Shadow Meets Milk

Title

Shadow Meets Milk

Artist

Mike Berenson

Medium

Photograph

Description

There's something about the way the light painted shadow reaches up the mountain, finally joining with the stretch of Milky Way stars that really makes this image come to life. I'll admit that at the time, this wasn't my goal. In-fact, it was a bit of a surprise to see this aspect of the image turn out so interesting.

In-fact, I even went back up to this crazy location a year later to try for another image where I intentionally cast shadows up the mountain. In the end though, I found that this "accident" looked even better.

I captured this image at an old Tram Station (abandoned from the silver mining days) after a cold overnight hike up into Mayflower Gulch, Colorado with photographer friend, David Kingham.

How I Got The Shot
The first essential component that went into this picture was timing our hike to coincide with dark, moonless skies. And as luck would have it, we got great visibility of the Milky Way as well.

With light painting taking place from well outside the frame, I worked to provide a gentle even cast of light across the scene using my Brinkman Dual Xenon Spotlight. And with my lens focused on the mountain in the distance, I was able to get the whole scene in focus with a single exposure.

I continued shooting another few exposures with variations in light painting so I could get a good, balanced scene. Then in post processing, I found that the second exposure was helpful in avoiding any dark spots that I missed with a single exposure.

Then as a final touch, I used a few curves adjustments to bring the brighter areas of the tram back in-line with the rest of the image. My goal was to show the scene as I captured it, but to bring back the highlights so the image would look balanced overall.

Photo Gear
• Camera Body - Nikon D800 Digital SLR Camera
• Camera Lens - Nikon Fisheye AF Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D Autofocus Lens
• Tripod Head - Manfrotto MA327RC2
• Tripod Legs - Benro A1580F
• Remote Trigger - Vello Shutterboss Version II Timer Remote Switch for Nikon with 10-Pin Connection

Exposure Settings - Two Blended Exposures (with variations in light painting)
• ISO:64
• Aperture: f/2.8
• Shutter Speed: 30 seconds

Uploaded

April 8th, 2015

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