Milky Way Over the T.A. Moulton Barn - Grand Teton NP

[HannahsDad]

We recently returned from a 5 week trip that eventually led us to Grand Teton NP. I shot this barn last year, but was not happy with the results. Mainly because I was inexperienced in this type of photography AND the moon was still up, illuminating the barn from a perspective that just did not look real. This time, I managed my days and times better. I will say this. This getting up early (or not going to bed at all) to get shots from 2:00 AM to 3:30 AM is getting harder and harder to do! The pull to go to bed almost won out over driving an hour to get into position to take the shot.

This is the Thomas Alma (T.A.) Moulton barn, built sometime between 1912 to 1945, according to the NPS. It is not quite as famous as the John Moulton barn, which is east of this barn, right next to Antelope Flats Road. I hope you enjoy the photo. This is a very quick workup to place in my father's assisted living room. I still have more work to do on it. Thanks for looking.

 

[DavidWatts]

Excellent so far! Could you update this thread with any changes in post at your convenience?

 

[HannahsDad]

Excellent so far! Could you update this thread with any changes in post at your convenience?

I sure will. Not sure when I will get around to processing my shots from this trip. I also collect and restore post-war (1945-1955+) Lionel locomotives and rolling stock. I have a massive backlog of work to do there too. With regard to the image, I plan to essentially start fresh. I am not terribly please with the sharpness of the shingles on the roof. I also want to try to do something with the rocks and stuff in the foreground, preferably without cropping. If I crop, then I lose the trees in the image on the left side. I want to do something with the really brown scrub brush in the front of the image. Finally, I want to work on the shot I took of the Milky Way at the same time. It looks good, but could be improved with some editing and some highlighting of the Galactic Center. So, basically, redo the entire image, all the while I am working on my trains, my honey do list AND remodel two bathrooms in the upstairs portion of the house. I would not look to see anything new to this image for sometime!

 

[DavidWatts]

I can understand backlog. I have photos from 2018 I want to re-edit. Some day. So for your image above, that big half tree on the left is kinda distracting because it is a half tree and also competes with the main subject, the barn and sky. Just my opinion, for what it is worth.

 

[HannahsDad]

I can understand backlog. I have photos from 2018 I want to re-edit. Some day. So for your image above, that big half tree on the left is kinda distracting because it is a half tree and also competes with the main subject, the barn and sky. Just my opinion, for what it is worth.

Yeah, I saw that. Hadn't decided where to make that crop, yet. Kinda wish I had gotten more of that line of trees in the image, but it was pitch black and to be honest, I wasn't totally positive of how much of that line of trees was in. There is another building in that direction (a B&B, I think) that often has lights on, and I was trying to keep it out of the image. May have gone too far to the right.

But, this edit was for my 84 year old father who recently went into long term memory care. He has advanced dementia, but absolutely loves my photography, especially the milky way ones. So, when I found out I would be able to visit him yesterday for the first time in two months, I jumped on it and got the shot to this point. Printed it on my Epson P9000 and mounted it. He loved it and kept trying to find the right spot in his room where the light hits it to show off the Milky Way. That was good enough for me and meant a lot.

Scott
Allen, TX

 

[AS_Photo]

If this is a single shot, you may want to try two, as the stars seem out of focus. It also appears that the shutter speed was too long as the stars have moved, beginning to create trails rather than points, which also doesn't help with the appearance of being in focus. For stars you are going to want to focus more towards infinity, and if you were focused too close they won't be as sharp as they should. So one shot at infinity and another where the barn is more in focus may be able to be combined for a better shot. I would also not include as much of the foreground - it doesn't add anything here IMO and there's no reason to try and have anything too near the camera in focus. Just tilting up more to get more sky, or tilting and zooming in a bit to put more focus on the barn/sky and not have as much of the foreground I think would be better.

 

[HannahsDad]

So, to answer your comments, this was two separate shots. As stated earlier, this is a quick edit for my 84 year old father who is in memory care with dementia. It is NOT the final effort. In fact, it is not even close. There is much to do to the image to make it better / competition worth. The stars were shot at 30 seconds, which is approaching, but not at the maximum, shutter duration for stars. I have several shots of the starts, this is simply one I picked quickly to edit / print for him before I went to visit him. I agree with the foreground. There is much to be done to the image to make it competition worth (or even a wall hanger). When / if I get time, I may try to post up a more formally edited version. This was quick and dirty to get it done before I had to leave to visit him. At 84, he wasn't too interested in the star trails, anyway.