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A light in troubled times
A light in troubled times
Maverick


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Hidden Gem -- 1,000th Challenge! (Advanced Editing VII*)
Camera: Canon PowerShot S30
Location: Outer Banks, NC
Date: Apr 3, 2004
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 200
Shutter: 15
Date Uploaded: Mar 5, 2009

Reworked version of "Guiding Light". I think this is one of my best photos I've ever taken. It got me a billboard in NYC for a day = )

Really I value a lot of my family photos more, but they wouldn't do too well here (nor would I expect them to).


Post challenge:
Wow, I'm really happy with this placing! To answer some of the comments, I think this was moonlit. There's nothing complicated about the shot. I set up my camera on a tripod and took a series of exposures (the S30 only goes up to 15"). I got one I liked, did some minor editing and here it is. This shot was the Kodak Photo of the Day for July 16, 2005

Print available here

Statistics
Place: 65 out of 1129
Avg (all users): 6.5476
Avg (commenters): 7.4754
Avg (participants): 6.5525
Avg (non-participants): 6.5205
Views since voting: 1215
Views during voting: 687
Votes: 473
Comments: 65
Favorites: 4 (view)


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AuthorThread
03/30/2009 04:04:36 PM
excellent placement in this challenge Ben, and a very cool shot. That's awesome you got POTD I want to try to do that
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
03/17/2009 11:02:59 PM
Excellent job on the exposure; perfect title. Is this moonlit?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 10:38:12 PM
nicely composed - love the contrast of the black and white silo (?) and the light against the dark colors. Good one!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 10:21:04 PM
Stars and a lighthouse. How can you miss? This is very, very nice - the light does not overpower the shot, and you can see the stars quite clearly.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 10:19:25 PM
Beautiful photo/perfect title.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 05:28:40 PM
Very nicely done! 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 04:42:47 PM
Nice lighting. I like the placement of the tower. Nice work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 03:23:04 PM
Wonderful crisp detail in the structures...very nice nighttime photo!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 03:08:28 PM
very nice ... seven from me ;)
brano
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 01:34:23 PM
Voted earlier coming back to comment now. Wow! This is a beautiful shot of this lighthouse! Love the beams of light that radiate out like rays. I also find it appealing that this is a night or very early morning shot and you can see the presence of stars. Great lighting such that we can see the bold striping on the lighthouse. Very scenic and beautiful!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 01:20:22 PM
Nice shot, and good colour. I like how the light is emanating from the lighthouse.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/17/2009 10:17:59 AM
Nice composition, the stars are a nice detail.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 10:52:17 PM
Wow... Really nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 07:12:21 PM
Beautiful twilight capture of the light house. Is it Bodie Island? Very nice.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 07:10:16 PM
I really love this. The composition is great, the exposure perfect, and your use of noise reduction is perfect for the image - makes it look almost like an illustration.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 06:37:16 PM
Stunning capture! It almost feels like a graphic art or painted piece. Just awesome!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 05:15:14 PM
very very nice...really like the shadows and long exposure...very good
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 02:16:47 PM
Lovely shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 03:38:43 AM
just beautiful the colors are awesome
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/16/2009 03:34:52 AM
Awesome capture and presentation. Gorgeous. Love that you caught recogniseable stars ... Orion's belt?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 11:45:21 PM
I have come back to bump this one. My first reaction was that it was pretty nice, but that the colors were too cool to really suit me, and I slotted it in the 7's, a decent score. But now I am back, and I confess to being slightly mystified by this scene, or, rather, by how you created it...

ON the surface of it, this seems simple enough: one exposure for the structures and the sky, and at the end of the exposure or during the exposure the light swept through in its arc.

OR, possibly, a true HDR image, with several exposures, accomplishing same as above.

That's not a mystery, particularly. But I'm looking at the stars, and the hint of mist in the sky, and that's like *one* thing; and I'm looking at the lighting on the tower and the shack, and that's like what, full-moon light? Sure seems to be. But, STARS so visible during a full moon? A little odd for up here, anyway.

So, ANTwho.... It's sharp as a tack, mysteriously lit, vaguely enigmatic overall, and of course I'm realizing the formerly-objectionable "cool" colors are exactly as they should be, for a moonlit exposure, so...

Bumpity-long-winded-bump!

BTW, nearly all my high scores are going to the odd and quirky-beguiling images that speak to me in this challenge; yours is one of the few landscapes to make it into the 9+ range with me.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 10:32:34 PM
you need to revisit your post-processing on this before printing it large in order to bring out the beams. as is, it's nice, but it doesn't pop. it's one of my favorite subjects (check out my portfolio). here's one that's close to what i'm talking about (but it still needs some work). it really is incredible out there at that time of night, isn't it?



good luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 08:24:46 PM
Lovely capture. Might have cropped a little more off the right side but still a great shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 03:58:33 PM
Stunning lighthouse shot. Great night sky and I like the black and white instead of the usual red and white. Nice clarity and detail. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 12:08:34 PM
love the detail wish the light itself was not so bright, would have been a great image to layer exposures
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 10:17:48 AM
Very nice image. It's good to see a few "great" images. This is a perfect reflection of your abilities as a photographer.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 09:46:35 AM
Wow. Beautiful. I hope this does well for you. The stark black and white and blue is very pleasing... The noise is distracting, but not overly so.

Not voting yet.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 09:05:03 AM
Great PP job - love the tone and color of this - keep up the good work
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 08:44:51 AM
Beautiful and bright night view of a lighthouse.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/15/2009 01:28:55 AM
excellent long exposure shot , 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 11:38:02 PM
What a beautiful nught shot, I love the stars and the rays from the light.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 09:37:32 PM
This is really a great shot. I look forward to reviewing your technicals on this one. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 05:20:58 PM
Very peaceful
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 05:07:59 PM
Excellent detail under the lighting conditions. Very evocative. Love the stars, the horizontal lines of the lighthouse and the fence.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 03:48:56 PM
Excellent!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 03:13:28 PM
This reminds me of a specific painting (just wish I could remember who the artist was!). The processing enhances a very well made photograph perfectly. Well done, this is just lovely.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 01:05:12 PM
Love the stars peeking through in this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 11:45:09 AM
How did you get that overall light and the stars? It really works.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 09:01:04 AM
A different approach with the night time shot, well done :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 04:58:10 AM
really nice depth to this shot. Nice exposure and composition
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/14/2009 01:18:49 AM
The lighthouse seems too dark :(
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 11:08:38 PM
Well, your picture popped up and I thought "oh, wow". Very striking image, I like the serene mood of the photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 10:49:10 PM
love the stars this, nice PP job, this is a really cool image though unusual to see a lighthouse and not see the water, good luck with this, there's something I really like about it
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 10:04:22 PM
Night shot of a light house. And the beacon is not blown out as one might expect on such a shot. Is it moonlit?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 04:01:08 PM
Nice capture, congratulations.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 03:25:08 PM
this is awesome
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 02:42:30 PM
Very nice indeed
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 01:51:01 PM
wonderful image.. 9
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 10:55:44 AM
Beautiful
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 08:21:51 AM
Lovely scene. Very natural looking colors and good detail.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/13/2009 02:40:51 AM
Great lighting. Very well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 10:39:20 PM
Very nice - looks like a difficult exposure but you did good!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 10:26:50 PM
Good exposure and pic. Nice shot.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 09:52:59 PM
Nice shot. I think this one wasn't as easy to create as you make it look :) For that I will give you a 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 06:03:17 PM
Cool! 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 05:50:43 PM
Nice composition. I'd like to see the light a little less blown, and I am seeing a good deal of pixelation on my screen. Did you push the saturation on this one?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 10:47:09 AM
Beautifully done!!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/12/2009 09:26:11 AM
Great to see a lighthouse at work
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 08:12:02 PM
This is beautiful. It looks like a painting!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 06:52:41 PM
Well captured. You should hang this on the wall.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 05:52:08 PM
Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 11:12:15 AM
This is a very clean looking shot. I like the light in the tower and the 'beams' that are being given off.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 10:39:26 AM
great composition,maybe a little too much noise removal software, the ground looks really soft.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 08:32:59 AM
Very nice mood to this photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
03/11/2009 08:02:14 AM
Great photo although it looks a little patchy in the sky. Super cool how you exposed the stars and the building so well. Best of luck. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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