Timing for this challenge was perfect for me. We made our plans about 6 months ago to take our first RV trip of the season last weekend to Twin Lakes Colorado. It's 25 miles south of Leadville and 20 miles north of Buena Vista Colorado. I got very lucky there was no moon and the sky was clear and very dark. It was windy all weekend but would calm down at night. This was taken about 10PM mountain standard time. This type of photography is why I bought the Canon 1DX. It excels at high ISO shots like this. I set this at 5000 ISO and a 13 sec shutter. I used a remote release and mirror lockup. I also used the noise reduction in-camera. Not sure if that was a good idea but it did not seem to diminish the quality.
Processing was not complicated, too much. Made some adjustments in LR4, then went to PSCS5 and finished it there. All global adjustments since this is a basic editing challenge. I used several curves layers to get the tones the way I wanted. Since no selections are allowed, it took a few curves layers to do the job. Each one with very minor adjustments to "tweek" each tone the way I wanted. But, I will process in advanced editing too, because I want to print this one. Although now, I am not sure I need to do anything more to enhance anything. I really like the way it has turned out.
One thing that has me scratching my head, where in the world did the green tones come from?? I have other shots from that night that also show green streaks across the entire sky. I wonder if this is the Aurora Borealis this far south? I should also state that the orange glow on the horizon is not the sun. This image is taken at roughly SSE at 10PM, so I think it is a small nearby town. Since it was so dark, the image sensor picks up any stray light.
Only 18 entries on the final day. I don't think I have ever seen a challenge with so few entries. It seems the timing of this challenge was off for lots of folks around the globe. I feel VERY fortunate to have had an opportunity not just for this challenge, but to capture this scene at all.
[Jun. 18th, 2013 11:42:25 PM]
This was a very exciting week watching the score of this entry. All the votes and great comments are very much appreciated!
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Place: 1 out of 25 Avg (all users): 7.7970 Avg (commenters): 8.8333 Avg (participants): 6.8125 Avg (non-participants): 7.9316 Views since voting: 3899 Views during voting: 415 Votes: 133 Comments: 38 Favorites: 5 (view)
Thanks phylvince for the information. I assumed that was the case, but did not take time to research it. Could not see it with my eyes while shooting the scene and only discovered it once I uploaded the images. Very interesting.
As you can see on this link, June 7 was a pretty ACTIVE day for the Aurora. Go to the Aurora Forecast/Geophysical Institute and use the back button (or previous button) to go back to June 7 2013.
I am not surprised that the camera was able to detect it this far south Great shot
Beyond admiring this beautiful picture, I'm admiring you for sharing so much information. Why other photographers don't do so is a mystery to me. Why is it so difficult to at least identify the location of a scene (or the name of a building)?
You, however, took us on your journey and truly shared your experience. For that alone, I would have given you the Blue! Congratulations for a truly winning photograph.
Beyond admiring this beautiful picture, I'm admiring you for sharing so much information. Why other photographers don't do so is a mystery to me. Why is it so difficult to at least identify the location of a scene (or the name of a building)?
You, however, took us on your journey and truly shared your experience. For that alone, I would have given you the Blue! Congratulations for a truly winning photograph.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, I can imagine how beautiful it looked, a bit like this, it's quite stunning, and no need to say you will win! 10
The Big Bang Theory
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