Night tree sillouettes

[photog1107]

Have not posted on this forum before so I thought I'd get my feet wet. I took this "suburbscape" a couple evenings ago at 10:30 at night... nearly completely black, except for the faint glow of a shopping area, about 3 miles away. The night sky had that sort of etheral quality where you know it's supposed to be dark, yet the sky seems almost alight.

I took that feeling and tried to recreate it photographically, by capturing the trees in sillouette through a very long exposure--30 secs. In Lightroom I pushed up the lights and midtones and some of the shadow areas to better define my tree subjects, but not too much, hopefully, as I was trying not to ruin the sense that it was indeed nighttime.

Then for a little extra artistic quality, I added a slight posterization in PS Elements.



Any feedback/critique on the shot is welcome. In particular, I'd like to hear comments on whether the posterization "works" or not... and whether, in my effort to add enough contrast to bring out my tree subjects, I have gone too far and taken away the night-time effect. Thanks!

ISO: 400
f/8
30 secs.

[navcom]

I like your composition and your forethought. I'm just not a big fan of the posterization. It looks a bit unreal...almost as though it was a bad exposure or has hyper film grain. Can you post one without the posterization for comparison?

[photog1107]

Sure, here is one without posterization. Help or hinder?

[photog1107]

Sorry... here is the attachment:

[scratchy_muffin]

The second one looks better. I'd maybe crop out the left side a little bit - the big clump of black doesn't do anything for the picture

[Jamie Hickey]

Second one is much better. Nice shot.

[navcom]

Yep! Second one is better.