Bali Sunrise Star Trail Mix

[tyasa81]

Hi guys,

been MIA from photography for a while... several questions i've been wondering

1) 1st time using google+, hopefully it shares just like flickr.. can't find option for different sizes though
edit: nvm found it and fixed it...

2) this is the 2nd edit... 1st edit using a mac and it looks very dark in a pc with all details lost... i used a pc for this edit, wondering how it looks on your computer... is it too dark or too light now? please let me if you are using a pc or mac.
3) first time mixing star trails and pre dawn light... how does it mix? yay or nay?
4) general cc that i forgot to mention are all welcomed.

Thanx and hope you enjoy

32 frames combined
30secs
2.8
iso200
focal 13mm

[benchdog]

I'm not so sure I like the star trails in this image but I do like it over all. Looks more like a meteor shower. Your dark areas show little if any detail and there are some areas that are blown out. I use a pc. Looks like some distortion from using a wide angle lens also. Over all very good work.

[mlinfoot]

I'm viewing on a Sony VIAO laptop running Linux and Chrome browser. The image is quite dark, and as benchdog noted, a lot of detail is lost in the darker areas.

I find the star trails distracting and would have preferred to see more of the early morning colours reflected in the water and a more natural sky. But, it's very subjective, depends on the effect you wanted to achieve. Nice shot.

[tyasa81]

thanx you two..

benchdog... guess that's the problem of wanting to shoot a star trail while being comfortable... it'll be hard to balance the dynamic range.... thank you for your feed back

mlinfoot... actually the effect i want to achieve is just what benchdog says... a mini "meteor shower" i tried a "wish upon the falling stars" last year but the trails aren't bright enough... this time i upped the iso to get brighter stars

[Krusty79]

That's a tough shot to pull off, but I like what you're trying to do. I think you've done a good job, but here are a couple of things that I think could be improved:

1. You have some strange halos or something around the palm trees.
2. The image is pretty busy and I think that draws some of the attention away from the cool star trails.

[tyasa81]

Hi krusty.. thank you for your comments... the halos are the result of motion sway of the coconut tree... the wind is blowing quite strongly then and when i merged the frames, i guess the halo gets more pronounced... is there a way to deal with this?

thanx for your feedback... appreciate it

[Krusty79]

Originally Posted by tyasa81

Hi krusty.. thank you for your comments... the halos are the result of motion sway of the coconut tree... the wind is blowing quite strongly then and when i merged the frames, i guess the halo gets more pronounced... is there a way to deal with this?

thanx for your feedback... appreciate it

PP is not my strong suit. I guess you could try the clone tool, but that would take a lot of work and might look weird (depending on how good you are). I think Photoshop has a "content aware" function that acts like a clone tool, but I don't have PS, so I can't give you more details. Maybe someone who's better at PP can give a suggestion?

[tyasa81]

krusty: thanx for your suggestion.. pp isn't my strong suit too... i'll give it a shot