The winner of our first contest goes to... Vlad Congratulations! Vlad will get a $25 USD Gift Card to B&H Photo for winning the contest. We will be in contact with him soon to get him the gift card!
Well done, Vlad. With the foreground leading the eye into the background, the reflections in the water and the dramatic overcast sky, you produced a winning photo. a well deserved win.
WONDERFUL photo and a well deserved win, Vlad! I have so many questions. Where was this taken? Is there a story that goes with it? Were you up before dawn to capture the image? Were you freezing? Were you trekking, camping, backpacking? Which camera and lens did you use? Did you bracket the shot? Did you use a graduated neutral density filter? Of course, if you have already explained all this on the Canon Forums, please provide me a link to your post. If not, I'd love to learn more about this award-winning photo and your process. Thank you for your time and for sharing the perfect picture of a gorgeous landscape! With warm regards, Mark H.
Sorry for the late reply, but I think December is a good month for stories. I took the picture in March 2017 during my trip to Lofoten Islands, Norway. Me and my wife we are avid travelers, so watching the Northern Lights was on our list for a very long time. For us Norway is very expensive, and we like to travel light, cheap and most of the time we sleep outdoors as a tent is too big and heavy to carry we have sleeping bags and a rain cover. But the weather in Norway is harsh, and also to see the lights you need to be mobile, you can't rely on buses or hitchhiking. My idea was to rent a car, and sleep in the car. This turned out great, as the first 3 days it snowed almost non stop. Our plans for trekking and places we want to see in the touristic area were useless. We started the to watch the weather forecast and try to understand how the clouds move. The radar showed that if we drive about 300 Km NE there might be some clear sky. We were lucky, the sky was just partially cloudy, and the solar activity was high enough to produce Aurora. It was the first time we ever saw the lights. When the show was over we parked the car by the side of a small road. As it was dark we couldn't see very well the surroundings. It was only in the morning, just before the sunrise when I first saw the amazing scenery. I grabbed the camera and ran outside of the car. There were so many possibilities, 10 minutes I ran back and forth as I couldn't make my mind where to start shooting. I used a Canon 6D with the 17- 40 L lens at F16. I did a 2 shot bracketing. I gave up using filters as mounting them when is cold and you wear gloves is too difficult. If I have a good subject I never feel the cold, hunger, pain, and I loose the track of time. Best wishes, Vlad
