Well done Jason. Terrific image.

Hi George,

Thanks a lot!

This was taken in the Ghost town of Malaga, New Mexico.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=malaga,+nm

I just returned from a three week trip through New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Texas where I did quite a lot of night photography, particularly in the ghost towns along the way. I planned the trip according to the moon phases to have the best light possible, leaving after the waxing crescent and returning after the waning gibbous! This was taken at about 22:15, three days before the full moon earlier this month.

Jason...congratulations. This is moonlight? Was it taken with a digital camera? If so, did you use a dark frame for noise reduction? Trying to learn, here, as I don't yet have my own digital slr.

King,

Yes it's moonlight. And yes it was taken with a DSLR.

As I said in my response to George above, this was taken a few days before the full moon, so there was plenty of ambient light to shoot by. This was shot at 200 ISO, so noise is not really a problem. I actually do the majority of my night shots at 100-200 ISO, during the week before and the week after the full moon. You would be surprised how much light the moon puts out. I don't even carry a flashlight anymore, as I've grown so accustomed to seeing and setting my camera in the low light.

BTW, this is a 46 second exposure.

During times when the moon is not so ripe, I'll bump the ISO to maybe 400 (at the highest), but never more due to the noise problem. Exposures then come closer to five or ten minutes or longer.

Hope that answers your questions. =)

P.S. For what it's worth... I meant to submit this, slightly cropped version:

http://www.seekingfocus.com/WS/20070301_0710_Crop.jpg

The change is minimal, but I think it's just enough to strengthen the composition slightly.

Any opinions?

Jason,

I think that the cropped version is superior (due, of course, to the cropping).

Thanks for the technical explanation--very informative and interesting.

I'm not crazy about the position of the old tire, center foreground, and my hunch is that you aren't either. Did you consider dragging it over to one side? or is that against your personal artistic ethos?

Heh, yeah King you're right. I would probably never change something in a scene stumbled upon like this. .. the beer bottle, the trash on the ground, the tire... all seem to be important complementing elements of the entire scene that I found. Moving something seems to break the energy or mystique of each of them. It's hard to explain I guess, but being out in the moonlight in a deserted town in the middle of the desert it becomes a bit more clear. =) It just seems when you start moving something around the scene takes on too much of a freshness to see it correctly. You become caught up in what you want to see and not what you are seeing. (Maybe that makes a bit of sense).

I did try to shoot it from a different angle so the tire was a bit off center, though I liked this angle to get two sides of the house and also accentuating the slouch in the (broken) roof.

Jason,
I understand. Try working with art directors sometime. Just for conversation, would you consider moving the tire a bit in Photoshop?

Great shot. So well executed.

King,

I figured your question stemmed from your background in commercial photography... that's a whole different animal.

I doubt I'm competent enough to do a good job moving the tire in Photoshop, but I'll give it a go just for kicks. (Just for you, King) =)

Okay, here's what I came up with:

http://www.seekingfocus.com/WS/20070301_0710_edit.jpg

Just a quick chop job, I didn't worry and with shading and blending really (I don't know much about this sort of thing). Anyway, I tried moving it over to the left of the frame, but then I felt the center of the foreground was too empty. So this seemed the best option (more or less).

I'm curious, where would you have put it?

Oh, and thanks for the exercise. =)

@EVERYONE

Thanks for all the positive comments, and the feature! It's been a while, nice to be back as WS!

Jason,
In order of importance:
1. Congratulations!

2. Tire move. I think moving it even a little bit helps. I agree that the tire, if you move it at all, should be moved to the right, as you did. I would probably move it a bit further to the right (about 60 pixels) and deeper into the frame (about 40 pixels). Then I'd look at it and think about it--the same way you do--and decide whether I like it like that. :>)

Wow, I can't believe I missed all of this up to now. What could I have been doing, sleeping, working? Anyways, great image Jason. I would have rated it high had I been here in time.

I think your photoshop move of the tire is fine. I'm not sure why you're doubting your abilities there. If I hadn't known you were doing this exercise I would have never been able to tell you moved it.

Congratulations on the well deserved feature.

@King,

I tried it a few ways, but I didn't want it to be a straight line between the beer bottle and the large white rock to the left of the tire. It seemed to even and contrived. This was the only way I could find to stagger all the various elements in the frame. Of course, one could also move the aforementioned elements as well, but I guess I might as well start looking for a new scene to shoot...

@kadenajack

Thanks for the compliments. I typically do not engage in this sort of editing of my images, so I am not very well practiced in performing such manipulations. This ended up being much easier than I had anticipated in the end, as the rocks cloned quite easily with the spot healing brush after a few tries...

Thanks again for all the comments and dialogue!

Jason, you said xxx days ago, "I do all film work really..."

http://www.weeklyshot.org/theme/curves/response/122/

So when did you start shooting with a DSLR? What are you using?

King,

Within the last two months. =)

I still do shoot more than 50% of my work on film (BW). I use digital primarily for night shots, as it seems far superior for that type of work. Also, I have to say, I'm impressed with the color correction possibilities, as that is typically one of my biggest disappointments when working with color film. (Though I've recently discovered Portra films, which I'm loving!)

It's a friend's camera, a Canon 5D (*blushes*). I am lucky enough to be able to borrow this beautiful machine for (basically) as long as I wish. I'm really quite torn about it's assets though, and it's quite a huge jump into the digital world. Sitting at a computer "processing" files is really quite a drag for me, whereas I'll stay in the wet darkroom for hours on end and never want to leave. Other things like film grain, toning, etc., I feel can never be replaced digitally. But I figure since I have the chance, why not give it a run and see where digital photography takes me...

I'm in the process of getting some BIG enlargements made of some of the images I've captured over the last few weeks (before and during my recent trip). I think that will help me form a firmer stance on the whole digital thing...

SeekingFocus,
You know I admire your experience and skill in handing film of all types. As for me, been there, done that. I *love* digital. However, I wish there were a way to capture the subtleties of film grain in a scanned image. Digital will get there, I'm sure.

Tell us more about you "reciprocity failure" project.

No need to blush about the Canon 5D...it will be obsolete soon enough.

Thanks King

"No need to blush about the Canon 5D...it will be obsolete soon enough."

So True.

And, not so much to tell as of yet about the project. Still in the conceptual phase, though I've registered the domain. I just love the general principle of reciprocity (in all manners of life, including photography), and reciprocity failure is something especially prevalent in night photography, which I love. So, Reciprocity Images seemed to be an appropriate name for my first jab into the (semi)professional photography world.

I've also thought of beginning a website called reciprocityfailure (though that domain is currently taken) aimed specifically at night photography, with user submitted images and resources. Unfortunately, I have not the time or technical skill necessary for such a project... Brandon, you listening? =)

The first image I submit to "ReciprocityFailure.Org" will be almost solid black, very grainy and with a magenta-green cast in the lightest areas.

Of course, one can experience reciprocity failure with very brief exposures as well. It's a rocky road, shooting film with very long or very short exposures.

Good night, all.

King, it will go straight to the front page!

g'night.