Tunnel at night in Big Bend

Took this near the village campground in Big Bend at night. Is there

anything I could have done better? I wanted to let in more light to

capture more stars, but this resulted in overexposing everything else.

Mike, This is pretty interesting and fun to experiment with. I think your real problem isn't the sky but the head lights shinning on the stone. There is no reason that you can't get a better balance of the two exposures. I would use one of those graduated grey filters,and put the dark part to the bottom(suggest 2 stop ND with a gradual density change)with all the clear area where the stars are. Use the same exposure time and aperture as here. To me the sky is pretty good. This probably won't be perfect but be more toward what you want. Of course, then there is Photoshop or other software you could use to your advantage as well....Good luck....Jim

You give no input at to time for you exposure However the camera was on a tripod and several cars passed causing the problem. You might have placed a piece of cardboard in front of the lens when cars were going by to block the headlights. Its trial and error to get the proper exposure for the sky and light trails that add a nice element to the shot. Nice shot Regards Bob

Thanks for your comments. Your right, a graduated ND probably would have worked really well on this picture. I've never used one before though? Are they easy to work with?

Mike, Well, to me they are, if you can view through the lens( a dslr or slr)so you can see the alignement. Can't say as to just how good your camera will do on auto exposure through any specific filter, that's kinda iffy in my opinion....I'll keep an eye out for a similar composition(for as long as my memory allows)to see how you've done....Good luck.....Jim