Tree at night

Thought I would see if I could get a clear spooky pic of the tree I go past every night on the way to stables, the sky was a strange colour so I thought that might add to the pic but I was disappointed that what came out on the back screen was just blackness. Still, I thought I`d have a look using tweaking software anyway and after a bit of exposure increase I was pleasantly surprised !
[ Posting it here rather than the editing section as it`s only a minor tweak to the lighting ].

Before the adjustment I thought I would be lucky to get a few of the nearest branches showing up reasonably well but as it turns out the depth is much better than I hoped for and not least that it came out fairly sharp considering my hands were shaking and numb from the cold - I will definitely have more goes taking pics of the tree at different angles, distances, and settings, especially at night for spookiness value, and perhaps wearing gloves might be a good idea next time
[ the white bits are not dust on the lens btw, the snow was still coming down when I took the pic ]

The original



With exposure tweak



Although this is`nt a critique section I would appreciate critiques and composition suggestions to spooky up loads

I prefer the original picture.

The only thing i would say change perhaps is take it again, without the flash. Higher ISO. Play about with shutter speeds etc.

I prefer the original too, although it would be better without the post and wire fence

Thanks both

Manguish I tried last night with no flash, f2.8 in increments up to f6.whatever-it-is and ISO on each setting but all I got was pitch black or red/orange noise

Had to go back to using the flash again to get anything to show up at all, and the sky was it`s usual darkness instead of the strange colour it had been the night before

Azz I had`nt seen the wire and post in the shot til I loaded to PC, they did`nt show up on the backscreen nor on the PC load til I did the auto-tweak for lighting

Not sure how to present the latest one or two now, both of you prefer the original shot but on my laptop screen I can barely see the branches at all


Hmmm, mid post I had a look at the settings for my lappy screen, I must be the biggest numpty in the world

When I first got the thing and set it up I altered the bitmap until my screensaver looked the same as it did on my proper PC`s monitor, and didn`t think about how it might affect everything else I look at - just hit default to see how much difference there might be, screen practically glowed at me it`s so bright and looking at these two pics now I can see what you both mean, I can see the tree properly in the first shot now, goddammit I need to go over every flippin picture I have lightened or darkened on this laptop now, gaaaaaaaaagh

So now I`m stuck, with the screen as it is the brightness is ridiculous but darkening it means I wont see photo colours/light/dark the same as the rest of you of everyone else is on their equivalent default settings, ack !!!

Assuming I am now seeing brightness and colour the same as everyone else now, this is how the pic initially looked to me so you can see why I thought it needed so much exposure alteration, and is why I was surprised you both preferred the first version given how it looked to me as per below

Yup, i can see why you edited it now lol.

I can see what you are going for, its a shame that the post and fence in in the way.

If you have a tripod set it up and use a longer exposure to bring as much natural light in as possible without using a flash. The flash has really highlighted the snow.

http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/nikon_50_1p4_n15/

Calibration chart at bottom of link page if thats any help

bazza

Bazza that is a huge help, thank you so much, it has helped me figure out better what I was getting stuck on with the calibration download, as well as helping re-set the brightness which I was struggling with so much.
My eyes are so used to the darkened version I originally set it at so just could`nt find the right level at all, but using the chart you linked to has helped me get it as near as it should be [ I think ].
When printing photos now as tests [ the printer is now set to RGB and prints were looking totally different to on the screen ], are as near a good match as I can probably hope for so at least now I have a good idea what prints will actually look like which will also save me a fortune on ink from not having to do loads of re-prints after gawd knows how many edits for lightness and colour, thank you to you and Azz for collectively helping me with getting it sorted