Another Milky Way Help.....

[Brian]

It's hard to take night photos when I see some of your night photos of far off places, but I'm always trying to improve my pictures. Would you folks please give me some suggestions on this one? This is about 150 yards behind my house since I don't have a whole lot of time these days due to adulting. Dang responsibilities...

I'd appreciate any thought you may have. Thanks.

 

[AlanLichty]

The ground lighting in this scene actually works quite well. I might be inclined to try to darken the skies a bit to get some more definition to the MW. Nice view to have so close to your house.

 

[MonikaC]

Pretty nice "back yard". Do you have luminosity masks? If you do, you can select a darks mask & tweak it with Levels or Curves without blowing out the highlights to increase the contrast in the MW.

 

[Ben Egbert]

This looks pretty good to me, but then I am also a tyro at MW. I might try to darken the sky. Check out our articles, here are a couple.

https://www.focalworld.com/index.php?articles/photographing-the-stars.18/

https://www.focalworld.com/index.php?articles/photographing-the-milky-way.21/

 

[Brian]

Pretty nice "back yard". Do you have luminosity masks? If you do, you can select a darks mask & tweak it with Levels or Curves without blowing out the highlights to increase the contrast in the MW.

I need to learn how to work with masks. Frankly I've messed around with them and have just been frustrated. I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

 

[Brian]

The ground lighting in this scene actually works quite well. I might be inclined to try to darken the skies a bit to get some more definition to the MW. Nice view to have so close to your house.

Thanks Alan. I will try that. There is a major city about 30 miles due south that I really struggle with getting all the noise pollution out.

 

[JimFox]

Hey Brian,

Overall I really like this. I love that tree you have, I could only dream to have a tree like that close to work with.

My next time through we should get together again. Layer masks aren't all that hard, but sometimes a person just needs to be shown how to do it in person. At least that's what I have found. An hour or two together behind the computer and you will be a layer masking pro!

That tree does make for a bit of a more difficult layer mask, but still not all that hard. But using one would let you use the DeHaze tool in ACR so that you can have a 2nd Raw Conversion where you use DeHaze to darken the sky. It works better then contrast since it doesn't brighten up the brighter areas. You can also go into HSL adjustments and darken the Luminance of the Blue to help darken the sky too. Then with a layer mask you can blend in your original Raw conversion (which was perfect for the ground layer) with the new Sky Raw Conversion.

 

[MonikaC]

I need to learn how to work with masks. Frankly I've messed around with them and have just been frustrated. I'll give it a shot. Thanks.

You don't need to make masks (in the conventional way) with luminosity masks. You just select the amount of light or dark you want to change and the software does it.

 

[Brian]

Hey Brian,

Overall I really like this. I love that tree you have, I could only dream to have a tree like that close to work with.

My next time through we should get together again. Layer masks aren't all that hard, but sometimes a person just needs to be shown how to do it in person. At least that's what I have found. An hour or two together behind the computer and you will be a layer masking pro!

That tree does make for a bit of a more difficult layer mask, but still not all that hard. But using one would let you use the DeHaze tool in ACR so that you can have a 2nd Raw Conversion where you use DeHaze to darken the sky. It works better then contrast since it doesn't brighten up the brighter areas. You can also go into HSL adjustments and darken the Luminance of the Blue to help darken the sky too. Then with a layer mask you can blend in your original Raw conversion (which was perfect for the ground layer) with the new Sky Raw Conversion.

I will try and make time for that Jim. I'd appreciate it.

 

[Brian]

So here is the light pollution I am working with. This was taken about 100 feet farther from the tree and about 25 feet higher. It really brings the city noise into the equation. I'll keep working on it. Thanks for everyones suggestions. I appreciate it.

 

[JimFox]

Yeah, that's a ton of light pollution that you have to deal with.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I really like the composition. The ground is well lit as Alan commented. The sky has a lot of potential. I have taken a shot at a quick edit using mostly the Camera RAW filter and a bit of selective burning of highlights closer to the horizon.