I was in the mountains of North Carolina over the weekend. The only clear day we had was the first day we got there. I've learned over the years to shoot when conditions are good because you might not get another chance. I'm glad I went ahead and shot when we arrived because that was the case this weekend. This is the view from the house we stayed at in Beech Mountain North Carolina.
This is a composite image of 5 photos over a period of about 2 hours. I used a golden hour base layer, then one photo for the sun burst, one for better sunset colors, and 2 for the lights and clouds/colors from more of a blue hour.
I'm torn on keeping the lights or not. I'll probably end up doing another version with out the lights.
"I'm torn on keeping the lights or not. I'll probably end up doing another version with out the lights"
Nice job.
I'd like to see it without the Sun, because I love blue hour with long exposure and less HDR. But, that's just an opinion.
Without seeing the source images, it is difficult to know what is possible. It seems to me that the sun is wrong somehow and could be dealt with more subtly. And, at the risk of the pot calling the kettle black, I would tone down the saturation a little. I'm fine with the buildings' lights.
Yeah, I was also torn leaving the sun in or taking it out. I'll probably end up removing the sunburst.
A revised version of the blue hour photo w/o the sunburst and more of a sunset version with the sunburst. Not sure which one I like best. I think I also like the first one, but I seem to be in the minority.
Sun in the first and Sky in the second for me. But you're not me, so whichever you like is the correct answer.
That's a hard choice because I do love the little lights scattered on the mountainsides. They are a secondary interest after that initial sunburst. Maybe tone down the sunburst just a bit as it steals the show and is heavy on the right. This is a gorgeous view!
Thanks Jennifer. That seems to be the consensus. I like the blue hour shot with and without the sun. It probably does look better without it. The only problem with trying to tone down the sunburst is the trees start to show through it which looked weird to me.