Aurora on the Rocks

Some fantastic light this evening this was taken. Jupiter to the right.
Removed some telephone lines and poles just below Jupiter
I am running out of ideas of foreground so I tried this.
The rocks are lit with a dimmed down led light.
To much light on the rocks?

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For some reason the Aurora doesn't look natural in this picture. I'm seeing what looks like posterization when I view it on my monitor. It also looks as though you used a high ISO and there is a lot of noise.

What ISO and Shutter Speed did you use for this image, and what kind of post processing did you do?

And, No I don't think there is too much light on the foreground rocks. Some people might even light them up a little more. Using a strobe or flash rather than a dim light might work better. Strobe/flash the rocks at the end of your exposure. Doing that can give your picture more of a 3D look casting a shadow onto the background or the night sky, Like this image >> http://www.astronomy.c​om …spx?c=pod&id=18​6&aid=8349

tkerr wrote in post #10927454
For some reason the Aurora doesn't look natural in this picture. I'm seeing what looks like posterization when I view it on my monitor. It also looks as though you used a high ISO and there is a lot of noise.

What ISO and Shutter Speed did you use for this image, and what kind of post processing did you do?

And, No I don't think there is too much light on the foreground rocks. Some people might even light them up a little more. Using a strobe or flash rather than a dim light might work better. Strobe/flash the rocks at the end of your exposure. Doing that can give your picture more of a 3D look casting a shadow onto the background or the night sky, Like this image >> http://www.astronomy.c​om …spx?c=pod&id=18​6&aid=8349

I didn't do much PP except sharpening and exposure to +0.35 and reducing the size for web.
Shot at ISO 1250 for 20s at f/4.5
I think it is the clouds that gives the look. This aurora was not moving at all. It was almost invisible to the eye.
I am not so sure that a flash will do this any good, I can try it next time. I think it will be to much on the bright side even if I reduce the power to 1/4

Here is the raw file as is

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jealous i cant see this in person