Opinion wanted Moonlit oil well

[oscar118]

Location

South America

Camera type

DSLR camera

Camera sensor

APS-C (Crop)

An active oil well in northern Patagonia at night

 

[Andy Smith]

Nice concept here oscar118, although I believe the composition would have been nicer if you had shot it at an angle with the fence running all the way across the image instead of finishing just before the right hand edge. This catches my eye because of the white light behind it and I think having the fence run all the ay across would have balanced the image better. The stars are trailing slightly also, so a slightly shorter shutter speed may have solved that.
I love the movement in the machinery but would have cloned out the stars that appear in front of it.
Nicely done though and wonderful idea.

 

[Chavezshutter]

Very ambitious...I love it for the attempt. This is a very difficult shot to do well, specially in a single photo. I follow an Aussie astro photographer called Richard Tatti (nightscape images on youtube and IG) and he drives around rural Victoria looking for farm equipment, sheds, windmills and old cars to use as foreground which he then lightpaints after taking star shots to compose into a shot. His work minus the lightpainting reminded me of your photo. Movement in the foreground is generally avoided as its very difficult to align frames later to compose. But I do like that you want to capture the movement, it is for sure a component of the scene worthwhile capturing I think. It may take more than one try to get it to look its best but keep at it. I spent months before I got a good lightpainted star trail photo myself. Light painting might not suit everyone's taste but I mentioned it as the photo's style reminded me of the technique. I would still consider at least a 2 shots composite, one for the stars and another for the moving well, but thats up to you. Nice work 👍

 

[oscar118]

Thanks for the suggestions! , I actually did a light painted version (from the opposite side to avoid the moon) and a cropped b/w one, I just liked this one better.

 

[Andy Smith]

The B&W is nice, and the fence running all the way across the bottom adds to the composition, it looks better in my opinion than the first image you posted.