In the Heat, We Think of Winter, a photo from Utah, West

Photographer's Note

Now that summer temperatures are up, everyone complains at how hot it is. It IS rather warm, and so to cool everyone off, I present you with minus 15 F from the desert wilderness near Vernal, Utah.

I myself never complain about anything I can't do anything about, so weather doesn't get much mouth from me. Endless red tape and meaningless political activities from university administrators get lots of complaints from me, though!

On some winter nights in rural Utah, the air gets very clear during a high pressure system. A few photos ago, I showed you what a constant low pressure can do: it leads to an inversion. Here, though, the air, though chilly, is clear and lovely.

Vernal and many other tiny towns nearby make up what is called the Uintah Basin, a large depression between tall mountains covering a goodly sized chunk of eastern Utah. It was famous for oil production not too many years ago, but when the oil wells ran dry, the cities got smaller. Now it's a wonderful place to explore and is the gateway to many great mountain hiking trails. This shot is right in the middle of the Ute Indian reservation. To the east only a few miles is Dinosaur National Park.

My daughter was nice and warm in the car while I stood outside for an hour taking photos at 30 second exposures each and setting up and adjusting in between. I was pretty numb when I was finished!

I used my normal ISO of 100 for this photo. I found that anything above this would expose better, but would also have way too much noise. In the end, this image was very dark, but I was able to lighten it and reduce the noise to almost acceptable levels.

Oddly, the stars really are these colors, even the red one in the center. In the unedited original, there it is in its crimson glory. I like the colors, anyway. It look a long time with my daughter to keep the blue and not have too much purple in the photo (since photoshop sometimes thinks blue is purple); I'm colorblind and so thought the purple was blue. In the end, my daughter thought this was okay. Rest assured, I did not ADD any blue to this, this is--or should be--the colors of that night, but in adding contrast and such, it started turning purple.

hmdparsi, Michael_Gan, Nottinghill, timotey, sergecross, singuanti, Fixfocus, jhm, devimeuxbe, Galmeida, cam, smartins, ydarias, nbournas έχουν(ει) επιλέξει αυτή τη σημείωση ως χρήσιμη

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snuggleaphagus (4146) 2005-08-01 23:56

This is gorgeous and you can tell you daughter that the blue is fantastic.
This is so beautiful that there is nothing that is not perfect. The composition is reaaly good and the smoothness of the whole photograph is wonderful. This mountain is very pretty and the little red star maybe it is blushing.

Nick674 (58) 2005-08-02 0:38

Thanks for the consideration, I'm uncomfortably hot right now. Beautiful blues and a lovely shot...Nick

kensimage (8563) 2005-08-02 0:52

Now that's a really nice rich blue, David! Snow and mountains at night are a great subject (just posted one on that theme myself a couple of days ago) and you've dealt with them exceptionally here--it looks otherworldly! The snow has a wonderful glow, though not a warm one!

Michael_Gan (2776) 2005-08-02 1:20

David, what an excellent result you've achieved here. The desert really seems to be covered in snow! Very beautiful deep blue colour (although for me it also could have been purple because I am also a bit colourblind and it's hard to distinguish blue from purple...) and the stars are simply amazing. You must feel very lucky to live near these wonderful National Parks!

cobraphil8 (84) 2005-08-02 1:23

A brilliant photo, one would well readily hang it to all the walls which do not have a window to escape and dream. Splendid light and composition.

Une photo gιniale, on l'accrocherait bien volontiers ΰ tous les murs qui n'ont pas de fenκtre pour s'ιvader et rκver. Magnifique lumiθre et composition.

Philippe

cessy (13647) 2005-08-02 1:47

woww .. very beautiful, David
cold, tranquil and magnifique
the light so marvelous
very well done

Nottinghill (1089) 2005-08-02 4:08

Grat shot, David, and I would say patience rewarded. After reading your note I almost felt like I was there. I know what you mean describing postprocessing thinking about colors. Its good to have somebody to consult your work. I have sometimes interesting discussion with my wife what "thruth" means on my photos. If you wear sungalsses which colors are true. Anyway I like the results of your work. My regards to your doughter

timotey (119) 2005-08-02 4:49

A great picture with an artistical aspect given gy this overall deep blue. It seems to be a picture from the moon because of this strange mountain. You've composed your picture very well with a long shutter speed improving the sight of the stars in the sky. Very well done !

dkeus31 (27739) 2005-08-02 6:40

Waf waf!
Hi David,
Very nice night view of your landscape just beyond the big dog (Canis Major), the constellation with the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius.

Great to have this deep blue, if I try about the same at heme, near town, the sky become fast red...

Isabelle (9046) 2005-08-02 8:16

tell your daughter nights in fairy tales are this blue (hehe although i think she knows it!)
gorgeous, David, what a pleasure to see nature from your eyes!
I tend to complain more during summer, but reading your note I felt i was freezing :)
lucky you for having this nature around!
(hey, i haven΄t seen your pictures for the book...)

greg (2835) 2005-08-02 8:38

Beautiful shot, David. Is the light from the left from the Moon?

Although stars do have colours, I'm not sure you can trust the colours that a typical digital camera shows you in this case. If the light from the star is well-focussed, it falls on a single pixel of the sensor array. And these pixels have alternate red, green, blue (or GRGB) filters over them. If you hit a red one, I suppose you get a red star...

Cameras used for astronomy don't have this filter array, but get their colours by making several exposures through different (whole-image) filters.

Didi (61589) 2005-08-02 16:13

Bonjour David
La rotation de la Terre n'a pas dιformι les constellations et aucune trace de la pollution lumineuse des villes.
Une composition magnifique est parfaitement cadrιe.
Bravo pour cette bonne maξtrise de la lumiθre.
C'est splendide.

Hello David
The rotation of the Earth did not deform the constellations and any trace of lights pollution of the cities. A splendid composition framed perfectly.
Cheer for this good control of the lights.
Splendid.

sergecross (3438) 2005-08-02 16:28

David, sharply taken and colorful, i like the meaning, this picture is beautiful.
The objective is very clear and the sky color looks very natural.
I like this one, very nice point of view to combine with that theme, it's good see a picture that contains a very calm place, i like it.
The snow looks pretty
Sergio Cross

singuanti (15250) 2005-08-02 20:57

Hi David. Another outstanding shot from you. I'm so glad you did this in color versus b/w. Thanks for braving the extreme cold as I think that super-clear air was worth every bit of suffering. The 30 second exposure was perfect and noise is nowhere to be found. Excellent shot David!!

ccooper (840) 2005-08-02 21:57

David,
The blue is just perfect. The night sky looks crisp and clear and seems so alien in the heat and humidity of this summer. You have captured a magical night and place.

Fixfocus (9385) 2005-08-03 4:21

Hello David,
A great shot very well composed and with perfect exposure control.I don΄t know how much our earth turns in 30 seconds but the stars look pin-sharp.The wide range of blue-tones is amazing.It goes straight to my favs.
greetings,
hermann

PixelTerror (0) 2005-08-03 4:21

Hi David,
Wonderful photo, very clear and with superb deep blues, it carries a magical atmosphere and fits well to a hot summer day !
I do not know how much -15°F is, but I know Utah has cold winters, so I imagine it's pretty much below 0°C, heroic shooting conditions for both battery and photographer !
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

dolin (7369) 2005-08-03 5:56

Ohhh very impressive shot.
A moon effect.
The exposure is really good and this blue tones are beautiful.
I like the stars on the sky, nice touch.
Great compo
Fred

jhm (211736) 2005-08-03 13:37

Hi David,
A very beautiful winter pic, with a excellent of composition, great of colours, the blue /white tints its wonderful.
Thanks for visit and sharing.
greetings,
John

feather (51130) 2005-08-03 18:53

Reading your note:- I'm glad someone is having a hot summer - not in NE England!
A beautiful photo.... what can I add to the rest. Stunning!
Kath

CliffW (2381) 2005-08-04 0:12

Since I'm only allowed one of these little green guys, then here's half for the uneviable time you endured to get this shot in the freezing cold, and the other half for the spectacular results that came of it. Good to see a new one from you David.

devimeuxbe (58557) 2005-08-05 6:04

Hi David
I just discover your galery. Many interesting shot !
I like this picture from the moon with the spacial night.
fantastics colors.
Nice work. Thanks for sharing.
Bertrand

yekjohn (1890) 2005-08-05 6:38

Wow this is great David! Its so clear, the sky and the colors are so intense. Cheers, John.

joseelias (0) 2005-08-05 18:51

Very nice note. And the photo is superb! These landscapes are overwhelming. Sometimes Americans envy the old European monuments, but these landscapes are priceless!

The details and tones are of the best Ive seen.

dbyoungster (29) 2005-08-05 23:45

David, I marvel at your creative genius. This photo is wonderful! Thanks also for the informative note.

I lived in Vernal for many years and grew up in the little town of Lapoint. Some of the landscapes in your photos from the Uintah Basin are instantly familiar to me.

Thanks again for the educational notes and creativity you provide us.

Deeb.

mpb001 (4602) 2005-08-06 14:57

A really great shot, David. The exposure balance between the land and the sky with the stars is perfect. Even the details of the landscape are well rendered and delineated. It's a good time to view this shot. It's been in the 90's and humid here in New England!

Galmeida (12559) 2005-08-08 6:38

Hi David,
Splendid picture and composition. A refreshing beautiful piece of nature in a fine simphony of withe and blue with the stars dancing in the sky.

Very ggod work and very well composed.
Cogratulations.

Fernando

Cormac (26565) 2005-08-10 11:11

Very, very beautfiul. This is a truly amazing photo by someone who really knows what they're doing. I like the overall colour and tone - very deep and rich blue. you've resisted the urge (and camera automatic settings) to produce a normal exposure. I also like the "inversion" of the dark and light, with the sky dark and the ground light, which is the reverse of the normal situation. I also like the way the stars in the sky mirror the dark patches on the ground. Taken alltogether, this is a very impressive photo. Congratulations on an amazing photo.

cam (9043) 2005-08-13 21:15

Hello David
Awesome
I did some night photo in the gaspesia park,lost all of them in a transfert,but none was as beautiful as this.
I feel rather small looking at this immensity.
Charles

greg64g (11193) 2005-08-18 3:30

hello David,

Wonderful picture, the blue colors is amazing, are you sure you taken this picture on earth ? i love it.
cheers
greg

sn00zie (2384) 2005-08-26 14:05

this is really gorgeous.. i love the blue.. its really pretty. wow! purple or blue-this is amazing

smartins (1967) 2005-08-26 20:32

WOW! I only have one word to say: PERFECT!
This is so gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing!
I believe that's all been said ;)

Take care,
Susana

ydarias (679) 2005-09-07 11:54

Oohhhhh David, una gran foto, la verdad es que es bastante buena. Muy nνtida, con unos colores muy interesantes y has hecho una gran elecciσn al colocar el ISO a 100 ya que no se nota nada de ruido electrσnico. Un gran trabajo, muchas felicidades.

Yeray.

IaKoop (819) 2005-09-11 13:54

Beautiful shot, excellent composition. Love the depth of your notes, especially the effort you took to get the colours right. Maybe it's just me, but accomplishments seem greater once we know of the challenges met along the way. Finally, there's the red star I might have overlooked without your notes. Love it.

nbournas (3229) 2005-09-12 22:38

Beautiful night shot!!! My daughter will wait for me for 5 seconds and that is it...Very clear shot I admire your passion to stay out in that cold night.

jb06 (150) 2006-02-05 13:49

Great shot David! The blue in this photo is amazing! There are so many stars in this photo, and is that little red dot Mars?
Excellent photo overall.

saguzar (862) 2006-03-29 17:25

Hello David,
perfect night landscape! I love the blue tones, time of exposure and composition. really an excellent job
I΄m glad to see your amaizing gallery in TE.
regards
Hernαn

Photo Information

Copyright: David Sidwell (dsidwell) (9783)
Genre: Τοποθεσίες
Medium: Έγχρωμο
Date Taken: 2004-01-09
Categories: Φύση
Camera: Sony DSC F707, UV
Έκθεση: f/6.3, 30 δευτερόλεπτα
Details: Tripod: Yes
Έκδοση φωτογραφίας: Πρωτότυπη έκδοση
Θέμα(τα): evvka's favorite from TE#1 [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-08-01 23:50
Αγαπημένα: 4 [view]

Viewed: 4717

Points: 72

Discussions

To greg: Yes! (1)
by dsidwell, last updated 2005-08-02 10:54
To Isabelle: Thanks! (2)
by dsidwell, last updated 2005-08-02 02:09

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