Let my mistake help you avoid the same.

[Ryan10]

When I was at Joshua Tree a couple months ago, I was shooting various locations throughout the night. Below is a composition I really like, so I shot at this location for 30ish minutes and moved on to the next. As you can see, I don't have the MW aligned directly over the tree. It was my intention to have it lined up as perfect as possible.

I did not take the extra 5 mins to make sure my alignment was correct. I could have easily moved 5-10 feet to my left to get perfect alignment. I suppose I can spend 10-20 mins in PS realigning, but why not just do it right while I'm there?

Lesson...when you find an area you like, and even see a good composition, take 5-10 mins to walk around and make sure you've got what you want and that your composition is perfect. Perhaps you'll find another comp close by as well.


Milky Joshua Tree by Ryan Luna, on Flickr

 

[JimFox]

Hey Ryan,

That's a good lesson indeed. I have done that same exact thing and then get back home and wish I had moved just a few more feet. I think it happens for me most often with vertical shots.

But with that said, we are usually our own worst critics. But that's as it should be. For me, this is still a really nice shot, and I like it.

Jim

 

[lightsgood]

Thanks man. Never hurts to get good advice. Jim's correct. It's very nice shot.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wish all my mistakes looked this nice. If you had not informed me this was a problem I would have missed the error.

 

[Kyle Jones]

Agreed with the above. Sometimes compromises are necessary to line up the MW anyway.

The way I see this, the brightest stars are centered above the tree!

 

[JimFox]

And you know whats odd here.... I believe the last time this happened to me, It was also out at Joshua Tree as I was trying to line up the MW with a rock outcropping...

Jim

 

[Ben Egbert]

Very nice, and thanks for the reminder.

 

[Ryan10]

Thanks all for the comments, but I really would of liked it more if the darker core section was centered over the mid top of the tree.