Martin,

fantastic shot (as usual). I had something with star trails in mind as one of the options.
Would you tell us more about how it was shot, please?
First thing: For star trails you need long exposure times. I haven't used bulb mode, yet. Is it just a matter of having a cable release hooked up to the camera? Did you do a dark frame subtraction (i.e. waiting another 20 minutes before you could take the next shot)?
1066 seconds at 5.6 and ISO100, it must be very dark for that I guess. And how did you know that 1066 seconds was the right time?

Now the truth is out: I'm a noob at long exposure night shots.

So would you enlighten me? (or should the appropriate term in this case be 'endarken me'?)

Prieni

Keep cool, something will come. I have a fallback option but would like to find something more interesting (to me, at least).

It certainly is easy to take photos at night. It gets more complicated when you want something discernible in the shot.

And sometimes it needs a lot of processing to make a shot. One example:
Going from this
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/IMGP8390orig.jpg[/IMG]

to this
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/IMGP8390b.jpg[/IMG]

took a bit of work.

So don't despair, the entries will come, I'm sure.
Prieni

My condolences Don and Terry,

it's a part of life and not the best one. But we have to accept it.

Prieni

It's a bug

Trust me, I'm a doctor.... of physics so not much help here, I'm afraid.

Prieni

jackitec,

I like your version. You have gone the other way, I did increase noise by emphasizing the textures.
But the silky smooth look in your version has something going for it.
There is a bit too much blur in the further away pebbles (on the right, in the middle, on the left, but not in between...). I especially like the pebbles in the lower left corner.
I don't like the loss of the blue sky, though.

Prieni

I'm German. Need I say more?

The boosting of the colours comes from working with darkening of some parts, using layer mode 'soft light'. The contrast boost most likely comes from an S-curve.
It's so easy to go over the top as once you have boosted and you go back to the old version then the old version looks blunt.
The only thing that helps in this case is to lower the contrast and then go back to the original...

I have noticed that I've come to imagine what a scene that I see through the camera will look like after post processing. Something like "when I lighten this bit up and darken here a bit then it will be well balanced".

Prieni

Good strength, Don!

Prieni

Instead of trying a different crop I tried to change the dark/light balance a bit and emphasize the texture of the pebbles a bit.
It may be a bit over the top but I thought this pic was asking for it...
And as you are not shy of extreme pics, here's my try:
[IMG]http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t5/Prieni/ogmorePMPSb.jpg[/IMG]

Prieni

Not too shabby a view, Andrew.

Great shots!

Prieni

Tel, I feel with you. In my case it took two weeks and one day for the camera to return. So hopefully it should be back with you in the coming week. Looking at the difference it made I would have gladly waited another two weeks (but that is easily said...).

Prieni