Stars over Blanco River + (accidental light painting)

[CherylL]

I like the 2nd one with the lights.

 

[Destin]

With the car lights, for sure. I've had this same thing happen a few times when shooting the night sky before and it almost always adds to the image.

As far as editing, you look like you're off to a good start! One thing that I'm personally not a big fan of in night sky photos is a strong vignette, so if I were editing these I think I'd be inclined to try and remove the strong light falloff in the corners, but that's absolutely just personal preference, so take it with a grain of salt.

One thing that I find really helpful when editing Milky Way photos is to use a very soft brush and brush selective adjustments onto the Milky Way itself to make it really pop from the night sky. Usually I'll brush on a little additional brightness in the whites, a little clarity, maybe even bump up the exposure selectively in that region just a touch or even add a little warmth to separate it from the cool night sky. Some people also like to selectively adjust the tint to make the Milky Way core take on a purple hue, but that's not something I've generally liked on my images.

 

[paigew]

With the car lights, for sure. I've had this same thing happen a few times when shooting the night sky before and it almost always adds to the image.

As far as editing, you look like you're off to a good start! One thing that I'm personally not a big fan of in night sky photos is a strong vignette, so if I were editing these I think I'd be inclined to try and remove the strong light falloff in the corners, but that's absolutely just personal preference, so take it with a grain of salt.

One thing that I find really helpful when editing Milky Way photos is to use a very soft brush and brush selective adjustments onto the Milky Way itself to make it really pop from the night sky. Usually I'll brush on a little additional brightness in the whites, a little clarity, maybe even bump up the exposure selectively in that region just a touch or even add a little warmth to separate it from the cool night sky. Some people also like to selectively adjust the tint to make the Milky Way core take on a purple hue, but that's not something I've generally liked on my images.

Thank you for the advice!! I didn't add a vignette, and I had already done a bit of lens adjustments but I went ahead and cranked the profile adjustment way up to counteract the darkness. Does it look fake? Also I don't know why I never tried to brush edit the milky way but that's a great idea, thanks so much for that tip! I just played with these shots for about 5 minutes, I'm not sure how I feel but I do like them better than before. What do you think...is it too much clarity? I feel like it looks weirdly blotchy and a little unnatural......

 

[Destin]

With the car lights, for sure. I've had this same thing happen a few times when shooting the night sky before and it almost always adds to the image.

As far as editing, you look like you're off to a good start! One thing that I'm personally not a big fan of in night sky photos is a strong vignette, so if I were editing these I think I'd be inclined to try and remove the strong light falloff in the corners, but that's absolutely just personal preference, so take it with a grain of salt.

One thing that I find really helpful when editing Milky Way photos is to use a very soft brush and brush selective adjustments onto the Milky Way itself to make it really pop from the night sky. Usually I'll brush on a little additional brightness in the whites, a little clarity, maybe even bump up the exposure selectively in that region just a touch or even add a little warmth to separate it from the cool night sky. Some people also like to selectively adjust the tint to make the Milky Way core take on a purple hue, but that's not something I've generally liked on my images.

Thank you for the advice!! I didn't add a vignette, and I had already done a bit of lens adjustments but I went ahead and cranked the profile adjustment way up to counteract the darkness. Does it look fake? Also I don't know why I never tried to brush edit the milky way but that's a great idea, thanks so much for that tip! I just played with these shots for about 5 minutes, I'm not sure how I feel but I do like them better than before. What do you think...is it too much clarity? I feel like it looks weirdly blotchy and a little unnatural......View attachment 204223

View attachment 204225

I think that the first shot of just the sky looks great! The second one might be just a little overdone for my personal taste. Maybe tone back the clarity (or maybe saturation, vibrance, or texture?) to reel it in a bit?

I generally have to edit my Astro work a few times before I settle on a happy medium, and then I wait a few days before sharing to make sure I like my edit.

 

[paigew]

With the car lights, for sure. I've had this same thing happen a few times when shooting the night sky before and it almost always adds to the image.

As far as editing, you look like you're off to a good start! One thing that I'm personally not a big fan of in night sky photos is a strong vignette, so if I were editing these I think I'd be inclined to try and remove the strong light falloff in the corners, but that's absolutely just personal preference, so take it with a grain of salt.

One thing that I find really helpful when editing Milky Way photos is to use a very soft brush and brush selective adjustments onto the Milky Way itself to make it really pop from the night sky. Usually I'll brush on a little additional brightness in the whites, a little clarity, maybe even bump up the exposure selectively in that region just a touch or even add a little warmth to separate it from the cool night sky. Some people also like to selectively adjust the tint to make the Milky Way core take on a purple hue, but that's not something I've generally liked on my images.

Thank you for the advice!! I didn't add a vignette, and I had already done a bit of lens adjustments but I went ahead and cranked the profile adjustment way up to counteract the darkness. Does it look fake? Also I don't know why I never tried to brush edit the milky way but that's a great idea, thanks so much for that tip! I just played with these shots for about 5 minutes, I'm not sure how I feel but I do like them better than before. What do you think...is it too much clarity? I feel like it looks weirdly blotchy and a little unnatural......View attachment 204223

View attachment 204225

I think that the first shot of just the sky looks great! The second one might be just a little overdone for my personal taste. Maybe tone back the clarity (or maybe saturation, vibrance, or texture?) to reel it in a bit?

I generally have to edit my Astro work a few times before I settle on a happy medium, and then I wait a few days before sharing to make sure I like my edit.

[emoji1787] yes because I'm looking at these now on my phone like [emoji15][emoji15][emoji15] what was I thinking? The milky way looks almost desaturated?! Maybe too much warmth did that. I need to play around, but thanks for the tips.

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