Processing Advise

[hookup]

Hello all.  First time posting.  Newbie to the forums.  Please go easy.

I'm looking for some advise on processing work that i did to the photo below.  The first is the "unprocessed" raw image (imported to LR and exported to JPG).  The second is my processed (hacked) version.  I'm most concerned about the large amounts of "white" in the lower third of the star-field, it just makes that part of the image look muddy...

Unprocessed


Processed


Thank you for any help and advise.

[sniper]

I cant see the images.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

To post images from your hard drive, you should click on the "Attachments and other options" first, then "Attach," "Choose File."

[hookup]

Thanks!  Sorry, i pushed publish and walked away from the computer.   They are now attached....

[luxborealis]

The sky appears quite lively and appropriately colour-balanced in your processed version. However, I find the dark "halos" around the cattail head unsatisfactory processing artifacts.

[hookup]

The sky appears quite lively and appropriately colour-balanced in your processed version. However, I find the dark "halos" around the cattail head unsatisfactory processing artifacts.

Love that feedback... thank you!  I never even looked at that area of the photo.  Now I cannot stop seeing the issue!!!  I'll have to be much more observant when I process photos...   

[sniper]

Apart from whats already been said I really like it, the low viewpoint works for me.

[hookup]

Old and New below.  Thx again for the tips... I'm happy with the results for an older camera (Canon 20D)... still, seems a touch blurry, but could be the 20second exposure doing mini-star trails.

I also figure, after some more reading, that the light in the lower 3rd of the shot is actually from a small town about 20km in that direction.... i thought I was out far-enough from light sources, but it seems to get truly dark skies you need to be much more remote than that.

[Ray R]

I would agree on both counts. The area at the bottom does appear to be light pollution. There are light pollution filters available from astronomik that clip into a Canon. Both full frame and crop. (I have no connection with the company). This will only remove the colour cast and not the bright area.

As for the blur, there is trailing caused by the 20 second exposure, but from what I can see I would say that the lens is not focused exactly on the stars.

It is no good relying on the markings on the lens to ascertain infinity, as this can be off by some amount, and don't make the mistake that turning the lens past the infinity mark works because this is often worse.
This may help
http://leyetscapes.com/edu/infinity-focus.html

Ray

[Peano]

I think most of the brightness at the bottom that you don't like could be eliminated in processing the raw. I started with the downsized jpeg of the raw. Your conversion is on the left, mine on the right.