A better view of Canaan Valley (with new edit)

I wasn't happy with the technical quality of an image I posted earlier of Neowise over Canaan Valley, West Virginia. It's redeeming feature was a massive display of lightning bugs, but it was plagued by noise and the comet was less distinct than it could have been. So I went back to about the same location to try to come up with a keeper. I adjusted by using an 85 f/1.8 to allow for more exposure, and covered the scene in a panorama, which also reduced noise.

I'm much more pleased with this result. I shot the foreground as it was getting dark, so I could use a smaller aperture and get a little more depth of field, and put more light on the interesting details of the wetland surrounding Mill Run, the headwaters of the Blackwater River. There were fewer lightning bugs, but enough to at least add that dimension. To shoot the sky I replicated the same rotation I had used for the ground so that the two panoramas could be more effectively merged later. Needless to say, the different light levels were tricky to blend, but I think I have it reasonably convincing. The result is a two row, seven column panorama with pixel dimensions of 25129 x 14010, or about 352 megapixels.

I consider this still a work in progress, so I'd welcome any critique or suggestions for how to finish it better.



Edit 7/19:

I felt that the original version was a bit dim and low in contrast. So boosted it a little and made some other minor tweaks. I'd like your opinion whether you like the original or edited version better, or have any other suggestions. Thanks!





Dave

I like how you rendered this scene. You got a fantastic result with entirely believable lighting across the frame.

You have the pixels and the comp to print this one large.....

Looks great Dave.

Great effort and great result, I have no nits with it.

Dave, that is just astounding ! Great effort and great result.

Bart

Beautiful, Dave.

Thanks, Alan, Jameel, Ben, Bart and Douglas. I'd like your opinions on a revision I made; see edit to the original post.

Dave

The revision is a good improvement to an already good image.

The edit worked quite well.

As an image the edited version looks much better. However the bright ground level and the sky gives it a more of day time image. The comet then makes this less real. It’s a minor nit to an otherwise great image.

Hey Dave,

Very good work on this one, your return and reshooting of this sure was worth it!

I like the original better. Perhaps halfway between the 2 for the ground layer? I can see what you were going for in trying to improve the original, but for me I think it went a bit too bright.

Thanks, everyone. I tend to agree with Jameel and Jim, so I backed off the brightening of the ground layer a little bit.

Dave