Photographer's Note
I took this picture from a moving mini-van that was taking me from El Calafate and El Chalten. The light was low and the van was going fast on an unpaved road. I?ve open the aperture to the maximum and set the shutter speed to avoid blur on the picture. I?ve then pushed the button and here is the result after some corrections with Photoshop and NeatImage.
There?s only 250 kilometers (155 miles) between El Calafate and El Chalten but the journey took five hours, three quarters of the road is unpaved.
The landscape that we are travelling through is absolutely magnificent. One could think that the Patagonian steppe is boring, lifeless; view from a plane, it seems desert, without relief and monochromatic but as soon one set a foot on it everything changes. The closer one get to the Andes ranges, the ground starts to undulate, get scattered with enormous erratic rocks and moraines left there by the glaciers that extended themselves all the way to the Atlantic coast millions years ago. There are rivers in which flow streams charged with microscopic particle tear from the rock by the glaciers. Some suspended dust that gives this milky blue coloration to the water. The steppe is covered with yellowish grass call Coiron and is scattered with Calafate, dark green bushes covered with bright yellow flowers in springtime and with very sweet black berries in summer. Natives make delicious jam from those berries. The steppe also has a very rich wildlife and it is quite common to spot, by the road, some Guanacos (kind of Llama) and Ñandu or Lesser Rhea that looks like ostrich but are not from the same family of bird.
To my opinion, it is better to travel the road at the end of the day. The sight gets better as the day goes down; the sky is getting dark blue, the clouds ignite and Andes summit get covered by incandescent glowing red clouds (check the picture)
As I?ve explained above, I didn?t have the best conditions to take this picture. After process, the slide had an orange cast that was attenuating the dark blue from the sky, lots of noise and the clouds and mountain range edges were blur (I had to disable the auto focus that wasn?t working great through the van window). I have removed the noise and lightly sharpen the edge with NeatImage. I?ve adjusted colours and contrast with level (I?ve set the white point and black point manually), I?ve reduce the red saturation with Photoshop. I have selected the clouds layer over the Andes range to saturate the red to give back its incandescent glowing red clouds effect the clouds had when I took the picture. And then, I?ve sharpened the picture more with NeatImage.
(version Française disponible, cliquer sur le lien près de « Photographer?s note)
blu, hispic, touristdidi, lucasvdb, perfil, itsthemechanic, moshe_mosk, rtome marcou esta nota como útil
Critiques | Translate
zorro
(530) 2003-09-05 1:36
very good photographer's note...i have nothing to say about it.the colors are great.very superterestrial shot
Ronan
(337) 2003-09-05 3:30
Wonderful colors of the sky. You could have cropped the bottom of the picture to reduce the black part of the picture
masterrye
(575) 2003-09-05 4:18
WOW! wonderful shot! I like the colors very much... the cloud resembles a giant bird zooming fast in the air. great work!
dannyc7
(358) 2003-09-05 16:25
Impressive shot with fantastic colors,thanks for sharing your experience of this unique, unforgettable part of the world
cmartinez
(91) 2003-09-05 20:42
this almost looks unreal! a great picture! I like the fact that you give a lot of details on your pictures.
light
(865) 2003-09-26 22:35
So nice and beautiful clouds!
Yellows, reds, oranges, blacks and all the blue, and autentic rainbow of colors.
Soft and gentle, quiet and perfect.
Beautiful evening!
photo
(246) 2003-10-03 17:08
this is crazy! i really like the colors, it looks so unreal! Big smile for you and i put it in my favorites!
Gael
(128) 2003-11-27 8:27
Fantastic Clouds! Colors and contrast of the yellow on blue is exceptional. Makes me think of some UFO pictures :-)
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Nuages fantastiques! Les couleurs et le contrastes du jaune sur le bleu est exceptionnel. Cette photo me fait penser à des photos d'OVNIS :-)
kazan
(779) 2003-12-08 10:30
Extraordinarily good photo combined with a very informative note, this is what TE is all about!
Panos
Midnight_sun
(1941) 2004-01-16 14:40
What a surreal sky! I've never seen a sunset as vivid! Great commentary too.
liakos
(988) 2004-03-13 9:41
Exceptional colors, exceptional commentary of the photo. Nothing more, nothing less.
Xalkida
(11744) 2004-06-12 12:55
What to say? About the shape or the colors of this magnificent clouds? Wow!
ephemere33
(9743) 2004-06-18 17:38
et ben dit donc ou dirait un mirage...tres beau cet effet...bien vu et bien capturé...très original
on voudrait le faire expres que l'on y arriverait pas...excellent...bi
touristdidi
(8583) 2004-08-14 7:14 [Comment]
krpa
(95) 2004-09-30 9:59 [Comment]
markogts
(1130) 2004-10-11 19:07
Extraordinary colours. Also the clouds appear really exotic. Maybe there is some blur, but it only adds a particular feeling to the clouds.
evanrizo
(462) 2006-03-24 8:15 [Comment]
moshe_mosk
(37) 2006-06-27 17:34
Hi Romain,
Very Impressive photo great sky and colors,
good note too
Regards,
Mosh
kishorek
(105) 2010-06-10 7:19
Hi Romain,
Fantastic sky!! Lucky you!! Great capture my friend. Wonderful post processing. love the colors.
Even I've the habbit of taking pictures from a moving vehicle. Great job.
Regards,
Kishore K.
freeride01 (167) 2012-05-17 12:42
Have the same experience with Patagonia landscapes:).
Monte perdido and mount Fitz Roy near El Chalten... breathless (if I forget the wind). Evenwithout the titleI would have known where this picture was taken.
Nice colors and note!
Photo Information
-
Copyright: Romain Donadio (green)
(1014)
- Genre: Lugares
- Medium: Cor
- Date Taken: 2003-02-00
- Categories: Natureza
- Camera: Canon EOS 50E, Tokina ATX 28-70 2.8, Fuji Sensia 100
- Versão da Foto: Versão Original
- Tema(s): clouds, The weather, SUNRISE ~ SUNSET, CLOUDS OF BEAUTY, Clouds in the sky and of the colors, ciel et nuage, CLODO's SELECTION XIV [view contributor(s)]
- Date Submitted: 2003-09-04 20:41
- Favoritos: 10 [ver]