The night view across the Italian Val Ferret from Rifugio Bonatti, a "hut" that's more like a large hostel. Take the cable car from Chamonix, France toward Courmayeur, Italy, hop the bus up the valley, hike steeply uphill for an hour, and there you are.
From past experience I knew a 15s exposure would get me something good at ISO 200; although this camera can do ISO 400, it's even noisier.
This was Europe in the summer, so there was enough light even at 10:30 pm for me to see where things were with my eyes. However, I couldn't see anything through the viewfinder, so I put my camera on a bench, pointed it across the valley, and hoped.
There were two other takes that showed more mountains or more sky, but I liked this balance the best. I wish the full Big Dipper were visible, but the last star is hidden by the clouds. After three shots, I got my low-battery warning and called it a night.
And the hike itself was very special - it was exactly halfway between my friend's and my 40th birthdays (he's 15 months older, heh) and 25 years to the month that we've been friends.
I highly recommend hut-to-hut hiking - no sleeping bag or pad, tent, stove, cooking gear. Just clothes, a first aid kit, water, and lunch each day.
Editing: auto-levels, noise reduction, then I split the sky from the mountains. In the sky, I did a couple more cycles of sharpening (which brought out the dimmer stars) and noise reduction. On the mountains, I did more noise reduction on the right half with the snow, but left the darker left half alone. Resized and flattened the two pieces together again without moving anything, then cloned out some minor sharpening halo on one part of the mountains and a blue pixel or two here and there.
One important note: I didn't create any stars, just brighten them to be easily seen.
This was by far the most fiddling I've done with a picture, but I figure for a free study, it's worth it!
Here's the original:
Post-voting: YAAHHOOOOOO. What a ride all week. My finger is worn out from the update button. This one set every record for me: best score by 0.7, highest # of comments and faves during the challenge, and best percentile. And on a pic that represents an incredible trip with my oldest, best friend. What a rush! :)
Statistics
Place: 13 out of 684 Avg (all users): 6.8482 Avg (commenters): 8.4000 Avg (participants): 6.8241 Avg (non-participants): 6.9310 Views since voting: 13139 Views during voting: 369 Votes: 257 Comments: 40 Favorites: 23 (view)
I missed this first time round, because I hadn't found DPC yet. I'm so glad you brought it to our attention. This is a wonderfully beautiful photo! I love the deep blue of the sky and the light on the mountains.
Jeffrey,
I haven't commented before on this photo, but should have: it is breathtaking. No wonder you did so well in the free study! I wish you much luck in the other contests in which you entered this.
My first reaction when I saw this was "with a PowershotS2 IS?!" It's a great camera but I had seriously brushed it off for any potential with nighttime shots. This sure proves me wrong. Excellent work on the original capture and the post processing.
Jeffrey, I can't beLIEVE this photo is yours! This was absolutely my favorite photo in this challenge. I can not believe its not one of the top 3!!! In fact, it has stayed in my mind and inspired me to attempt to get something like this when we are in the Rockies in a week or so. This is one of my favorites of my favorites photos!!! I love the story of how you got it. I would buy this if you made it a print!!!
And even tho it should have won -- it's still awesome to have finished so strong in a challenge like this!
Technical: wow...the contrast, lighting, coloring, composition...its all awesome!!!
Creativity: very creative...i just love this shot...i hope it ribbons!!!
Score: 10 and adding to favorites...
Wow, It looks so unrealistic but at the same time very beautiful. The lighting is so mysterious. It's like it's taken during the day but the stars make it look like it's taken at night. Maybe the stars are just a lot of hot pixels.
This photo is absolutely one of the most awesome photos I've ever seen. It is flawless perfection in every way: technically, and most definitely in wow factor appeal! I am way into the voting now, and this will be only my 3rd 10. And if you just notice your number of favorites having just gone up one. . ..that would be me! :) WOW!
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