Milkyway over the Duke of Portland Boathouse

Image Details:

Nikon D500
Tokina 11-16 f-2.8
KFConcept carbon fibre tripod

Sky:
7x 3min12 sec (ISO 500, f-3.5) exposures (tracked) stacked in deep sky stacker.
Stacked sky processed in photoshop to bring out details

Foreground:
2x90 sec (ISO 1600, f-3.5) exposures, processed in lightroom then stacked in Photoshop by converting the two layers to a single smart object, then in the layer tab, going to smart objects, choosing stack mode - median

Sky and Foreground opened as layers in photoshop

Positioned sky where I wanted it (Milkyway pointing to the boathouse)

Duplicated both layers then rearranged in the order:

Foreground

Sky

Sky

Foreground

Used a layer mask on the foreground, picked select and mask and using the refine edge tool, carefully blended the sky with the foreground (i used this tutorial to help: https:--www.youtube.com-watch?v=vjGFO_J4hhU

I cleaned up the foreground using clone stamp tool and spot healing brush to remove any star trails in the reflection before using the second sky layer to create the reflection, I flipped the layer vertically and lined it up perfectly using grid lines and the ruler tool so the distance from horizon to milkyway was the same top and bottom.

I then selected blend mode overlay and very carefully blended the reflection in, (I had to mask every single rock separately haha)

Once this was done, I flattened the image and returned to Lightroom for final adjustments to brightness, contrast, colour balance etc. to make the image look more natural and also `pop` a little more. I then exported the image in full resolution.
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