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Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2010-12 (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Lens: Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC for Canon
Location: Lake Kozjak, Macedonia
Date: Dec 19, 2010
Aperture: 8
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/125
Galleries: Landscape, Black and White
Date Uploaded: Dec 31, 2010

 Happy New Year! It's an our past midnight here and I'm going to take my time with the story :).

This is a magical spot. First time visitors are totally unprepared for this view, walking through a quiet plateau, when suddenly this amazing sight opens and a strong wind fills your ears. The road goes all the way down to the lake and the dam, but I think the most impressive view is right from this spot.
Kozjak is an artificial lake, the dam was built first and it took several years for the tiny river to fill the 30km long valley. A very deep, dark and opaque lake. Down by the water it's so quiet, you can hear your own heartbeat.
Here's the google maps view. Almost looks like those Martian landscapes taken by the Mars orbiters.

It was a dangerous drive on this particular day. The water from the melting snow around the road froze right on the asphalt. Took me a while to crawl my way up to the plateau. The way back was even more interesting, had a few spins on the ice. Luckily I was the only one there.

This one is made out of 3 exposures, tonemapped in Photomatix. That's all that was needed... but, it's never that perfect - there was a strong blue cast in the upper part and a strong yellow tone on the mountain side that didn't look good, so a b&w version looked more effective. There was also a nasty lens flare right in the middle, it's probably still visible but I can't remove it more than this (it's New Year's eve after all). All in all it's not perfect, I'm expecting 5.5 at most.

The title refers to that road curving down the mountain :).

Statistics
Place: 38 out of 275
Avg (all users): 6.3438
Avg (commenters): 7.0000
Avg (participants): 6.5049
Avg (non-participants): 6.0526
Views since voting: 1025
Views during voting: 271
Votes: 160
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Sigma DP1x
01/07/2011 05:33:21 PM
Good strong black and white landscape. I love the unexpected title.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS
 01/06/2011 02:06:33 AM
nice work! beautiful shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
 01/05/2011 09:57:58 AM
this is really nice....love the tones
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS R6
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM
 01/02/2011 07:47:08 PM
Very nice photo. The depth displayed here is awe inspiring, and the road and river add a lot of interest.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-7D Mark II
Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
 01/02/2011 11:38:27 AM
A great location. Would this have been better in colour?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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