Milky Way over Lake Cuyamaca

[J. M. Livingston]

Here's another image from my Lake Cuyamaca trip, this one capturing the Milky Way. I had really hoped to get the galactic core lined up with the end of the dock but a group of other photographers were there light-painting the heck out of the area so I shot elsewhere until they moved on, once they had left the core had swung out of alignment.

John

 

[JimFox]

Hey John,

This is pretty nice looking, but I can definitely see that it would have really looked great if centered over the dock.

A suggestion with the Milky Way. I also will tend to adjust my WB cooler, and also increase the Magenta of the Tint, but I keep an eye on the Milky Way as I try to keep that free of the Magenta cast. For me, when the sky gets a bit of the magenta cast it looks pretty cool, but not so much for the Milky Way. So, what I will do is use a layer mask. I will have the magenta tinted version on top, the non magenta tinted one on the bottom where the MIlky Way is still more white. Then on the top layer I will use the Color Range tool under the Select menu, and zoom on an with the Eye dropper I will select a white star or an white area in the Milky Way. Adjust the Fuzziness slider to then increase or decrease how much White of the sky was selected. Make a layer mask from the Selection, and then it will allow the white of the Milky Way and the stars to show through.

You may already know how to do that, but I wanted to let others know who may be wondering how to do it.

Now, If you like the look of the Milky Way as you have it, and that's totally fine, as we all have different visions on how we want our night skies to look like. Just ignore what I suggested.

Jim

 

[Bob Denton]

That's very good!

 

[Trevor G]

You have composed this very well.

 

[Ryan10]

As has already been stated, everything is great, but needs the alignment with the dock. Is that light pollution from San Diego?

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice one. Shooting the MW is on my list of things to try out.

 

[J. M. Livingston]

A suggestion with the Milky Way. I also will tend to adjust my WB cooler, and also increase the Magenta of the Tint, but I keep an eye on the Milky Way as I try to keep that free of the Magenta cast. For me, when the sky gets a bit of the magenta cast it looks pretty cool, but not so much for the Milky Way. So, what I will do is use a layer mask. I will have the magenta tinted version on top, the non magenta tinted one on the bottom where the MIlky Way is still more white. Then on the top layer I will use the Color Range tool under the Select menu, and zoom on an with the Eye dropper I will select a white star or an white area in the Milky Way. Adjust the Fuzziness slider to then increase or decrease how much White of the sky was selected. Make a layer mask from the Selection, and then it will allow the white of the Milky Way and the stars to show through.

I'll try this technique out later tonight or tomorrow. I'm sorta part way there already, with a magenta-filled layer on a low-opacity setting that I've masked out. Think I can add the color-range to it somewhat easily (though I probably have to go back and re-apply some of the Nik filters I used afterwords). Thanks Jim!

As has already been stated, everything is great, but needs the alignment with the dock. Is that light pollution from San Diego?

If I really get back into editing this one, I may try and make a composite out of it with one of my other images and see if I can get it aligned and blended well. Not being aligned really holds this image back.

Yes, pretty sure that's the light pollution from San Diego. Interesting that it's white, usually the light pollution I capture is much more yellow and easier to knock down when editing.

 

[J. M. Livingston]

Finally finished up the re-edit, took a little longer than expected. This edit pulled back on the purples a bit, as well I went ahead and made a composite out of it (my first) so that I could align the Milky Way with the pier.

 

[JimFox]

Hey John,

I do like it with the MW lined up better over the dock like that. It sure made a lot of difference.

Jim

 

[Ryan10]

Yes...this is much better John. A classic MW shot now.

 

[J. M. Livingston]

Thanks guys.

Hmm, looks like the original image was overwritten when I published the new one to SmugMug using the Lightroom plugin. Will have to watch out for that in the future.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Very nice and the edit is even better, and thanks to Jim for the tutorial.