The Green Lantern

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 20, 2011906 views26 comments

Well everyone it has been a while since my last post!

I have been really busy here in Whistler BC since May with my Land Rover based tour business. I have the pleasure of meeting guests from all over the globe. Coming into the end of my main tourist season at the end of September, I was really looking forward to our 12 day small expedition near the arctic circle in the Yukon Territory here in Canada.

I was on this trip with Marc Adamus and Colin Sillerud. It was an amazing trip in the subarctic backcountry. Having the right gear was the key to being somewhat comfortable

Marc's first post from this trip is a tough act to follow

He sure is a gifted photographer. We had some great nights of the most amazing Aurora displays I have ever seen!! It is tough to put into words the intensity of the displays. The aurora is constantly changing in direction and brightness. It is difficult to manage all that is going on with your camera and it's settings. I referred to this scenario as " being a pilot juggling controls in a plane without fuel" !! So when looking at Marc's post, the technical difficulty of his image is hard enough to deal with in a standard sunset image, so imagine doing it in these conditions in the cold Arctic darkness

My composition was taken near the same time as Marc's image further down the same lake on the same evening. I decided to stick to a composition that I felt I could handle

Since I was shooting at night, my lens was set to F2.8, and doing so, even this 14mm shot taken with my Nikon D3s required 1 focus blend for the close foreground. There are also 3 other images used to control the exposure in the scene. The sky exposure image for the aurora was taken at 3 sec at ISO 8000 to capture the detail I was looking for in this display.

With working with the aurora, my ISO ranged from 3200 to 8000, and shutter speeds of 1/10sec. to 15 seconds.

I have to say that this is the most difficult image I have ever processed!!! I have always used Lightroom, and only last spring switched my workflow to Photoshop. So I only have maybe 40 hrs of PS experience.

If my image "looks out of this world", I have to say, it sure felt like I was !!

Thank you for taking the time to look at my image and reading my post.

I did include a "larger presentation" for your viewing.

Any comments or suggestions are always welcome

Comments

26 comments

Comment posted by Sebastian Kraus on October 20, 2011 at 6:21 AM

Another stuning photo! Greate job!

Registered on March 17, 2011, 30 Posts, 132 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on October 20, 2011 at 6:26 AM

Thanks for taking us on your journey. The colors along with the timed exposure brings this to another level. Congratulations!

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on October 20, 2011 at 7:31 AM

As you said, Marc is a tough act to follow. However, this is amazing as well.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on October 20, 2011 at 9:07 AM

It must be quite eerie to see this in person James. Very other worldly and amazing indeed.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on October 20, 2011 at 9:16 AM

Wicked!! I love how the ice radiates like the aurora, a nice counterpoint. I have one suggestion--id introduce a bit more contrast in the sky, and take a little of it out of the peak (the white highlites)--the sky is obviously the main show here so i think the highlites there should be brighter than the snow highlites. It takes 44 hours in Photoshop to reach expert status

Nice!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Art Escobado on October 20, 2011 at 9:38 AM

Nice shot man! What a wicked display!

Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on October 20, 2011 at 9:48 AM

Awesome scene and great shot James. Not nits........love it.

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on October 20, 2011 at 9:49 AM

Awesome scene James. I do like your composition a lot.

Since you are open to suggestions, and this is from someone who has done a couple of night scenes (not terribly well I might add), I would recommend trying to blend your sky and the edge of the mountains a little better. It's so incredibly difficult to get this right and can sometimes take a pixel by pixel look at in photoshop. Take a close look at the blacks on the edge of the rocks where they meet the sky. This can sometimes actually be part of the sky from the same exposure. It will be brighter or darker sometimes depending on air pollution. There is no one way to do anything in photoshop so how you remove that is up to you. Just thought I'd point it out.

Still, a stellar image you should really enjoy. Can't imagine how awesome this must have been to see.

Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on October 20, 2011 at 9:52 AM

Scott, thanks for the vote of confidance

Marc is in a league of his own! I tried my best here to find my own path on the same lake on the same evening! When the aurora kicked up, we could hear each other yelling in the distance in awe of what we were seeing and feeling

I have never photographed the aurora since the 80's using film, and now with the technology available, it is possible to get closer presentation of the real experience

But, no photograph can really capture it quite like being there.

Stan,
your comments are valid. I noticed when I sharpened for web, the highlights in the snow on the mountains was bumped up a bit, and could be toned down a little to compensate. As for contrast, I did bring out quite a bit from the aurora display. I will look at some more adjustment again

The fact that the overall presentation meets your approval is great considering you have a detailed eye as a photographer. Thanks for your positive response

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Atencio on October 20, 2011 at 10:28 AM

The aurora itself is pretty killer here James, and I can't imagine what it would be like to view this in person. My eye was immediately drawn to the edges of the peaks in the larger version, so I think you could spend some time working that transition a bit more. I'm also not totally in love with the FG here, as it feels a bit cut off, but know it can be difficult trying to compose in pitch darkness. In the end, still a very solid aurora shot

Registered on June 23, 2009, 21 Posts, 422 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on October 20, 2011 at 10:31 AM

I think this looks really nice, James. This was taken about 5 minutes or so after mine I think, as I had switched back to vertical at that time and have a similar sky. Stacking the horizontal images allowed me a lot more sky (almost twice as wide across as shown here), but I think this works too. I think it has even more potential though. I could see dodging out some more highlights in the upper right corner. The contrast issue on the mountain has been mentioned. The foreground looks great. Surprised you had as much water motion as you did at that end of the lake, though I remember it was coming and going.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on October 20, 2011 at 10:47 AM

Jared,
thanks for the input. As for the foreground, I included what I could. I did have to slightly adjust the horizon, and lost a little of the foreground, but not a noticeable amount. I did use a 14mm lens, and tried to include as much as I could without sacrificing the aurora in the sky. As for blending, I did the best I could. I still have plenty to learn, and will improve this image as my skills develop

Marc,
Yes, the water was not perfectly still at this time, but I feel that the subtle reflection is ok, and less competing with the sky. As for the dogging of the top right corner, I did what I could, there was not much aurora in that location to work with. I wish I had tried to shoot this in a horizontal way with several images stitched together, but that is adding more complexity to an already difficult amount to do under tough shooting conditions!! Also, it may have changed the way I had the foreground framed.

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on October 20, 2011 at 11:20 AM

Beautiful shot - so very eerie!!

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Adam Gibbs on October 20, 2011 at 11:42 AM

Inspiring photo, James! Looking forward to seeing more.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 168 Posts, 870 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Budliger on October 20, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Totally sick, great job handling the difficult capture/processing, it looks amaaaaazing

Registered on June 11, 2006, 113 Posts, 2116 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on October 20, 2011 at 3:03 PM

Marc probably stole your thunder a bit by showing us this scene earlier in the week, but you certainly captured a winning shot here. Quite well composed and beautiful. Processing looks fine to me.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on October 20, 2011 at 3:14 PM

Yes Phil, I agree, I was slow in my turn around time

I am glad that the few who have responded gave me some good comments for improvement.

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on October 20, 2011 at 3:51 PM

Simply amazing. I like how your comp just points me right into the scene and it's hard to leave.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Abdullaziz Bin Ali on October 21, 2011 at 1:13 AM

James, this is amazing
love the general atmosphere even the exposure is well captured
a
great dude

Registered on May 31, 2009, 112 Posts, 1590 Comments

Comment posted by David Edwards on October 21, 2011 at 3:13 AM

A magnificent shot, James. The green light from the aurora is just amazing, and gives the landscape an other-worldly quality. I like your comp with the repeating triangular shapes. Great job with the blend as far as I can tell, and I don't mind the contrast levels, although I could see the fg light, detail and contrast lifted closer to that of the mountain . It must have been an amazing spectacle to witness. Excellent image!

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by Koveh Tavakkol on October 21, 2011 at 10:35 AM

Really nice James. That Aurora is nothing short of spectacular and a nice comp as well.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 41 Posts, 608 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on October 21, 2011 at 12:03 PM

Thanks for the additional comments. It is a difficult image to process when you are dealing with so much GREEN!! your comments are good points to improve the image. Thank you

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on October 21, 2011 at 2:22 PM

This is wonderful James. I really need to see this stuff in person some day.

I would never have guessed only 40 hours of Photoshop experience! It's like a race car, intimidating at first but a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on October 21, 2011 at 2:59 PM

Out of this world!!!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by James Fougère on October 21, 2011 at 3:42 PM

John,
You are right!! It is like driving a 1000hp sports car! I feel like I am all over the road, and taking twice as long to get where I am going! In time, I am sure I will get the feel of the "pedals"

Thanks again for all the input!

Registered on October 25, 2010, 41 Posts, 831 Comments

Comment posted by Mat Malone on November 2, 2011 at 12:26 AM

James, this is wild. I can see why you chose this comp -- I think I would have picked this as well. Totally worth the trek!

Registered on December 15, 2008, 91 Posts, 882 Comments