photography

Starry Approach—subtlety Lost?

I made this time exposure of the signals at Washington Boro on Norfolk Southern’s Port Road Branch displaying ‘approach’ aspects.

I’ve included two versions, both from the original NEF RAW file.

The top image is scaled but otherwise without editing or alteration.

By contrast the bottom image was converted from the original NEF RAW file into a DNG file using DxO Pure Raw software (to reduce pixelization, vignetting and produce an image with greater clarity). After conversion, I imported the DNG file into Lightroom and made a host of cosmetic corrections aimed at improve the images.

My challenge here is in presentation. On my screen I see hundreds of tiny points of light. Unfortunately, the Word Press blogging platform compresses my files, which is these situations suppresses the cosmic effect of the stary sky.

Original NEF RAW file, scaled for internet presentation but unedited or otherwise altered.
First round of adjustment. Unfortunately the Word Press platform compresses the file, which suppresses the subtlety of the stary sky.
Second round of adjustment aimed at exaggerating the effect of the starry sky in a hope that it will get past Word Press compression. You should be able to see hundreds of points of light.
Enlarged view of the sky from the same file.

Tracking the Light Works Under the Stars!