Very clean, yet warm and peaceful. First thing that crossed my mind was Star Wars! Anyway, I really like this one, it has enough space to let my mind wonder around.

Well, I can see why you want to aspire to those two pictrues....especially the second one...wow!

That said, you're not far short. I really like the science fiction look to yours..almost a Mars-scape if not for the posts in the sand. That would be the only composition critique I would give...but I like it.

:-

Dave -- please -- this is an awesome shot! The foreground is so beautiful -- perfect in every way -- I love the colors throughout the entire frame -- like another world -- outstanding, my friend!

I'm just heading out the door for a bit more work myself. It's a clear night here in Chicago -- but the fog will be rolling in before too long -- should make for some interesting shots -- I hope. The clouds moved in last night before I could get anything decent... Don't you just love that 20D?

Thanks for the links -- I appreciate it... Cheers.

Really really strange other world ly colours With the lack of interest in the sky could you have made more of the fore ground?. That line in the horizon is wierd!

Well... the shots from Notraces are... totally amazing. Thanks for the link! I don't know why I don't have it in my favourites... anyway...

The shot. I quite like this one. the color from the sand is just amazing (I wonder, is that the real color? Not being close to the sea, or a lake, or some big body of water, kind of reduces my knowledge about this), the glowing horizong... I thought at first that it might be a road where some car(s) passed... and well... the small but significant star-trails... amazing photo!

Bob: you're very kind, but your two shots are, IMHO, a cut above mine. What does everybody else think?

I thought this one was pretty good. It has a calm, zen-like quality. The star trails are cool. The colors are soothing. I'm real curious, how dark was it when you took this picture? Was it black out, or dusk, or fairly light at the end of the day? Well done. And yes, thanks for the link.

Interesting, I find both your work and Bob's amazing. What I see different is the style. Bob's shots are Bob's style and yours are VERY Chromasia.

Personally I find this shot absolutely stunning, as Bob said, the foreground is absolutely amazing!

If you want to see what lesser night shots look like look at this one... :-(

Dave, the most striking difference is Bob's use of depth to dimensionalize the landscape. In The Dreaming Tree it is achieved by juxtaposing the tree against the sky, while in Couldn't Stand the Weather it is the receding sky and ground features and, to some degree, the lens distortion. Perhaps if you'd had a higher vantage point, or allowed something to break the horizon line, or turned to either side, giving the water in the foreground somewhere to go into the frame... The blah sky--not your fault--doesn't help, but there's a lot that can be done to more fully engage the viewer.

A secondary consideration is the variation of tone. Bob's foregrounds are darker, which draws the eye up into the frame and "back" through the vista, and there is more contrast overall.

HTH
:)

eight minutes? It must have been very dark! But I love this image, I think it's very peaceful, really shows how smooth that 20d is.

as well as Bob's excellent night shots check out the archives at orbit1.

This is like some distant alien shore. The streaking stars and bright horizon are quite unique, not to mention the red landscape and natural sculptures of the sticks. Amazing photo.

So your sky is lacking a bit but the foreground more than makes up for it. The texture and lighting on it way cool. Totally an alien landscape if I ever seen one. Ok, I haven't really seen one but just like I would imagine

I love the colours in this photo, but overall what's most significant about the shot is the potential for a far stronger composition. The water, the textured sand, the wooden uprights and the rocks all make for some great foreground material. I think a composition which made more of these features and, conversely, somewhat less of the sky, would be more impactful.

I surely do like this one.!

You guys are something else. You're creating a whole new form of photography. Bob has totally inspired me and now that's all I want to do is night stuff. Your image is just amazing too! Keep 'em coming...

Falling short? I think you're selling yourself short. Yes, Bob is certainly the master of shots like this, but you're catching on... FAST. Awesome photo.

The color in this pic is just amazing ... if not for the star trails i would have never guess it was a night shot. Btw what do you mean by "cropped? minor distortion"

This is that part of England which remained under my eyelids, your photos keep on making its colors vivid.

I love the tones of the ground here, although I think it could have been more interesting with more clouds in the sky, but I guess you can't control it all. ;-)

Anyway, I love it.

I think this picture is taken on the moon ;) ... Magnificent!

Do you live in a fairy tale land or is this really earth? Or photoshop? ;)

Art: yes, it was black. Actually, I underexposed this shot. My usual way of calculating exposure is to shoot a test shot at 30s/max' aperture and work out the final exposure from the histogram. In this case I reckoned that at f/4 I needed a one minute exposure - hence eight minutes at f/8. What I hadn't reckoned on was the moon disappearing behind the clouds for most of the exposure. The end result was a shot that was probably one to one and a half stops underexposed – later corrected with Levels and Curves.

Jerome: couldn't have put it better myself ;-)

miles: I'm a great fan of John's work too.

Andrew: by 'minor distortion' I mean that I corrected the horizon by distorting the image rather than rotating it – it was one degree out.

Mathieu: this is 'as shot' other than a Levels and Curves adjustment.

ah you went to mars. sweet!

Let me be clear about this. I absolutely love this shot. Perhaps you can think of ways it might have been better, but I'm not as interested in that as I am in what you managed to create here.

I am blown away with the colors and textures here. I've never said this before - never FELT this way before - but I really want to touch that sand. I want to taste it.

I can feel the contrast between the smooth sky and the glazed(?!) sand.

I wish I knew how to do this with my digital camera.

Thanks everyone :-)

Dave, I noticed you said you underexposed this shot. A bit of a nitpick but if you have 60s at f/4 then you have 120s at f/5.6 and hence 240s at f/8 -- not 480s :) :) Maybe if I messed up my exposures by doing wrong maths -- at least I *hope* I'm right here -- then maybe I can get a good night shot too :)

george: you're quite right. What I meant to say was that I reckoned I needed two minutes at f/4, hence eight minutes, but because the cloud obscured the moon for more of the exposure than I expected it was probably nearer four minutes at f/4.

Game of colors in this very one is very atractive, as well the contrast between water and sand. I really liked it!!

take me there.

Wow, the lighting and colors are amazing!

Wonderful shot!

like an alien planet! looks very good!

what's a air on sky?

i am from peru, your pics really captivated me, they are really nice, the light and the focus were the neccesary, congratulations.

valerybazan@hotmail.com