Driving home for Christmas Photo

Photographer’s Note

I took this picture on my way home for Christmas. It was night time, a full moon and perfect timing for a 30 seconds exposure of the mountain road and a car passing by. The only problem was taking 30 second exposure below 0 degrees Celsius. It was so freaking cold!!!!!

ribeiroantonio, Matthew-Watt, mcenteesalas, stormboy has marked this note useful

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recepyuksel (17786) 2007-12-22 15:45 [Comment]

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bizsu (1011) 2007-12-22 16:05

Hi Cosmin,
Beautiful photo. Very beautiful colours, good setting, congratulate. Merry Christmas !
Regards, Zsú

Matthew-Watt (4465) 2007-12-22 16:08

Hello Cosmin,

Wow! I bet it was cold but the result was certainly worth while. The snake like red streaks of light left by the passing car is very special in this unique setting! I do think that the photo deserves some extra sharpening, but my full points go to your originality and technique. I will prepare a workshop to improve these minor details. Thank you for posting and a very merry Christmas to you.

Matt

[workshop] [compare]

ribeiroantonio (21925) 2007-12-22 16:09

It is a very nice picture because the 30 sec exposure gave you the right time for many stars to show up in the sky, lit up the snowy mountain in such a way that everything can clearly be seen and also to show the car path going from one side of the road (left) to the other (right)! Long exposures below 0 degrees Celsius always work well! Well done.
Antonio

mporta (3352) 2007-12-22 16:11

Hi Cosmin
Never seen before such a luminous night shot, it seems really a sunlight landscape. Before reading your note i was wondering how you did in doing the red trace in a normal shot. Then i've understood: 30 seconds! wow!
Magic atmosphear, great job!
Matteo

gravatar (1544) 2007-12-22 17:11

Very nice time lapse shot. Excellent exposure control.

ayansadhu (1499) 2007-12-22 19:01

Kudos to you for taking such a nice shot with everything perfect in it except the cold you suffered, but the image is a hot one for sure!!!

colinb (1536) 2007-12-22 19:09

Welld one. I love the composition and the long exposure. Could maybe be a little bit sharper, but that's a minor quiblle. Great shot.

grantlp (2104) 2007-12-22 19:10

Hi Cosmin,
Standing in the freezing cold on this moutain road has been worth your while....the photo is interesting and an excellent idea. The long exposure has not only allowed you to captured the red winding lights, but has also provided an excellent view of the mountain terrain and sky in difficult conditions. The calrity is a little "off"but not enough to spoil the effect. Well done.
Cheers Grant

mcenteesalas (1612) 2007-12-22 19:50

Hi Cosmin, what a beautiful shot of this mountain pass, that road crossing the mountain was captured with a brilliant dramatic affect, wonderful composition and POV, well done, thanks for sharing it with us, regards, Joao Salas

woozbman (366) 2007-12-22 20:59

Hi Cosmin,
Well-exposed shot by available light. The car passing by certainly made the picture. Good foresight to be able to "see" the picture before it happened, and good technique to be able to capture it. Merry Christmas!
Lamberto

jjcordier (24752) 2007-12-22 22:21

Cosmin
Belle idée et superbe réalisation. J'aime beaucoup cette courbe rouge qui vient s'insérer entre les montagnes.
Amicalement
JJ

jonathan_hart (22578) 2007-12-23 5:23 [Comment]

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hamperium (279) 2007-12-25 7:42

wonderful drive home
great effect and light
well done !

Norte (531) 2008-01-14 13:48

Hi Cosmin!
That is a very good long exposure photo!
I like your composition of this decorative red S, and the distant lights down in the valley. The landscape is also very impressive, topped by a fine blue sky.
The only minus is the missing sharpness, but that is easy to fix, as Matthew showed us.
Well done.
God kveld nordfra, Jon

mhoidal (350) 2008-02-26 12:31

Car or Santa´s sledge, red it is! And with the wonderful contrast between the red line and the snowy landscap Christmas is absolutely present :)
Excellent long expo shot!
ps get some decent gloves, will you?
-Merete

stormboy (843) 2008-08-04 12:25

Hi Cosmin;
I also took a pic in such condition of below zero Celsius in Hokkaido, Japan at nite; bloody cold, yeah but it's worth.
Quite nice photo with long exposure.
TFS
Tan

snaefridur (57) 2008-12-27 11:26

hi Cosmin,
this is a great photo. I like the composition a lot, with the road lined with red trailing light in the middle, surrounded by the mountains on all sides. the light reflected by the white snow and the two stars in the right upper corner add to the mysterious atmosphere of the image. it's a pity that the mountains in the front are a bit out of focus, but on the other hand this leads the eye towards the middle with the mountains in the background.
best regards,
Weronika