I am so proud of this picture...

[mostlysunny]

I took other pictures that night.. Here are some that look like night...

 

[mostlysunny]

Or does this one look more like night.. I went outside to try again tonight.. Epic FAIL!

 

[funwitha7d]

First I think its important you like the image and you clearly do and are prod of it so good. In terms of feedback, essentially a lovely scene, you were there and are excited about it, so take more and continue to enjoy. I would have cropped a lot of the sand due to the distraction of this esp with the footprints. So play with cropping if you are interested to see if you like the result more and next time you could apply some changes to composition if that is what you want to do.

 

[Compaq]

I agree with tirediron. I find many of my own images to lack "a subject". However, I do not think this necessarily degrades the image. When I encounter some type of spectacular light when out hiking or strolling in the woods, I do not need a subject to enjoy the scene; I take in the entire thing.

Still, it is important to compose the image properly. You could for example have cropped away some of the empty sky, which does not add anything of importance to your photograph. The image can sometimes be compared to a machine: all necessary parts should be included, and all unnecessary parts excluded. Or, if you prefer, the photographer could be compared to a reverse painter: A painter includes just what is necessary, while a photographer tries to exclude everything unnecessary.

I think the scenery is nice, but the lighting is quite dull. The lighting truly can make an image pop and come alive, and your image seems quite lifeless. Try to come back during a nice sunset, sunrise, or some other time when the lighting might be more interesting.

This is all just my opinion, of course.

 

[MikeFlorendo]

I do a lot of night photography and it's more difficult in the technical aspect. If you over expose or under expose you loose a lot of detail and it's harder to get it correct in post. I think your off to great start. Subject wise it's OK but my personal opinion is that it needs to be cooler and look more like night. If the star trails were more clear it may look more like night. The only way we know it's night is the lights from the far away city but that is such a small portion of the photo. A higher iso with a larger aperture may have picked up those stars better. As for exposure here is a nifty chart. (See attached) this will allow you to take a high iso picture to test for exposure and comp and then convert it to a lower iso. This way you don't waste 4 minutes a shot figuring things out. I hope you don't mind I did a little edit on your photo. Gives it more of a night feel.

Stars help out a lot here is mine.