When northern lights emerged during our last night in Iceland, Pall drove us to an area he liked, with a bridge and lake, for opportunities to capture the Aurora and its reflected lights. At one point, a car came out of nowhere, and I immediately thought 'wrecked my long exposure.' It turned out to be one of my favorite shots but it took awhile to figure out how to process it without losing the Aurora or overexposing the bridge. Thanks for your lovely comments on my horse posting from yesterday.
LR is working again, but several links are gone (e.g., can't create smart previews). So Tuesday my (hopefully last) appointment is to recreate my library and reload LR after deleting everything related to it from my computer. Hopefully re-downloading not as an update, but a new program, then importing all my images, will fix the problem. My computer repair person has asked that I delete any photos I don't want as it will take hours if not days to reimport. So far this weekend, almost 200GB worth of rejects have been deleted! And that's just from a few months of 2015 and half of 2016. Obvious lesson learned there...
Well, I can see why you wouldn't want car light but, for this image, they don't seem to have hurt it at all. In fact, it adds another dimension to the shot. Well done.
Just read your commentary. I hope you get LR working again with too much trouble. Do you shoot RAW? Images can fill up a hard dive really quickly. I am on my third external HD. I have a 2, 3 and 4 terabytes HDs. Sometimes I wonder how much space I would have used if I shot Jpegs?
@skipt07 It's been a pain as I keep far too many photos. And if they are HDR, they can be even 3 times the size of the RAW ones, which already are 32MB or more. What I've learned over the past week is that there are literally hundreds of photos I don't need or want, but had kept "just in case." I need to be more judicious in what I import -- 30 images of the same sunset...not needed, especially after processing the one or two I'd want to keep. I also have several external hard drives, and would like to start combining them as a working drive, and keeping a few as backups.
There's so much to look at in this image! The Stars, the aurora, the light
trails and the silhouette of the bridge. incredible! Best of luck in reloading LR. What would we do with our time if we didn't have to deal with computer issues?
Wow this is outstanding Taffy! What a magical sight to see! Brilliant processing as ever! I really must sit down and delete all those extra shots! I find it so hard to do! Fav for this beauty!
@pamknowler I'm finding it easier, going back to older shots. Asking myself, why do I need so many of xx? And in the end, I may have deleted an original I'd want, I have thousands of others! I can't do it as well from recent photos, but from 2015 and before, it's fairly easy. 2016, it's sort of easier. 2017...hard!
So beautiful! I think the car added balance to the scene. What's lighting the land to the left of the bridge - just car headlights? When I went to Iceland it was high summer and never got dark. It's on my bucket list to do again when I have a chance to see the aurora. Good luck with your deletion project. I would certainly benefit from doing that... I'm sure I'd get rid of 2/3 of my photos.
That is utterly delicious! Feel like you can follow the car all the way over the bridge. Sighing and dreaming of seeing the Northern Lights.......one day! This is a stunning shot and I love it. Fav.
All the best on Tuesday with the upload. Fingers and toes crossed for you!
@ksmale All the light is coming from the one car. It was fascinating to see how it 'ruined' the scene when I was there and looking only with the naked eye. When I downloaded, the lights were so blown out that I was surprised I could recover the details. This shot made me very happy in the end -- not at all what I thought I would feel!
Incredible shot. You should tell us how you processed it (or an overview of it). Good for you for staying on task for deletions. I do that every now and then...not often enough. I took about 300 photos this weekend at church, deleted only maybe 75 and used only about 50. I need to delete the remaining ones!
This is a really cool shot - so much depth to the sky. I like that the car lights are points of light too, and not just a blurred trail! I have been trying to delete, and have found that a second pass helps, even though it takes forever. I liken it to cleaning the basement. I throw things out, and keep some, and then the next pass, I think "why on earth did I decide to keep that???" and out it goes. Good luck!
@danette Happy to share how I processed this but not sure I can remember all the steps. I used LR sliders in Develop, but not sure what order. The key was when I figured out I could use the 'circle' - the "Radial Filter" in Develop that allows me (when you 'invert mask') to edit just within the section that's inside the circle or oval (you can create your own shape). 1. Within radial filter, I reduced highlights, whites, and upped shadows a little bit. I may have done that a few times -- can't remember, but do know it was really blown out.
2. Using the ND filter (the rectangle), I adjusted shadows above and below the bridge, also probably blacks/whites, highlights/shadows
When I had the three sections (above bridge, bridge, and below bridge) in balance, I then used various sliders to get the lighting balanced within the image, adjust clarity and dehaze.
I'm sorry I can't be more specific. It took awhile to work it through.
Absolutely stunning shot, it has been so easy to hit the fav button for so many of yours and @jyokota shots...beautiful work. I am so happy that you are coming to the end of your LR issues...I am learning a lot from it too!
@hrs Thanks Helen. I think the zipper effect came from the repeated supports on the side of the bridge and the angle of the lights. I liked that part of it too.
trails and the silhouette of the bridge. incredible! Best of luck in reloading LR. What would we do with our time if we didn't have to deal with computer issues?
All the best on Tuesday with the upload. Fingers and toes crossed for you!
2. Using the ND filter (the rectangle), I adjusted shadows above and below the bridge, also probably blacks/whites, highlights/shadows
When I had the three sections (above bridge, bridge, and below bridge) in balance, I then used various sliders to get the lighting balanced within the image, adjust clarity and dehaze.
I'm sorry I can't be more specific. It took awhile to work it through.
FAV.