Lit with a single flashlight. The conditions were perfect for this kind of shot, no moon, totally clear skies and dark since it´s in the middle of the winter and of course, aurora borealis. This is a copy of a shot I did a couple of months ago in August 2005, at that time the bright summer nights in Iceland kindof ruined the shot, parts of the sky were overexposed so I always wanted to reshoot that and this challenge was the perfect excuse to go hauling into the night, drive half an hour and climb up a steep cliff to stand there for almost an hour trying out different shots. Should maybe have used a slightly shorter shutterspeed as the stars have started to move in a couple of places but that doesn´t really bother me in this size. I really like this shot, came out better than I thought, hope you like it too.
Don´t think I have ever needed to do as little post processing since I learned how to use photoshop, I was very happy with how it came out straight out of the camera, all I did was a slight adjustment with shadow highlights and a vast increase in contrast. I still wish I could do a seperate curves on the sky and on the foreground but since it´s basic editing, of course that is not allowed.
Here is a link to another edit of this shot, like I would have submitted it if advanced editing was allowed and this is how the shot is supposed to look like if you ask me.
Statistics
Place: 6 out of 187 Avg (all users): 6.8491 Avg (commenters): 8.1000 Avg (participants): 6.5333 Avg (non-participants): 6.9637 Views since voting: 5989 Views during voting: 562 Votes: 338 Comments: 40 Favorites: 12 (view)
An incredible scene and one that I bet very few people have had the pleasure of seeing (before your picture of course).
That 5d is amazing to generate almost no noise at iso 800 for 60 seconds!
Did you have to use such a high iso?
hey, i think this one looks better, and more real than your other more-photoshopped one, great job ... a little more even flashlight work would enhance it, but other than that, nicely done!
Skrítinn þessi dökki punktur vinstra megin í myndinn í norðurljósunum.
Eru þetta kannski óhreinindi á sensor?
Glæsilegur árangur. Til hamingju með þetta og auðvitað líka á ljosmyndakeppni.is. En eins og þú segir þá var lýsingatíminn heldur langur út af stjörnunum en það venst ótrúlega vel :-) og þú hefðir væntanlega þurft eitthvað öflugra vasaljós til að ná nægilegri birtu á skemmri tíma.
I'm rather disappointed to see the scoring curve in this shot! People mistook the Aurora Borealis as the source of the painted light? Look at the rocks, look at the water!
I'm always a sucker for Northern Lights shots -- very slick! Looks like the kind of thing that should have an inspirational poem written on it, or something. - 10
Come on you painted those stars up there didn't ya! Dayum, I knew I live in the wrong place, you guys are so lucky getting all that aurora stuff. Choice image.
Came back and can't bump up anymore, I already gave you a 10. In my Favorites and on my wish list :) This is beautiful on so many levels. Love how you lit the rocks and waterfall. Car headlights or an incredibly powerful flashlight I'm guessing. Good luck and I hope it ribbons, it deserves to :)
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
