Garrapata - Sunset, Blue Hour and Moonlit Seascapes
Stumblebum
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Garrapata is part of 90 mile stretch of Cabrillo Hwy1 in California!
Had gone their with Kdog to try and capture full moon but it came out on our back side and had to wait for it to pop over the hills and that was at mid-night. We took off right after taking few shots. Got shots of sunset and blue-hour while waiting on moon.
Tried few things that I have not tried before, so will appreciate feedback on flaws and processing issues. Below are my attempts:
1) Golden hour
2) Sunset
3) Blue hour begins
4) Blue hour
5) Moon pops over Bixby bridge
6) Moon lit shoreline with cars passing on highway
7) Raining star light
Had gone their with Kdog to try and capture full moon but it came out on our back side and had to wait for it to pop over the hills and that was at mid-night. We took off right after taking few shots. Got shots of sunset and blue-hour while waiting on moon.
Tried few things that I have not tried before, so will appreciate feedback on flaws and processing issues. Below are my attempts:
1) Golden hour
2) Sunset
3) Blue hour begins
4) Blue hour
5) Moon pops over Bixby bridge
6) Moon lit shoreline with cars passing on highway
7) Raining star light
0
Comments
I think 2 and 5 might be better if the sun and moon weren't so blown out. I don't know of any way to do that except by bracketing and combining images.
Really fine.
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Thanks Don! Your feedback has really helped me and has been a huge asset! I didn't think about depth when composing 4th (I will next time and that is why I value your comments so much). I was only thinking about getting close enough to not chop of the rock on right but get the water for lower edges to fill it up. Couldn't creep up closer to protect the setup and was rushing...
The sun and moon, I put all I know in preventing them from appearing blown out, even though LR says they are not, but I can feel and see that they have lost all detail. Had same conversation with kdog and yes, blending and merging will be the next level up for me. Of-course I have to first figure out how it is done and then try and do it. For now trying to master single exposures. In that regard I underexposed overall image, used gradient filter at time of taking the shot, then post-processed it with soft-ware gradient filter.
I think for Sun and Moon, by current thoughts are to not only take multiple shots and blend but also underexpose them on purpose because even if you got them right (what you saw with naked eye), they leave the sensation of being blown out. What we see with naked eye is one thing but in terms of picture, expectations are different.
Thanks again! Cheers!
The moon is brighter than we think. If it's in the frame, I usually keep adjusting the exposure until I get detail in the moon, and then adjust for everything else. Vague, I know. The sun has no useful detail and is usually blown out to some degree. Marc Muench has a chapter in photographing scenes with the moon in them in his most recent book, and it's very good.
Gallery: http://cornflakeaz.smugmug.com/
Was overly ambitious with this moon shot and lost details....it is 105 second exposure.....did light painting as well as collected 7-8 car trails.....so moon had no chance and kind of expected it....but will try to get details next time! You are *always* helpful! Cheers!
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Thanks!
Cheers, Richard.
14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
85 and 50 1.4
45 PC and sb910 x2
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The only way you can cut the DR range of the sun at that time is with a linear gradient neutral density filter which helps retain foreground detail
The sun itself has no detail, but the moon has - past the atmospheric interference.
But the atmospheric interference can give you some neat colors of the moon.
The bridge shot is great
Nice work
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Thanks Daniel! As mentioned before, your teachings at work! Cheers!
Thank Rags! I used the linear gradient ND filter, sun just was not in the mood for co-operation. Usually when that low, it kind of mellows out, but it was still pretty harsh. Will try blending, when I know how to do it! Cheers!
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#1 foreground is brilliant. I might lower the blue luminance a tad to
pull up the tones in the sky and sea, but that's just subjective.
2, 3 and 5 just KILL! Wow. Very nice.
I might pull out some texture in the rock on the black and white. It's a
nice asset and it might be interesting to see if it's texture further guides
the eyes to the star "showers". Just a thought.
Beautiful set.
Thank you! That is a great suggestion! In b&w shot, the rock is supposed to make the shot but it is not popping out! Much appreciate the feedback!