20% from the left.

Thanks Jameel - this version has a little bit of crop. I really didn't want to lose any more than this. I took a look at cloning out the bushes on left from Monika's comment, but it started looking fake to me and decided to leave them alone. I also lightened the darkest parts of the sky a little.

 

[Beth]

beautiful image! the second one looks straighter to me.