Please critique my work- Looking for help/suggestions

[klarocca]

Hey guys. Long time lurker, first post!

I took this shot on my 5d3 with 24-105 f/4 L. I am by no means an accomplished photographer, and was hoping you guys could view this image and give me some thoughts suggestions.

So how do you think I could make this photo better? Id love if you could tell me what needs to be improves, or whats good (if anything..)

Settings:
(I did some post-processing, increasing exposure, wb, etc)

Bulb mode- Exposure 194 seconds
f/22
Iso 100
AF- Auto, all 61 points

Thank you in advance!

 

[klarocca]

Anybody? I particularly unhappy about the noise.. Can anyone tell me why this is?

 

[nightbreath]

Hi klarocca,

I'm not sure noise is something you should be bothered about. The main thing for me in photography is content and the way you show it.

I wouldn't place a very bright object with much less bright objects in the same shot (moon and stars in your case), and the tree in the left bottom corner might have been cropped in a more pleasing way, like this:

 

[nightbreath]

And you don't need long exposures to make a photo like this, there's an application that combines several shots into one to get the same result, but without long exposure noise:

 

[klarocca]

Ok cool. I'm aware about multiple exposures.. So am I to understand that long exposures translate to noise? And if I do shorter exposures (raw) I can just up the exposure in post processing, correct? Is there a down-side to this? (as opposed to gathering more light in the shot).
Thanks!

 

[elflord]

Hey guys. Long time lurker, first post!

I took this shot on my 5d3 with 24-105 f/4 L. I am by no means an accomplished photographer, and was hoping you guys could view this image and give me some thoughts suggestions.

So how do you think I could make this photo better? Id love if you could tell me what needs to be improves, or whats good (if anything..)

Settings:
(I did some post-processing, increasing exposure, wb, etc)

Bulb mode- Exposure 194 seconds
f/22
Iso 100
AF- Auto, all 61 points

Thank you in advance!

Composition is a bit odd -- you've got a centered composition instead of a more conventional approach which would put the moon further to the right. It might work better if you had something on the right to act as an anchor.

About shorter exposures -- yes you can do this but at some point the sensor will clip the shadows.

 

[bhavikk]

I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve here. A moon shot or star trails, or both?

Just the moon - I've done it using a 70-200mm @ 200 F8.0 and ISO 100 then just cropped it to get a "big moon".

Star trails - Best when its new moon (no moon). Either using 1 big long exposure or by stacking lots of 30 second exposures.

For getting both in 1 picture - Just stack the moon photo into the star trails.

Hope this helps.

 

[K-amps]

So how do you think I could make this photo better? Id love if you could tell me what needs to be improves, or whats good (if anything..)

By enrolling in some photography classes.

The guy is probably a hobbyist.... probably looking for some simple (and free) advice to set him on the right track.

I'd say the moon is too centered. I didnt think you'd get that much flare from the moon but hey I always learn new things myself. Good shots of the moon are usually composites of 2 or more shots at different exposures if you want to get detail both in foreground and background. In this exposure you got some background but burnt out the moon. So it depends on the effect you want.

 

[klarocca]

I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve here. A moon shot or star trails, or both?

Just the moon - I've done it using a 70-200mm @ 200 F8.0 and ISO 100 then just cropped it to get a "big moon".

Star trails - Best when its new moon (no moon). Either using 1 big long exposure or by stacking lots of 30 second exposures.

For getting both in 1 picture - Just stack the moon photo into the star trails.

Hope this helps.

Thanks that does help. In terms of what I was going for, I kind of liked te spooky looking branches in the corner with the moon in the background. The star trails were an unintentional extra

 

[klarocca]

So how do you think I could make this photo better? Id love if you could tell me what needs to be improves, or whats good (if anything..)

By enrolling in some photography classes.

Oh, and thanks for adding such an adequate lack of insight to my question. I am just an amateur photographer looking for some advice. Isn't that what people do on photography forums? Thank you nonetheless.

 

[klarocca]

So how do you think I could make this photo better? Id love if you could tell me what needs to be improves, or whats good (if anything..)

By enrolling in some photography classes.

Oh, and thanks for adding such an adequate lack of insight to my question. I am just an amateur photographer looking for some advice. Isn't that what people do on photography forums? Thank you nonetheless.

But how good are those that are critiquing your work?

It is often said that you get what you pay for.
You're coming here looking for free advice, just how useful do you expect it to be?

Do some weekend classes and you'll be better than most others here instantaneously.

I do understand where you are coming from, but I think you're underselling the people here. I've seen some pretty rad photography on these forums. I guess I'm just looking at a place to start.

 

[Kernuak]

If you were trying to get a spooky effect, then it doesn't really work. The moon is overexposed, it really needs to be exposed so that you can see teh detail, for that sort of effect or it needs to imply, by the effect of moonrays through a woodland canopy. To get the effect you were trying for here, I think you would really need to blend two shots, one with a tree silhouette and one with the moon, with detail. Also, try reading about some of the rules of composition, the most important one is probably the rule of thirds. While rules don't have to be (and in fact shouldn't be) followed religously, it is important that you know the most imortant ones, so that you can follow them when needed or experimnt with breaking them.

 

[RLPhoto]

you shot @ F/22. This will guarantee a soft photo. I'd recommend an larger aperture that doesnt have as much diffraction and use an ND filter to lower the light coming In.