This was taken hear Vernal, Utah. It was a chilly night! As you can see, the moon was off to the left.
I had to underexpose the shot to avoid grain, then I used grain removal software several times in small increments, while increasing contrast. I did no color shifting or adding at all. Amazingly, the shot turned out just as I had planned! That's always a bonus!
Interestingly, though I tried various ISO levels, the one that had the least amount of grain--even in this dark exposure, was 100. 400 seemed more appropriate (and is as high as my camera goes), but was very grainy (though the exposure and light turned out better). Ultimately, I chose the less noisy and played with it. Had I been able to spot edit, I might have selected the correctly exposed shot, and then just blurred the area where the grain was. I would also like to have cheated nature and moved that bright star over to the left a couple of inches! All in all, I'm probably happier with this one.
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 96 Avg (all users): 8.2963 Avg (commenters): 9.1600 Avg (participants): 8.3088 Avg (non-participants): 8.2893 Views since voting: 18615 Votes: 189 Comments: 105 Favorites: 88 (view)
what a fantastic shot, and great job at the colours, most photograph these night shots and try to mess with this beautiful blue. And its from Utah, where i live, so you get cookie points for that, haha. Great job once again.
This really is a WOW! shot David. Without knocking the shot I wonder what it would score in todays dpc climate? I feel as if I want to be sitting in a deckchair within the image, relaxing and viewing the scenery. Dare I pic fault with a shot scoring 8.296? There seem to be quite a lot of white specs in the foreground? and is that really a red star? Even though you used some noise reduction software the sky still seems a little noisey to me.
The colours, composition and light are just awe inspiring :)
so great. I think these photos of mountains at night are very rare, and when I see these they all make my jaw hit the keyboard. It seems as if the majority of ambient light is coming from the left. Is that where the moon was ? if so, maybe you could of included it in your shot.
Hi David,
This isn't really stbrown3rd, this is his girlfriend, but I liked your photo. It brought back memories of my college years spent surveying the oilshale lands outside of Vernal Utah. Beautiful country. I like to think that maybe one of my survey markers is atop that Ridge. Great shot.
David - congratulations on both this shot and that score - it wasn't until I was browsing the highest rated shots page that I noticed it was both yours and had scored so very highly. Congrats again.
David, congratulations!!! I thought this was your shot when I saw it during the voting. I didn't get around to vote, but my score would have raised your score just a bit more :) (10 from me). I love the little red star in the middle.
Great shot David and I like the write up you produced with it..full of good tips even if I can only wonder at half of it at this stage in my learning process :-)
Intrigued with the red star..personally I think it is probably what is termed a "Red Giant" or may just be an abberation caused by the atmosphere.
Inspirational work, congrats.
Gordon
Wow thanks all! Your comments are so kind and helpful. I'm not sure what bizarre circumstances led to the high score, but thanks for the votes! I think I've taken better photos, but it's just strange how things turn out. I just keep learning lots here on DPC by looking at your photos, so thanks again!
To correct my notes above just a little, when I first had this image 'finished', I asked my daughter what she thought. She said, "Ooooooo, purple!" So While I did not shift colors, I did take some of the purple out. As for the 'hot pixel,' I just can't see it. I'm slightly colorblind! My wife will have to point it out to me.
As for freezing--that's very true. Each shot took 30 seconds to capture, then 30 seconds to process, then a few minutes between each shot to set it up again and change things. All in all, I was here for about 30 minutes and it was -3 degrees F with a slight breeze! You are looking at snow, by the way. The white in the image is snow on a small butte. Another interesting factoid: as I took this shot, a car drove by and its lights shone on the bottom portion of the butte--so it is just slightly brighter.
Congratulations to you and the voters for picking a winner. That’s not an easy task with the wealth of excellent photographers/artists in this community. The challenge has rekindled my passion of photography and inspired me to 'go through the wall' I was stuck behind.
Thanks to all !
Tim
David, also want to thank you for comment you made on my entry... "Go Gino! Interesting use of flash and a longer exposure. I like his facial expression!" I consider your comment much more astute and relevant than all the 1's & 2's I got in the voting !
Congratulations on your ribbon. As said before : this was my favourite in the challenge. By the way, the bright star you would like to move to the left, that is probably the planet Mars. I downloaded the program starrynight to find out what the bright star in my shot was, I guess it is the same in yours, although a few days later.
Note added later : I checked again with Starrynight.com, location Loga, Utah, 9-1-2004, around 21:00 hrs. Marbo is absolutely right, the star is Sirius, approx. in the southeast, Mars was more to southwest.
Missed this in the votes. Great shot indeed! Must say I am not a fan of the white inside of the border. But as far as the actual photography goes, sublime.
Congrats, again! I'm sure its not something you get sick of though. Well as a footnote to all of this, if you revisit the comment I left you, why don't we just pretend I didn't leave it because obviously, I am a complete idiot. Nice Job!
Outstanding David...I take back what i inferred in my first quote. I was pretty sure you added the blue afterwards. I'll have some ketchup to go with my words please. :)
Ahhh Mr Sidwell! I wish you'd quit making our back yard look so good! We're gonna be overrun with people expecting the state to look as good as your pix. AMAZING photo! Even if it DOES bring more photographers to try to emulate you!
Congratulations David. Your picture is very deserving of the top prize. It is my top favorite for this theme and my first DPChallenge favorite. And such a high average score too!
This shot reminds me of some great camping trips. There's nothing like the site of moonglow on the desert dunes. This is beautiful! I love how you were even able to capture the stars in the sky behind the dune. Well Done!
Simply a wonderful image whose colour will match its ribbon.
Well done an a really crisp, vibrant and mildly surreal looking shot. It\\\'s my absollute hands-down winner in this challenge and I'll favourite this when the challenge is over. A victorious [10]
wow. this is surreal. What wonderful blue color, what dramatic composition, I like the gradient in the sky, and the sharp stars. The texture of the sand/snow, and the dark tufts of grass. my fav. 10
Absolutely stunning. Love this photo, the colors are just awesome and it's still feels crystal clear. One thing I like the photo feels like it's part of a story, like there's something happening, going to happen, or has happened - gives a little suspense to it. Composition and exposure are excellent. Excellent low light picture.
if i may say... holy CRAP! what an amazing shot. beautiful blue and the lighting is awesome. It almost looks like a set. Northern hemisphere, looking north-northwest? cassiopea directly ahead, ursa major above and ursa minor in the top right?
A very solid image, well composed and a pleasure to look at. The blue tones work well together especially with the different colored stars in the sky. I see a slight magenta tinge on some parts of the hill which seem a little out of place (9)
Gorgeous shot. The stars are just amazing. It looks like a miniature landscape in some artificial world. Very beautiful, almost looks unreal. Love the bluish tones. Really nice photo.
I\'ll be choked if this doesn\'t score well. It\'s the best I\'ve seen after voting on more than half the images. the digital noise blends nicely with the stars :) The blue toning is a nice touch - not sure if it was PS or naturaly, but i like it.
P
Desert Moonlight
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